An aquatic comedy of errors for anyone who’s ever thought about “going off the grid.”
A computer programmer pursues a sailor’s life in this amusing debut memoir.
Glenn Damato always dreamed of sailing around the world and, at age 41, he decided to quit his well-paid job as a software instructor, raid his nest egg and unfurl the sails. His Silicon Valley comrades are dubious—he’s overweight and has never set foot on a sailing boat. Indeed, Damato has a hidden motive for leaving civilization behind: His love life is at a standstill. During his last date, the woman didn’t even get out of her car when she saw him. “I am guilty of an Appearance Crime worse than ugliness,” he writes. “I am a diminutive man.” So it’s off to the sea for the would-be mariner, who buys a fixer-upper named Serenity and spends much of this book trying to make the vessel seaworthy. Damato seems a bit overconfident about his sailing skills, as he merely takes an introductory course, but he’s definitely a skilled mechanic—he used to work on a nuclear submarine. As a writer, Damato makes his rehabilitation of the craft surprisingly interesting, and he mines plenty of comedy from his ineptitude. For example, when he installs a glorified mulch box as the boat’s toilet, the decision haunts him in the form of “baby diaper stench” and dry heaves. Damato’s interactions with people also provide plenty of cringing humor as he manages to finagle a crew for his maiden voyage: Joyce, an acerbic hippie; Richard, a Coors Light chain-drinker; and Megan, who harbors romantic feelings for our hero. Is there any chance their trip will end in anything but disaster? Damato’s self-deprecating style goes a long way toward engaging readers’ sympathies, and his pithy prose keeps the story speeding along, even if landlubbers may occasionally get lost during some of the more jargon-heavy passages.
An aquatic comedy of errors for anyone who’s ever thought about “going off the grid.”Pub Date: Nov. 30, 2012
ISBN: 978-0985816209
Page Count: 360
Publisher: Ninth Circle Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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