Adventures change you. Let’s say, I have never been one to have looked out new adventures. I am that girl who prefers not to have surprises, and to have complete control over my life. I have definitely never been an adventure-junkie.
I am still not, but I have learned to appreciate change and recognize that, without it, your life will be dull, you will never learn to take what life throws at you, and you never grow. A few years ago, I went to Costa Rica. My husband is completely the opposite from me, and wanted to do an adventure trip. I promised him that I would do the activities such as zip-lining and rappel, as long as we could go to the Sloth Sanctuary. So, it was a deal. Those adventures changed my life.
And, in this nonfiction book, Billy finds his own adventure – a bigger one than ziplining. He becomes a stowaway on a ship heading to the Antarctic.
Goodreads provides the following excerpt:
The spectacular, true story of a scrappy teenager from New York’s Lower East Side who stowed away on the Roaring Twenties’ most remarkable feat of science and daring: an expedition to Antarctica.
It was 1928: a time of illicit booze, of Gatsby and Babe Ruth, of freewheeling fun. The Great War was over and American optimism was higher than the stock market. What better moment to launch an expedition to Antarctica, the planet’s final frontier? This was the moon landing before the 1960s. Everyone wanted to join the adventure. Rockefellers and Vanderbilts begged to be taken along as mess boys, and newspapers across the globe covered the planning’s every stage.
The night before the expedition’s flagship launched, Billy Gawronski—a skinny, first generation New York City high schooler desperate to escape a dreary future in the family upholstery business—jumped into the Hudson River and snuck aboard.
Could he get away with it?
I think I smell a possible movie in the making with this nonfiction work.
The Cover and the Title
The first thing I have to mention is the cover. It is a beautiful life-like drawing, or just a beautiful photograph that brings the feel of the Antarctic: snow, ice, and a classic ship. The font is clear, and one that shows an interesting story is to be unfolded.
The Stowaway is obviously the perfect title of the book. The life of a teenager completely changes because of his bravery and decides to become a stowaway and hide on the ship heading for the Antarctic for the first time. Billy’s life is completely changed from this experience, and it reminds you that sometimes the biggest moments of bravery are the ones that change your life completely. Like when I decided to zip line in Costa Rica, when I cannot even go on a rollercoaster! This story magnifies the outcomes of changing our destiny.
What to Expect
In all honesty, I am not a nonfiction reader. I blame my too-many years at university, which does not allow me to read nonfiction for pleasure. So, I did have a somewhat difficult time finishing this book. The only way I finished reading this is because it is extremely well-written. At the beginning I was confused because it was written more like a novel than a traditional nonfiction book, which pleased me. I actually had to go back to Goodreads to confirm that this was a nonfiction work. Obviously, we could not go into any of the characters’ heads, but the imagery was beautiful, and explanations were cleverly woven into the text. I would love to see this book turn into a movie – especially for those who dislike reading nonfiction. This is also one of those stories where truth is better than fiction, which also made me question if this was not a fictional story!
The only thing I would complain about, is that the author explains a lot of backstory of all of the characters and, because they have such a little part in the story, I could not remember them. I am not sure if all of this extra fluff was really necessary to tell the story. Some repeat characters do need this extra information, but some people’s information seemed too thrown in to me. I would get lost with all of the characters at certain moments. And, I repeat, characters are essential to my liking a story.
Billy is one of those characters that you have to love, though. Even through you do not enter his head, you do understand a lot of what Billy was thinking, and you could feel the excitement coming off of him – even if you did not know him intimately. Shapiro was extremely successful with this.
The Final Word
If you like nonfiction, you will love this book. It is extremely well-written, and has an extremely interesting storyline. It is a story that you never would have heard about, but one you should know. It is a story of epic proportions and emphasizes the importance of the scientific discoveries we make today. If you do not like nonfiction, you may have trouble getting through it but, when you do, it is worth it!
Who Should Read This Book
- Adventure-lovers
- Christopher Columbus wannabees
- Nonfiction readers
- Those who are not HUGE fans of nonfiction, but can handle it
- History buffs
I want to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me with this pre-released copy of the book for an honest review.
Here is a link where you can pre-order you own copy!
