I tend to like books about people in isolation, so naturally I wanted to read this non-fiction work about a fisherman from Mexico in 2012 getting stranded on his boat and drifting all the way across the Pacific Ocean to the Marshall Islands .
The story certainly draws your imagination – especially as it started with two fishermen and ended with one. The story is amazing, and the author had access to everyone involved on both ends of the journey.
The writer details all the information before, during and after the journey, and the bravado and machismo of the fisherman and the people he works with really shine through. If anything this was the greatest skill of the writer – to allow us to feel that and see how it influenced the final result – a living castaway after more than a year adrift.
For me the writing style was pretty flat – it was written in a documentary style and I understand that decision, but I felt like more effort could have been made to bring the story to life. Maybe because it was written in the 3rd person, I always felt a distance between myself and the story. Some writers like Jon Krakauer can really bring out the danger and make you feel like you’re there. Unfortunately this felt like a dry re-telling sometimes.
Next I am reading Voices in the Snow by Darcy Coates.
