Point Books Conducive To Coasting: A Private Voyage
| Original Title: | Coasting: A Private Voyage |
| ISBN: | 0375725938 (ISBN13: 9780375725937) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Jonathan Raban
Paperback | Pages: 304 pages Rating: 3.94 | 413 Users | 36 Reviews
Itemize Based On Books Coasting: A Private Voyage
| Title | : | Coasting: A Private Voyage |
| Author | : | Jonathan Raban |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 304 pages |
| Published | : | February 4th 2003 by Vintage (first published February 15th 1987) |
| Categories | : | Travel. Nonfiction. Autobiography. Memoir. Environment. Nature |
Commentary In Pursuance Of Books Coasting: A Private Voyage
Put Jonathan Raban on a boat and the results will be fascinating, and never more so than when he’s sailing around the serpentine, 2,000-mile coast of his native England. In this acutely perceived and beautifully written book, the bestselling author of Bad Land turns that voyage–which coincided with the Falklands war of 1982-into an occasion for meditations on his country, his childhood, and the elusive notion of home.Whether he’s chatting with bored tax exiles on the Isle of Man, wrestling down a mainsail during a titanic gale, or crashing a Scottish house party where the kilted guests turn out to be Americans, Raban is alert to the slightest nuance of meaning. One can read Coasting for his precise naturalistic descriptions or his mordant comments on the new England, where the principal industry seems to be the marketing of Englishness. But one always reads it with pleasure.
Rating Based On Books Coasting: A Private Voyage
Ratings: 3.94 From 413 Users | 36 ReviewsPiece Based On Books Coasting: A Private Voyage
very well written. thoughtful and thought-provoking. I am enjoying it.Rabin writes about the ocean with the kind of body and beauty of Van Gogh's paintings, the visible details and swirls of color and light and texture. I've read a lot of books about the sea and sailing but I have never come across a writer who is so in touch with his environment that he can write about it with such a close eye and such a texturally rich voice. That he choses to write with this depth of expression is in itself aKnocking about from port to port, you keep on going past the port you originally started out from. In that regard at least, coasting is a lot more lifelike than those epic journeys which reduce the world to a magnificent straight line of conquest; and the coasters chronic itch, to be moving on only in order to get nearer home, his never-quite-knowing whether hes returning or running away, are more real, in a daily way, than the exotic compulsions of the serious travelers who voyage intrepidly
Jonahthan Raban writes at a whole new level, he can blend his current travels with his past in a way nobody else can. His wonderful poetic prose draws you in right from the off.I love hiking, one of the reasons is how remote things are and that there is nobody else around, bliss for me. I recently walked in the Brecon Beacons, finding 50 people eating lunch at the highest point, others having loud conversations that echoed around the hills and others playing loud music on their phones. Back in
Raban travelled around the coast of Britain in 1982 and his voyage coincided with the Falklands War (or Falklands Crisis, then Falklands Conflict as we called it back in the day).I found this horribly depressing reading, realising how little has changed. The "them and us" island mentality he discovers, the racism and the nastiness of the tabloid press.
I came away from this feeling like I hadn't read anything at all. That is to say, it felt like there was nothing to this book. Perhaps this was too personal, full of details and musings only the author could enjoy. His book Passage to Juneau is much better.
To some degree the traveler is always an outsider. For the travel writer this poses a risk: there are journeys where he never gains entry; his account is that of a stranger in a land he doesnt understand. Yet it can also work to his advantage: the very detachment of being an outsider can serve to sharpen his perceptions and observations.In "Coasting", Jonathan Raban plays the outsiders role wonderfully as a traveler in his own land. In 1982, at 40, the British travel writer set out to sail
Good book by an author that is great at writing about the sea.
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