Love with a Chance of Drowning: A Memoir in Aussie Readers

Feb 11, 2013 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it really liked it

Shelves: aussie-author, provided-by-publisher, arc-are, nonfiction

“Some people die of old age without ever having lived their dreams. Some people die without ever having loved. That’s tragic. We’ll both die someday, that’s a guarantee. If something happens on the ocean, we’ll die as two people in love who are living a remarkable adventure…”

Torre DeRoche planned to spend a year in the US working and then return home to Australia. Instead she fell in love with an Argentinian and despite a fear of the sea, agreed to sail with him across the Pacific. Love With a C
“Some people die of old age without ever having lived their dreams. Some people die without ever having loved. That’s tragic. We’ll both die someday, that’s a guarantee. If something happens on the ocean, we’ll die as two people in love who are living a remarkable adventure…”

Torre DeRoche planned to spend a year in the US working and then return home to Australia. Instead she fell in love with an Argentinian and despite a fear of the sea, agreed to sail with him across the Pacific. Love With a Chance of Drowning tells of Torre's adventures aboard the Amazing Grace during her journey to conquer the ocean, and her fears.

Torre wasn't looking for a relationship when she met Ivan in a San Francisco bar but charmed by his Latin good looks and kind, considerate nature she fell head over in heels in love. Yet their separation seemed inevitable, Torre had promised to return to Australia at the end of the year and Ivan planned to throw in his IT job and sail solo across the ocean. As the end began to draw near, Ivan suggested Torre join him and she was faced with a difficult choice, sail away with her lover or say goodbye. Despite her fear of deep water, disaster and "“anything that would fall out if you turned the ocean upside down and shook it” Torre's decides to surrender her comfortable city lifestyle for a love on a 32ft wooden boat in the middle of nowhere.

Though I have little interest in sailing (and my own fearful respect for the sea), I really enjoyed this entertaining memoir of (mis)adventure. The humour is engaging, Torre has no problem poking fun at her own obsession with safety equipment, her horrendous bouts of sea sickness and Ivan's innate clumsiness. She is boldly honest about the journey's practical and emotional hardships - broken equipment, rough weather, the lack of fresh food and inescapable intimacy. Yet as Torre describes the joy of watching dolphins frolic in the boat's wake, the stunning white sands and blue water of tropical waters and the convivial welcome of islanders, you can't help but wish you could join her.

Love with a Chance of Drowning is wonderfully written. Part travelogue, part romance, it is a tale of an amazing journey that will sweep you away.
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Jul 05, 2024 Tien rated it liked it

Shelves: australian-author, memoirs

A bookclub pick and I wasn't that excited about this one, truly, I don't really have an interest in sailing and while my fear of open water is probably not as great as the author's fear of water, I still definitely would not sail around the world in a small boat with an amateur sailor! But... she was in her twenties and very deeply in love - would I have if I were in her shoes? Who knows!

Amazing though what you can do as a person as long as you put your mind to it. And I admire the author so muc ...more

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Feb 11, 2013 Bree T rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arc, non-fiction, memoir, aww2013, humour

At the age of 24, Torre DeRoche packed her bags, left Australia and headed overseas for a year in America. Before she left, she made a promise to her family: no American men and she’d definitely be back in a year.

Then she met Ivan, an IT worker originally from Argentina with a dream. For the last few years, Ivan had been pouring every extra cent he had into a 32ft boat named Amazing Grace. His plan? To sail around the world and he wanted Torre to come with him.

Torre was petrified of water and ev At the age of 24, Torre DeRoche packed her bags, left Australia and headed overseas for a year in America. Before she left, she made a promise to her family: no American men and she’d definitely be back in a year.

Then she met Ivan, an IT worker originally from Argentina with a dream. For the last few years, Ivan had been pouring every extra cent he had into a 32ft boat named Amazing Grace. His plan? To sail around the world and he wanted Torre to come with him.

Torre was petrified of water and everything that lurked within it. She didn’t go swimming at the beach above her knees. And this trip involved almost one month at sea without glimpsing land, possibly treacherous conditions and was most likely to go for years. It was crazy. Unthinkable. But the alternatives were, either Ivan gave up his beloved dream and stayed in a job that didn’t make him happy, or he went without her and they parted. Neither of those options seemed very appealing so Torre decided she might as well just do it. She resigned from her graphic design job and set about learning how to become a sailor, before they left for their voyage.

Torre battled seasickness, mishaps with the boat and countless…accidents but she also saw some of the most amazing scenery in the world. They could spend days, weeks living on tinned vegetables, pasta and rice and then gorge themselves on the most amazing tropical fruits when they reached their next port. They made friends with locals and were treated like family. She spent two years living on the boat and used her adventure as a way to embrace some of her darkest fears.

I don’t read much non-fiction, it has to be either something that really interests me, or something that I pick up because it’s a little different and I think that Love With A Chance Of Drowning ticks both of those boxes. For a start, I love the cover – it immediately draws my eye and makes me want to know more. And I think the story is awesome – woman who is afraid of the ocean agrees to sail halfway around the world in a pretty small boat. Torre DeRoche has been a blogger from way back and she recorded her journey meticulously. She decided to self publish her story and hired editors and people to help her polish it. Not long later, she received a call to ask if the film rights were still available. And then she received offers from various publishers in different locations for the rights. The book went through various edit rounds again before being published by Penguin in the UK and Australia (it is officially released tomorrow here and in NZ).

I’ve never left Australia so I’m equally drawn to books documenting travel and repelled by them. On one hand they allow me to experience something that I’ll never be able to do without winning a jackpot in the national lottery. On the other hand they also tend to make me realise that I’ve wasted opportunities in my life – especially all the time I had before having kids. However I found a lot of joy in reading this because it was something I’d never do, time/money or otherwise and therefore I was able to just really enjoy Torre’s experience. I admired her choices – to take the plunge and go sailing halfway around the world with a man she’d known only 7 months. Especially when she was basically afraid of water. And had no sailing experience. And one leg of the journey involved a month at sea without even so much as a glimpse of land – because there isn’t any in that part of the world!

Torre and her boyfriend Ivan sailed the Amazing Grace from California down to Mexico and then across the Pacific to the French Polynesian islands (that is the section that involves one month with no land). From there they island hopped, choosing places at whim because they’d heard about them or because other sailors were going there. They made friends and saw some of the most amazing scenery in the world. But the trip was not without its problems and I find them documented honestly and openly but with a touch of humour that comes from them being in the past. I really enjoyed Torre’s way of telling a story, this book has a natural style that makes you feel included by it and easily able to picture locations, even though I’d never been there. I’m not one for roughing it – I’m hopelessly princessy that way I’m afraid. But I have to admit that their journey sounded beautiful. And I think that it takes a very special relationship to survive this sort of journey as well. Torre and Ivan are never more than a few feet from each other 24 hours a day for almost 2 years. As she says in her book, fights have to end quickly, there’s no time to stew and sulk because things need doing and you have no place to hide. I’ve tried to imagine being with my husband for that amount of time and tried to end up with a scenario where one of us doesn’t push the other one off the boat and haven’t really managed yet! I love my husband but I also very much love my “me time”. He works nights and some of those peaceful hours after the children are in bed and before he arrives home are my most precious. And yet other times I found myself fiercely envious of Torre and Ivan for having all that time together, just themselves.

I loved this book. I’ve since had a nosy around Torre’s website and checked out her blog and her photos and if you read this then I strongly recommend you do the same. She’s been up to quite a lot since the end of her time with Amazing Grace. ...more

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