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The Motion Of The Ocean: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, And A Woman's Search For The Meaning Of Wife (2009)

by Janna Cawrse Esarey(Favorite Author)

3.68 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1416589082 (ISBN13: 9781416589082)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Touchstone

review 1: Liked it, didn't love it, but I'm glad I read it. I would have liked to read more about their travels and less about their relationship angst, which I found to be both simultaneously stressful and boring. Also, I was dismayed to find errors like "taught" instead of "taut" throughout the book. Normally, I'm forgiving, but 1) the author is a former English teacher and 2) the book was reviewed by editors, so these things should have been caught.
review 2: I really enjoy travel memoirs, I like hearing other people tell tales of their crazy adventures in distant lands and their meshing with local culture. Combining that with my recent crazy work schedule and I thought this book would take me on a mental trip away from my 15 hour work days and into the clear blue wat... moreers of the Pacific. It did and it didn't...The first part of this book was GREAT! I would award 4 full stars to the story of Janna Cawrse as she describes how she and her husband, Graeme Esarey, met a decade ago, their individual paths ebbed and flowed, until about 3 years ago they came back together and stuck this time. They finally decide to get married but only after deciding to take two years to sail from Seattle, down the coast of North America, across the Pacific Ocean, and then up through various Asian countries. Her stories are interesting and funny, describing the tasks that her and Graeme divide up (sometimes unequally) and the other cruisers they meet along the way.Somewhere along the way (at the start of their travels in Asia) this transforms from a cute travel memoir to the dullest book ever. Two things happen: 1) Janna and Graeme start fighting. Not the bicker-then-have-great-make-up-sex fighting but the months-long-brooding-with-no-talking-and-no-resolution fighting. I understand that relationships have their ups and downs but it was such a stark contrast from the first half of the book that it simply made me want them to turn the boat around and go back to happier waters. And, she never actually tells you what occurs in these fights...you never really know what they are fighting about but she writes entire chapters about her self-reflection and thoughts on relationships. Sorry kids, not what I want to read.2) They start visiting places they aren't really enjoying; the places are poverty-stricken, there are no other cruisers near them, and the waters are often polluted. This makes her writing even worse because she is complaining about where they are, her relationship, etc. I was about to chuck the book across the room with the last 100 pages to go but held out and can't really say I'm thrilled that I did. Then, there is resolution at the end but it is quick, poorly described, and next thing you know they're back in Seattle and have a couple kids.If you want a good travel memoir, try something like An Embarrassment of Mangoes (which I LOVED) or The Sex Lives of Cannbals and perhaps leave this one behind...it was just too much relationship angst without resolution to be a light-hearted travel memoir. less

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