Status Updates From The Boat that Wouldn't Floa...

Фарли е страхотен разказвач, а историите му са интересни и много забавни! Истинска находка излезе тази книга!

"Once beyond Cap Gaspe',and properly into the estuary of the mighty St. Lawrence River, our progress slowed from a healthy snail's pace, to that of a badly crippled one."

"One night, long, long ago, a giant blue whale made the mistake of trying to take a shortcut though the tickle, and got stranded. He was in trouble, but so were the human residents. They knew that if he died and decomposed where he was, there would be no living in the place for years to come. Either he or the people had to go."

"She seemed like a toy boat in the midst of all that machinery, dwarfed into insignificance by the Sandy Point on the adjoining slip."

"As we drove away from the land a kind of peace came over us. The bullgine rumbled and the exhaust smoke rolled out of the cabin into our faces."

"It is a windswept, desolate little village whose grey wooden houses straggle dismally around the edge of a broad harbor."

"According to mythology the virtue of these engines lies in the fact that they are simple and reliable. Although this myth is widely believed I am able to report that it is completely untrue. These engines are, in fact, vindictive, debased, black-minded ladies of no virtue and any non-Newfoundlander who goes shipmates with one is either a fool or a masochist, and is likely both."

"In order to withstand the might of the everlasting gales, shore-grown black spruce grows twisted like a corkscrew or a barber's pole. This gives it great strength but, as the dead tree dries, it tends to unwind. What this meant to us was that both our masts gradually untwisted, turning the cross-trees or spreaders in a a circular movement."

Now Farley has a special lady, Claire and a special dog. The subject of the infamous injustice to a calfing whale came up, which I didn't know occurred while he lived on an island, with their scooner that refused attempts to embark on vacations. I would never bear to read "A Whale For The Killing" so a skirting of what happened sufficed. They have managed a trip at last. Thereupon, I will finish this book.

My first Farley foray was "The Black Joke", which I see is wholly inspired by and written in the midst of; his actual sojourns to St. Pierre, Miquelon, the Basque people, and south Newfoundland. Dipping a toe into the fictional realm, followed by recent acquisition of "The Boat Who Wouldn't Float", is happenstance that I didn't know would be richly rewarding. I'm savouring the origins of the fiction!

We're really getting to know this whole Newfoundland journey intimately; truly from stem to stern. Farley first described his Dad's affinity for auctions and their attraction to the nautical. What I wish I could ask him and perhaps can ask Jack, is why they set a wooden boat budget of $1000.00. Jack was well set. Also why buy Happy Adventure by dark, upon arrival? Why did he not view her in the morning?

I read his fiction in Newfoundland recently and loved it, "The Black Joke". The present, non-fiction adventure shows me exactly, from whence comes his intimate familiarity and respect for Newfies. It would be about the time "The Black Joke" was being composed, 1962, that Farley was there with his pal, having Happy Adventure refurbished. Goodness, the 1960s were a backwards era on that island!

Egads! I knew I would love this. But Farley's true story is ALREADY so unstoppably funny, merely 22 pages in: I can't take it! I'm laughing, re-reading lines, laughing again and imagining to whom I might read passages to spread the humour!

80

Mowat's command of the English language is on full display

For sheer reading pleasure, Mowat can't be beat.

180/243

I have to say that I'm amazed they haven't died ten times by now.

I suspect the humor quotient would increase if I understood the nautical terms employed, but as I'm smiling anyway, I don't miss them.