Dimensions
152 x 229 x 26mm
Why would anyone want to row all the way across the Atlantic Ocean without benefit of motor‚ sail‚ or company? In the spring of 1998‚ this was one of Tori McClure's least favorite questions because she couldn't really answer it. She knew that she had some demons to slay. As cartographers would write on old maps when they came to the end of the known world‚ "Here There Be Sea Monsters." But if she had known the size of the monsters she would find‚ she freely admits that she would not have had the nerve to continue.
Tori wants to show the world what one person with a mission can do. She wants to set an example for self-sufficiency and dedication. When she loses all means of communication except her emergency beacon‚ she rows on‚ even though she will have no way to find the Gulf Stream or avoid the perilous hurricanes that nearly kill her. When she finally has to signal for help‚ she goes home hating herself.
But back in Kentucky‚ she finds her life changing in unexpected ways. She falls in love and for the first time in her life‚ allows herself to become irrevocably attached. She finds herself occasionally "behaving like a girl." She has her first hissy fit. And she meets Muhammad Ali who tells her that she does not want to be known as the woman who "almost" rowed across the Atlantic Ocean. So with her friends and her lover‚ she devises a plan to succeed‚ and succeed she does. But the climax of the book is a far more unlikely and mundane event than would once have been impossible for Tori.
Funny‚ self-deprecating‚ and painfully honest‚ Tori makes us understand why someone would want to undertake such a perilous journey. She shows us that the most important goal is not to prove that you are superhuman‚ but fully to embrace your own humanity.
