Book: Adrift
Author: Tami Oldham Ashcraft with Susea McGearhart
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 9/10
Who should read this book: sailing fans, memoir fans, survivalist fans
Happy Tuesday bookworms! I finished this one last Friday actually but I just haven’t had a chance to sit down and write. My usual Sunday morning writing was taken up by running a half marathon this past weekend! I also wanted to watch the film adaptation of this book before writing my review.
Story: 3/3 points. Tami’s story is incredible, at the age of 24, she survived at sea for over a month after a hurricane ravaged her boat. I’m so glad she wrote a memoir because this is an important story of survival, strength and perseverance. I finished this story feeling a sense of pride for this woman. Also it was very handy for me to have a glossary of sailing terms at the back of the book to help me through the book. I learned a lot about sailing while reading this story and I enjoyed that.
Feel: 3/3 points. This is an emotional love story as well as a tale of survival. Throughout the story of her being adrift, we flash back to the story of how Tami and Richard fell in love. It’s a beautiful love story. I think that added element to this survival story is so important. It gave us an insight into Tami, and why she wanted to survive.
When watching the movie after, I was sobbing multiple times. Both happy and sad tears. It was really well filmed, and the acting was great. Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin star as Tami and Richard, and their chemistry is perfect. Woodley did an amazing job bringing Tami’s struggle to life. This is a rare case, but I think I would recommend seeing the movie first and then reading the book. The movie will tell you the story and the book will clarify a few missing details from the movie after. But the way the movie is shot, leaves you a little confused until the end. I think it would have been a better movie if I hadn’t read the book and didn’t know what was going to happen.
Writing: 3/4 points. It’s hard to criticize the writing style of someone that isn’t a writer, but this memoir was written with the assistance of Susea McGearhart who is a writer. The format the story was told in was good, with the flashbacks. But I struggled with the tone of voice. I want a memoir to make me feel like I’m in the moment with you, experiencing this crazy thing with the writer, and I just didn’t get that feeling. I got the feeling of sitting by the fire hearing a story about your past. However, that is what a memoir is, a story of the writer’s past so Tami and Susea still get 3 points. I flew through the book, needing to know what happened, so overall they did a great job.
I’m currently reading The Au Pair and will hopefully be posting a May wrap up and June TBR post soon! Stay tuned!
Read With Angie 