Love With a Chance of Drowning: An Inspiring Memoir
Love With A Chance of Drowning by Torre DeRoche
Genre: Memoir, Nonfiction
Published 2011; 352 pages
This book has been on my TBR since 2014! It was recommended by a travel blog I followed at the time, Nomadic Matt. I just checked and the site is still active, so if you enjoy travel, domestic or international, go check it out.
First Sentence: "A beam of morning sun pierces my closed eyelids and draws me from the dark depths of a hangover."
Main Characters: Torre, the terrified Australian sailor, and her Argentinian lover and adventurer, Ivan.
A SIMPLE PLOT LINE
Girl meets handsome boy at a bar. A one night stand turns into a relationship. The man's life dream is to sail around the world alone. Now he wants the woman to come with him. Cool. Except she's terrified, beyond terrified, of everything about the ocean. Months later, they set off on the adventure of a lifetime to sail across the Pacific Ocean.
" [the ocean is] A nation whose laws are harsh yet simple, a nation that never cheats, which is immense and without borders, where life is lived in the present."
MY THOUGHTS
Love With a Chance of Drowning is the story of a twenty-something woman facing and overcoming her terror of being on the ocean and sailing from L.A. to her home in Australia with a new boyfriend. The book is so very well written. It's evocative, descriptive of the locales without being gushy or overdone, and readable. The prose just flows along beautifully and kept me engaged through the whole story.
In the introduction deRoche explains that while the dialog is not verbatim, it is always true in the broad frame of what was said. I appreciate the qualification, because really, who can remember exact words? I'm a dialog-centric reader and this dialog feels natural and believable - it could be me and a friend talking.
She battled debilitating seasickness, fear of sharks and other water critters, fear of seeing a wall of water crashing down on the boat, and so much more. She bounced between thinking they were going to die to reveling in the beauty of the remote islands they visited.
"...my parents were so supportive when I told them about my plans to sail across the Pacific with a man they haven't even met. They know all about the reckless pursuits for love. After all, it runs in the family. To my parents, life is about only one thing: the stories."
Years ago when hubby and I were much younger, we briefly talked about retiring to a boat and living in the Caribbean. I quickly came to my senses. BUT, reading about all the things that can go wrong on a boat - the mechanical things, the holes, the mold, the constant - I mean CONSTANT - togetherness. It would be such a challenge. It was a pleasure to read about deRoche's experiences and developing a love for adventure.
"Mom and dad live by the mantra, 'You're here for a good time, not for a long time.'"
Can you get behind this philosophy? I can in some things I think.
