Both having a love of sailing, John and Jean Silverwood dreamed of one day taking their children on the sailing adventure of a lifetime. Finally, in 2003, after putting everything financially toward this goal, they purchased a 55-foot catamaran and set sail indefinitely. Taking a leisurely route through various Caribbean ports of call, they eventually sail through the Panama Canal and into the wide open Pacific. Nearly two years into the trip, they meet with disaster when the boat runs aground on a coral bed during a storm and begins to disintegrate.

Parts of this book definitely make it difficult to stop reading. The shipwreck scenes were especially riveting. Unfortunately, their impact was negatively tempered by in-chapter flashbacks to prior family life and earlier scenes from the trip. I also didn’t find myself nearly as compelled by John’s contribution to the story, which seemed like more of an afterthought.

posted Jun 16, 2008 at 3:35PM

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