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Outside a Bar in Amsterdam I got talking to a guy and we shared a couple of drinks while we swapped life-stories. His were more exiting than mine, sometimes hard to believe, but I did.
He mentioned that he’d written a couple of books and told me the titles, so on return to the UK I ordered them, courtesy of Amazon, but put off reading for a few days. This is because in the past I’ve met several people who can tell a great story when talking but when committing it to the page get too clever, too complex and lose the directness, the rawness and the momentum that kept you hooked in the first place. Always a disappointment.
Not a problem here though-I’ve just finished ‘Rowing to Alaska” and have enjoyed it immensely. It may be that the chapters are disjointed, as someone earlier has suggested, but I think it’s none the worse for that and reflects a life that ricocheted like a pinball from one adventure to the next.. I wouldn’t have wanted it to flow smoothly and liked being taken by surprise by each part.
There’s a depth of description and reflection that made the characters and the countries come alive and an honesty that doesn’t pull any punches. There isn’t any self-glorification and the accounts of physical hardships and good friendships took me with it.
I’ve left a day or so between chapters as I found the images stayed with me and I wanted time to enjoy them before moving on.
A great book to travel with… unless you want to stop travelling. The language was descriptive, inspiring, and quite funny at times. Thank you for leaving this book to find me! I plan to pass it on to others, but I may insist that they return it to me as I hope to draw from it for future writings of my own.