Book Review of: Into My Father's Wake

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Reviewer: Mark Lamendola, author of over 6,000 articles.

This book just grabs you and does not let go until the end. Writing in a style that is rich in detail yet moves quickly through the action, Eric Best brings the reader along a round trip across 5,000 miles of ocean and a lifetime of emotions, failures, hopes, and dreams.

The author provides us with an account of this harrowing solo journey from San Francisco to Hawaii and back, through storms, fatigue, galley gaffes, and repeated battles against the feelings of desperation and despair. But he's also taking an inner journey, along which he seeks to resolve conflicts that have long haunted and undermined him. On that journey, also, he deals with storms and fatigue--but of the emotional kind.

While his central conflict on that trans-Pacific trip is with the ocean (which, he realizes, doesn't care if he lives or dies), his central conflict on his emotional journey is with his father. And thus, the title of the book. Those four words also end the last sentence of the book.

I don't do sailing, but I do climbing. People sometimes say, "I could never do that. I'm afraid of heights." My response is, "I have that same fear. I confront it with every climb." In Eric's case, it wasn't a fear of sailing but a fear of isolation. He could have take this trip with a companion, but instead made the journey by himself. And in so doing, he confronted his fear and (barely) overcame it.

This book isn't a novel, because it's a real-life account. But the author writes like a novelist. Novelists work hard to maintain what they call "tension." This is what keeps the reader on the edge of his/her seat, or at least interested enough to keep turning the pages. Too little tension, and the reader grows bored. Too much tension without a break in it, and the story becomes a burden. In this book, the author adroitly raises and breaks the attention. You can't help but become so enthralled you just keep reading.

So, it is a well-written biographical account of events? Not exactly. Because in this story, the author shares his thoughts, doubts, and fears as each problem or crises occurs. Or even may occur. For example, he's frequently plagued by the specter of being run over by a freighter (a fatal event for a 47-foot ketch like the Feo he's sailing). And he shows us the demons that arise when he can't make a sure determination of where he is.

Ah, so that makes it a self-help book? Not exactly. The author doesn't cheerily conclude with a 12-step program or ten tips for changing your life. If you can empathize with the author as you read along, and it's hard not to, you'll probably find that you're gaining the same insights he gained on this trip. I didn't mull over these "lessons learned" while reading the book, as it kept me riveted to its pages. But after completing the book, I realized that the real story here wasn't about the sailing.

This book would make an excellent resource for any group study focused on learning from life. For example, I can see a philosophy class using this book as the basis for some pretty deep and interesting discussions. Any college literature program that still makes students read The Great Gatsby can replace that book with this one.

Note to Sunday School teachers: While this book would be excellent in many ways for your use, it does contain a few blue words that your group won't be comfortable saying aloud in class.

Into My Father's Wake probably won't join the fluff pieces that have dominated the business genre over the past few years, but any manager or executive should put it on his/her personal required reading list.