The book Adrift by Steven Callahan is about an eye opening story about him surviving at sea for seventy six days. Callahan was originally racing to Canary Islands solo, but he ran into a few problems along the way. His trip across the Atlantic ocean was put on hold for a few weeks when he had to stop at a port to fix a leak that had been caused by debris hitting his boat.
Then one night after many days of clear sailing, there was a huge crack and water rushed into the boat. He abandoned his boat to sink and started floating on his life boat with only a few pounds of food and a small amount of water. He was lucky to have enough resources to survive. He had a spear and a water distilled. Throughout the seventy six days many boats passed him not even realizing his existence. Finally some fishermen found him, and helped him to get back to shore.
S- Adrift is so unique because even though he was near death and had to find out a way to survive for seventy six days at the end of the book he still says that if you avoid risk it is not much of a goal. And that every crisis in life is learning experiences and you have to see it from your prospective and someone else’s to really make a decision.
O- Clearly this was written after he got back from his horrific experience at sea but he began his voyage in 1981. Since Callahan was stuck at sea and the event that abandoned him at sea all happened so quickly, there aren’t really any events that influence this story.
A- This book was written for anyone who likes to read about adventure. I would say young adult would be the youngest audience anyone younger may struggle to understand some of the words used and may not find it as interesting.
P- This was written by Callahan to share his amazing story about how he survived at sea and what life lessons he learned from this whole experience.
S- This book was written in first person from the perspective of Callahan which I think works really well because he is sharing his story. It has a lot of imagery to make almost feel like you were there. Callahan uses similes and metaphors in his writing because he is trying to compare his story to challenges the average person may face.
Tone- As I stated above the book is written in first person. The tone in the book sounds enthusiastic in some parts when he talks about how he survived. It can also sound very wise, because in the end and throughout the book he throws in hints of advice, or phrases that make you think about certain decisions in life.
Rating:
Adrift gets a 7 sailboats out of 10
