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Eastern Passage
Following Farley Mowat’s bestselling memoir, Otherwise , the literary lion returns with an unexpected triumph.
Eastern Passage is a new and captivating piece of the puzzle of Farley Mowat’s the years from his return from the north in the late 1940s to his discovery of Newfoundland and his love affair with the sea in the 1950s. This was a time in which he wrote his first books and weathered his first storms of controversy, a time when he was discovering himself through experiences that, as he writes, "go to the heart of who and what I was" during his formative years as a writer and activist.
In the 1950s, with his career taking off but his first marriage troubled, Farley Mowat buys a piece of land northwest of Toronto and attempts to settle down. His accounts of building his home are by turns hilarious and affecting, while the insights into his early work and his relationship with his publishers offer a rare glimpse into the inner workings of a writer’s career.
But in the end, his restless soul could not be pinned to one place, and when his father offered him a chance to sail down the St. Lawrence, he jumped at it, not realizing that his journey would bring him face to face with one of Canada’s more shocking secrets – one most of us still don’t know today. This horrific incident, recalling as it did the lingering aftermath of war, and from which it took the area decades to recover, would forge the final tempering of Mowat as the activist we know today.
Eastern Passage is a funny, astute, and moving book that reveals that there is more yet to this fascinating and beloved figure than we think we know.
Eastern Passage is a new and captivating piece of the puzzle of Farley Mowat’s the years from his return from the north in the late 1940s to his discovery of Newfoundland and his love affair with the sea in the 1950s. This was a time in which he wrote his first books and weathered his first storms of controversy, a time when he was discovering himself through experiences that, as he writes, "go to the heart of who and what I was" during his formative years as a writer and activist.
In the 1950s, with his career taking off but his first marriage troubled, Farley Mowat buys a piece of land northwest of Toronto and attempts to settle down. His accounts of building his home are by turns hilarious and affecting, while the insights into his early work and his relationship with his publishers offer a rare glimpse into the inner workings of a writer’s career.
But in the end, his restless soul could not be pinned to one place, and when his father offered him a chance to sail down the St. Lawrence, he jumped at it, not realizing that his journey would bring him face to face with one of Canada’s more shocking secrets – one most of us still don’t know today. This horrific incident, recalling as it did the lingering aftermath of war, and from which it took the area decades to recover, would forge the final tempering of Mowat as the activist we know today.
Eastern Passage is a funny, astute, and moving book that reveals that there is more yet to this fascinating and beloved figure than we think we know.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
20 people are currently reading
119 people want to read
About the author
Farley Mowat
117 books646 followersFarley McGill Mowat was a conservationist and one of Canada's most widely-read authors.
Many of his most popular works have been memoirs of his childhood, his war service, and his work as a naturalist. His works have been translated into 52 languages and he has sold more than 14 million books.
Mowat studied biology at the University of Toronto. During a field trip to the Arctic, Mowat became outraged at the plight of the Ihalmiut, a Caribou Inuit band, which he attributed to misunderstanding by whites. His outrage led him to publish his first novel, People of the Deer (1952). This book made Mowat into a literary celebrity and was largely responsible for the shift in the Canadian government's Inuit policy: the government began shipping meat and dry goods to a people they previously denied existed.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship RV Farley Mowat was named in honour of him, and he frequently visited it to assist its mission.
Many of his most popular works have been memoirs of his childhood, his war service, and his work as a naturalist. His works have been translated into 52 languages and he has sold more than 14 million books.
Mowat studied biology at the University of Toronto. During a field trip to the Arctic, Mowat became outraged at the plight of the Ihalmiut, a Caribou Inuit band, which he attributed to misunderstanding by whites. His outrage led him to publish his first novel, People of the Deer (1952). This book made Mowat into a literary celebrity and was largely responsible for the shift in the Canadian government's Inuit policy: the government began shipping meat and dry goods to a people they previously denied existed.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship RV Farley Mowat was named in honour of him, and he frequently visited it to assist its mission.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 27, 2014
Farley's account of the beginning of his writing career, and as it turns out his homesteading experience...at the same time!
This book is just full of surprises. After his return from WWII, Farley meets up with France and gets married. This is a surprise to me since I've never heard of this lady. I didn't even know he was married? Anyway, FM can't stand the city (Toronto at the time) and manages to buy 10 acres from a friend for $50 or $500, don't quote me but it was cheap. The land in way out in the country, lot 4b on cty ln 10 off RR#30 just past the old burned out yurt...you get the idea? There is barely a road, there is no house, there is no electricity, not even cell phone coverage. Farley takes the spring and summer to put up what sounds like a solid log house. Made with his own hands, a shovel, and a jeep. The next year he takes on the land, which sounds like it was pretty worn out from previous logging and farming. He starts a giant garden, gets a few chickens, and starts reforesting the land. During these first couple of years he writes his first book - The People of the Deer - and sells a few magazine articles. His breakout success with this book brings more confidence and more ideas, pretty soon he has a few books on the go. One of these book ideas, eventually leading to And No Birds Sang, takes him and his wife on a European Vacation. Not the fun Griswold type (we're pigs), but, to reconnect with the battlegrounds and experiences he had during his war years. Then, to my surprise he starts a family?! Another shocker! I never knew he had kids? But, a little boy is born a year or so after the Europe trip. Then Farley promptly takes a voyage on a boat down the St.Lawrence river out to Nova Scotia, where the story suddenly ends. There is some foreshadowing that implies the trip was a bad idea and it would probably ruined his fragile marriage and new family life.
The book was laid out in an interesting way. Farley tells his writing story mostly through letters he had with his editor and his agent. Now, I know writers can be a bit strange and unconventional, but, Farley has to take the cake on this one. In most of his letters to his editor he writes very unprofessionally. He dismisses most of the changes his editor suggest (even if predicted to sell more books), which is normal I suppose. But, then mentions how he could write more if he wasn't always spending his time on that garden. How if he was just sent an advance, even $500, he wouldn't worry about him and his wife starving this winter. Or, he pushes that he should come meet with the editor, if of course they would kindly pay for travel food hotel. Then there are letters that he chats about the weather or some other topic that has nothing to do with writing. He rambles, he swears, he rants, he criticizes the government...in letters to his editor.
There seemed, to me at least, to be a theme running through the book - independence. Mowat shares stories about his homesteading, stressing how his eventual goal was to be self-sufficient. Then there is the a big section about a trip he takes to visit some old army friends who live in the northern part of Hastings county. These people were not part of mainstream society. They were living off the land; fishing and hunting. Farely's stories brought out the best in these rough outliers lives and I felt his tone bordered envy. Then there was his boat trip. What can be more blatantly isolating than being secluded on a boat in the middle of a large body of water...that's one way to get away, especially if there is a strong current pushing you. It was pretty clear by the end of the book that Farley was trying to get away from something at this part of his life. What? I'm not sure, but, that's what good writers do, leave you hanging...and/or encourage you to buy the next book! Or, leave you thinking? Was he running from his war memories? his wife? responsibility? growing up?
http://bookwormsfeastofbooks.blogspot...
This book is just full of surprises. After his return from WWII, Farley meets up with France and gets married. This is a surprise to me since I've never heard of this lady. I didn't even know he was married? Anyway, FM can't stand the city (Toronto at the time) and manages to buy 10 acres from a friend for $50 or $500, don't quote me but it was cheap. The land in way out in the country, lot 4b on cty ln 10 off RR#30 just past the old burned out yurt...you get the idea? There is barely a road, there is no house, there is no electricity, not even cell phone coverage. Farley takes the spring and summer to put up what sounds like a solid log house. Made with his own hands, a shovel, and a jeep. The next year he takes on the land, which sounds like it was pretty worn out from previous logging and farming. He starts a giant garden, gets a few chickens, and starts reforesting the land. During these first couple of years he writes his first book - The People of the Deer - and sells a few magazine articles. His breakout success with this book brings more confidence and more ideas, pretty soon he has a few books on the go. One of these book ideas, eventually leading to And No Birds Sang, takes him and his wife on a European Vacation. Not the fun Griswold type (we're pigs), but, to reconnect with the battlegrounds and experiences he had during his war years. Then, to my surprise he starts a family?! Another shocker! I never knew he had kids? But, a little boy is born a year or so after the Europe trip. Then Farley promptly takes a voyage on a boat down the St.Lawrence river out to Nova Scotia, where the story suddenly ends. There is some foreshadowing that implies the trip was a bad idea and it would probably ruined his fragile marriage and new family life.
The book was laid out in an interesting way. Farley tells his writing story mostly through letters he had with his editor and his agent. Now, I know writers can be a bit strange and unconventional, but, Farley has to take the cake on this one. In most of his letters to his editor he writes very unprofessionally. He dismisses most of the changes his editor suggest (even if predicted to sell more books), which is normal I suppose. But, then mentions how he could write more if he wasn't always spending his time on that garden. How if he was just sent an advance, even $500, he wouldn't worry about him and his wife starving this winter. Or, he pushes that he should come meet with the editor, if of course they would kindly pay for travel food hotel. Then there are letters that he chats about the weather or some other topic that has nothing to do with writing. He rambles, he swears, he rants, he criticizes the government...in letters to his editor.
There seemed, to me at least, to be a theme running through the book - independence. Mowat shares stories about his homesteading, stressing how his eventual goal was to be self-sufficient. Then there is the a big section about a trip he takes to visit some old army friends who live in the northern part of Hastings county. These people were not part of mainstream society. They were living off the land; fishing and hunting. Farely's stories brought out the best in these rough outliers lives and I felt his tone bordered envy. Then there was his boat trip. What can be more blatantly isolating than being secluded on a boat in the middle of a large body of water...that's one way to get away, especially if there is a strong current pushing you. It was pretty clear by the end of the book that Farley was trying to get away from something at this part of his life. What? I'm not sure, but, that's what good writers do, leave you hanging...and/or encourage you to buy the next book! Or, leave you thinking? Was he running from his war memories? his wife? responsibility? growing up?
http://bookwormsfeastofbooks.blogspot...
May 8, 2011
For those of you who love Fsrley Mowat, you'll enjoy this book. His writing style is immediately recognizable, and despite being an autobiography, the book reads like Farley's fiction - humourous, at times self-deprecating, always entertaining, and interesting to read.
May 28, 2022
Enjoyable book about the author's life after WW2 through the mid 1950's. He was a naturalist and adventurer.
After WW2 the author took a job as a naturalist in Canada's Barren Lands which is way up north towards the Arctic Circle. There was a tribe of indigenous people who had died from a mysterious disease. Of course, tbe Canadian government said there was no such tribe and that the author made this up.
After living in the Barren Lands and further south ( but still way up north), he acquired land in rural Ontario, 40 miles from Toronto. Back in the 1940's this was still rural country. He and his wife built their home and planted trees and vegetable gardens. He was definitely an environmentalist.
He still had a craving for a wanderlust life. His father invited him on a sailing journey down (on the map the journey is more upwards, northwards) the St Lawrence across to the Atlantic Ocean down to Halifax, Nova Scotia through the Eastern Passage. Of course he went.
Interesting story he heard from a local in their trip down the St Lawrence. A few years earlier in 1950 there was a big explosion along the river. It was unexplained until 50 years later when Canada's Ministry of Defence stated that an American superfortress plane travelling from Goose Bay, Newfoundland to somewhere in the US had lost it's cargo along the river. The cargo was a Fat Man bomb with the plutonium not in the bomb. So it was a nuclear bomb without the nuclear plutonium element that hit the river. Ever since then there has been no fish, no sea lions, no beluga whales in that section of the river. The people who lived the closest to this area have a high rate of cancer.
The sea trip was an adventure. Parts of it remind me of the movie The Perfect Storm because they did sail through a storm.
Exciting adventure story.
After WW2 the author took a job as a naturalist in Canada's Barren Lands which is way up north towards the Arctic Circle. There was a tribe of indigenous people who had died from a mysterious disease. Of course, tbe Canadian government said there was no such tribe and that the author made this up.
After living in the Barren Lands and further south ( but still way up north), he acquired land in rural Ontario, 40 miles from Toronto. Back in the 1940's this was still rural country. He and his wife built their home and planted trees and vegetable gardens. He was definitely an environmentalist.
He still had a craving for a wanderlust life. His father invited him on a sailing journey down (on the map the journey is more upwards, northwards) the St Lawrence across to the Atlantic Ocean down to Halifax, Nova Scotia through the Eastern Passage. Of course he went.
Interesting story he heard from a local in their trip down the St Lawrence. A few years earlier in 1950 there was a big explosion along the river. It was unexplained until 50 years later when Canada's Ministry of Defence stated that an American superfortress plane travelling from Goose Bay, Newfoundland to somewhere in the US had lost it's cargo along the river. The cargo was a Fat Man bomb with the plutonium not in the bomb. So it was a nuclear bomb without the nuclear plutonium element that hit the river. Ever since then there has been no fish, no sea lions, no beluga whales in that section of the river. The people who lived the closest to this area have a high rate of cancer.
The sea trip was an adventure. Parts of it remind me of the movie The Perfect Storm because they did sail through a storm.
Exciting adventure story.
February 24, 2023
This book is a great improvement on Otherwise, the story it follows on from, mostly because Eastern Passage is not almost entirely plagiarized from Mowat's other publications. What is a little irritating in this book (and others by Mowat) are blatant contradictions between tellings of the same story in various publications. For example, [Spoiler alert - skip the next paragraph to avoid it]
.
the arc of Otherwise depends quite heavily on the story of Farley looking forward to sailing Scotch Bonnet after the army, as promised by his father, and the resulting conflict when he reminds his father of this. However, in Eastern Passage , he claims never to have raised the issue.
.
In all, this book was enjoyable, but a bit of a hodge podge, and also, lazily, includes long excerpts from journals and communications. To me, it's a missed opportunity to write a really interesting story about this phase of a fascinating life.
.
the arc of Otherwise depends quite heavily on the story of Farley looking forward to sailing Scotch Bonnet after the army, as promised by his father, and the resulting conflict when he reminds his father of this. However, in Eastern Passage , he claims never to have raised the issue.
.
In all, this book was enjoyable, but a bit of a hodge podge, and also, lazily, includes long excerpts from journals and communications. To me, it's a missed opportunity to write a really interesting story about this phase of a fascinating life.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 11, 2021
One of my heroes of the 20th century, the audacious Canadian adventurer, social maverick, writer of our natural world, and a spot or two of fiction. This segment of his biography ("Born Naked" is another) deals with post WWII years, including one of the most devastating insights into the real nature of battlefields in his brigade against the German army in the mountains of Italy. He also takes you on delightful tours of towns and villages in England, France, Italy and Newfoundland, concluding with an addictive, mad sail up (or down) the St. Lawrence to the Canadian Islands . . . and look out there just might be an atomic bomb included. A fun and fabulous read, for a man who terrified President Ronald Regan enough that he was actually banned from entering the USA for a book tour.
August 15, 2019
I was delighted to find a Farley Mowat book I hadn't read - he published this one 4 years before he passed away in 2014.
This autobiographical account covers the late 1940s when he returned as a shell shocked soldier from WW2 to spend time in the Arctic studying the few remaining native people and fauna. He recounts the incredibly tough conditions he managed to survive and even enjoy, returning a number of times to continue his studies!
He married in the 1950s and eked out a living in Albion, ON trying to start a writing career and live off the land.
Mowat was always an entertaining and captivating writer. I'm just sorry there aren't any more of his books to read.
This autobiographical account covers the late 1940s when he returned as a shell shocked soldier from WW2 to spend time in the Arctic studying the few remaining native people and fauna. He recounts the incredibly tough conditions he managed to survive and even enjoy, returning a number of times to continue his studies!
He married in the 1950s and eked out a living in Albion, ON trying to start a writing career and live off the land.
Mowat was always an entertaining and captivating writer. I'm just sorry there aren't any more of his books to read.
October 9, 2017
Eastern Passage was OK, but a little disjointed. It was written in an autobiographical, chronological style rather than being the thematic memoir I would have preferred. I love most of the books I've read by Farley Mowat, but I don't think I've read enough to really appreciate this bit of backstory on his life (though I did like the insight into Never Cry Wolf, which was an excellent book).
September 21, 2022
A perfectly pleasant book, the details of which I will almost certainly forget within weeks. An enjoyable experience, but with very few, if any, memorable passages.
That being said, I'll never tire of Mowat's writing style.
That being said, I'll never tire of Mowat's writing style.
January 27, 2018
He was an amazing person with many adventures. Very interesting memoir.
October 23, 2020
I just love the way this guy writes. Also, his subject matter is very often close to my heart.
March 5, 2024
Not sure this was a story that needed to be told. Certainly didn't justify itself. It's saved from a 1 because it's well written and the first thirty pages are genuinely absorbing
January 16, 2011
A decent but lacklustre finale to Farley Mowats prodigious writing career. Less an autobiography than a loose collection of chronological tales, the content varies between intimate retellings of some of the author's most trying personal times, and recycled content from previous books. Nevertheless, Mowat continues his trend of molding truth and reality into a compelling and ultimately satisfying and inspiring read which leaves you wanting more. The ending however is very abrupt and left me with the sensation of being dropped off mid-book, awaiting the next adventure, or at the very least, the next part of Mowat's supposed autobiography. However, with this being announced as the final book - neither shall ever come.
June 19, 2015
Not one of Mowats Best.
Anyway bing by Farley Mowat is a treat, but this book seems somewhat disjointed and self consciously curmudgeonly. Looked like be wanted to get a book out of material on hand and stitched together a patchwork of many starts and few finishes. Despite that a day with a mediocre Mowat is better than most days without.
Anyway bing by Farley Mowat is a treat, but this book seems somewhat disjointed and self consciously curmudgeonly. Looked like be wanted to get a book out of material on hand and stitched together a patchwork of many starts and few finishes. Despite that a day with a mediocre Mowat is better than most days without.
December 30, 2012
Really disappointing. Moments of brilliance but not worth wading through to get to them.
June 8, 2011
Classic Mowat. Sublime.
October 20, 2011
- autobiographical Farley Mowat post war to mid 50s; lots of humour; lots of information; and as usual he gives us some things to think about. quite good.
November 7, 2012
Never met a Mowat book that I didn't love. This is a quick read but leaves a lasting memory. Well written, told with heart, and touches the heart.
April 10, 2014
The high point of this book for me was when Mowat finally answers his critics over his early writings about the people of the Canadian Arctic
May 29, 2014
I finished this book just before Mr. Mowat passed away. It reads as if he was in the room talking to you and certainly left me wanting more.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews