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Deep Water Passage: A Spiritual Journey at Midlife
This "engrossing adventure and . . . story of spiritual awakening and inspiration" ( Publishers Weekly ) tells the true story of Ann Linnea, the first woman to circumnavigate Lake Superior by sea kayak.
Chronicles the author's midlife spiritual journey, during which she spent sixty-five days kayaking around Lake Superior--the first woman to perform such a feat--while facing dangerous elements and reassessing her life.
Chronicles the author's midlife spiritual journey, during which she spent sixty-five days kayaking around Lake Superior--the first woman to perform such a feat--while facing dangerous elements and reassessing her life.
240 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
July 17, 2009
This book was so bad on so many levels, that the only thing spiritual about it was the way in which self-flagellation would have been preferable to reading the entire thing. Now, what you are no doubt asking yourself right now is "if it was so bad, why did he finish the damn thing?"
Well, pull up a chair son, and I'll tell you a tale. My relationship with this book went through 3 stages. From the very beginning, it was apparent that the prose was amateur and that the ostensible subject of kayaking around Lake Superior is entirely secondary to her new age spirituality and aggressive schedule of crying every 3 pages. Nonetheless, I hoped that, through constant passages about sore shoulders and how distant her husband was (with a light sprinkling of beach-side masturbation) I might be able to glean some knowledge about the difficulties entailed in circumnavigating one of the great lakes in a sea kayak (a feat I hope to accomplish myself some day.)
Unfortunately, the closest she ever got to revealing a practical detail was when she listed the total length of their trip at 9 weeks, a pace which I can only assume is easily beaten by two people in a tandem kayak who reduce their pre-menopausal crying fits to 50% of the total travel time or less. Might I also mention that by about 1/3 of the way through the book, I began to suspect that Ms. Linnea was a profoundly incompetent kayaker? Though she never directly says so, I believe that she could not perform the eskimo roll. I base this conclusion on the fact that even when the water was warm enough for her to "stop hourly for naked swims", (p. ALLOVERTHEFUCKINGPLACE) she was constantly terrified of her kayak rolling in the surf. She also seems to constantly and profoundly overestimate the degree of physical danger involved in things like landing on rocky beaches. I am not sure if this was part of an attempt to make herself seem cooler due to the dangers she had faced, or merely the result of a grotesque misunderstanding of the physical forces involved, but it certainly contributed a great deal to my constant, and constantly mounting, rage.
The second part of my relationship with the book began around the time she started having quasi-sexual dreams about her deceased best friend, which was also the time at which she started awkwardly describing her infrequent, yet far too frequent, beach side masturbation sessions. By this point, I had largely given up on the idea of the book as a useful water sports resource, but there was something else keeping me going. I simply had to know if this awkward, repressed, middle-age school teacher, with her disjointed paragraph structure and emotionally disconnected husband was actually going to have the ovaries to come out of the closet at some point before page 225. That would have at least given the book some kind of redeeming socio-psychological facade with which to drape itself.
An interesting aside at this point is to mention that at the very beginning of the book, it seemed like the dramatic tension of the book might be leading to her leaving her husband Dave for her paddling partner Paul. It became apparent this wasn't going to happen the first time she became explicitly aroused by the "smooth softness of the flat lake water, so very like [her:] own stomach."
Unfortunately for me, you and her, she never did work up the chutzpah to up and out herself, and the book remained an unvarnished piece of crap. Not since my freshman year philosophy class have I read such a self-congradulatory piece of literary masturbation.
Finally, for about the last 50 pages of the book, my state was much like that of Ms. Linnea: my shoulders were sore and I couldn't stop crying, but the taunting proximity of my final goal kept me going. Something important was going to happen for both of us at the end of our journeys. She was going to move to Puget Sound with her "best friend" Cynthia, to start a series of hippie-ass workshops teaching women to get in touch with nature (you know, the kind of thing you see on Real Sex episodes from the 90s where wrinkly people with curly salt and pepper hair get naked in the woods and pretend everybody doesn't stink of under-washed genitals and patchouli.)
I, on the other hand, was going to march my ass straight over to Goodreads, and try to prevent anyone else from ever mistaking this for an honest kayaking book ever again. I hope I've done my job, and I hope that somewhere along the way Ann's dead best friend/guardian angel/glowing ball of light/otter/bald eagle/yet another excuse to masturbate in front of all those poor fish came to her and explained that not only is it ok to like girls, it can do fucking wonders for your aimless, boring, exasperating novel if you will just fucking OWN it, instead of skulking around in the shadows, blaming your husband for being emotionally inaccessible.
OH, AND BY THE WAY, ANN. YOU CANNOT SIMPLY REARRANGE YOU FAVORITE PHRASES FROM THE BOOK INTO A FUNNY SHAPE ON THE PAGE AND CALL IT A POEM. I CAN'T BELIEVE YOUR EDITOR DIDN'T TAKE THE PAGE YOU WROTE THAT ON, CRUMPLE IT UP, DIP IT IN ARSENIC, AND *MAKE YOUR CHILDREN EAT IT WHILE YOU WATCHED*.
Well, pull up a chair son, and I'll tell you a tale. My relationship with this book went through 3 stages. From the very beginning, it was apparent that the prose was amateur and that the ostensible subject of kayaking around Lake Superior is entirely secondary to her new age spirituality and aggressive schedule of crying every 3 pages. Nonetheless, I hoped that, through constant passages about sore shoulders and how distant her husband was (with a light sprinkling of beach-side masturbation) I might be able to glean some knowledge about the difficulties entailed in circumnavigating one of the great lakes in a sea kayak (a feat I hope to accomplish myself some day.)
Unfortunately, the closest she ever got to revealing a practical detail was when she listed the total length of their trip at 9 weeks, a pace which I can only assume is easily beaten by two people in a tandem kayak who reduce their pre-menopausal crying fits to 50% of the total travel time or less. Might I also mention that by about 1/3 of the way through the book, I began to suspect that Ms. Linnea was a profoundly incompetent kayaker? Though she never directly says so, I believe that she could not perform the eskimo roll. I base this conclusion on the fact that even when the water was warm enough for her to "stop hourly for naked swims", (p. ALLOVERTHEFUCKINGPLACE) she was constantly terrified of her kayak rolling in the surf. She also seems to constantly and profoundly overestimate the degree of physical danger involved in things like landing on rocky beaches. I am not sure if this was part of an attempt to make herself seem cooler due to the dangers she had faced, or merely the result of a grotesque misunderstanding of the physical forces involved, but it certainly contributed a great deal to my constant, and constantly mounting, rage.
The second part of my relationship with the book began around the time she started having quasi-sexual dreams about her deceased best friend, which was also the time at which she started awkwardly describing her infrequent, yet far too frequent, beach side masturbation sessions. By this point, I had largely given up on the idea of the book as a useful water sports resource, but there was something else keeping me going. I simply had to know if this awkward, repressed, middle-age school teacher, with her disjointed paragraph structure and emotionally disconnected husband was actually going to have the ovaries to come out of the closet at some point before page 225. That would have at least given the book some kind of redeeming socio-psychological facade with which to drape itself.
An interesting aside at this point is to mention that at the very beginning of the book, it seemed like the dramatic tension of the book might be leading to her leaving her husband Dave for her paddling partner Paul. It became apparent this wasn't going to happen the first time she became explicitly aroused by the "smooth softness of the flat lake water, so very like [her:] own stomach."
Unfortunately for me, you and her, she never did work up the chutzpah to up and out herself, and the book remained an unvarnished piece of crap. Not since my freshman year philosophy class have I read such a self-congradulatory piece of literary masturbation.
Finally, for about the last 50 pages of the book, my state was much like that of Ms. Linnea: my shoulders were sore and I couldn't stop crying, but the taunting proximity of my final goal kept me going. Something important was going to happen for both of us at the end of our journeys. She was going to move to Puget Sound with her "best friend" Cynthia, to start a series of hippie-ass workshops teaching women to get in touch with nature (you know, the kind of thing you see on Real Sex episodes from the 90s where wrinkly people with curly salt and pepper hair get naked in the woods and pretend everybody doesn't stink of under-washed genitals and patchouli.)
I, on the other hand, was going to march my ass straight over to Goodreads, and try to prevent anyone else from ever mistaking this for an honest kayaking book ever again. I hope I've done my job, and I hope that somewhere along the way Ann's dead best friend/guardian angel/glowing ball of light/otter/bald eagle/yet another excuse to masturbate in front of all those poor fish came to her and explained that not only is it ok to like girls, it can do fucking wonders for your aimless, boring, exasperating novel if you will just fucking OWN it, instead of skulking around in the shadows, blaming your husband for being emotionally inaccessible.
OH, AND BY THE WAY, ANN. YOU CANNOT SIMPLY REARRANGE YOU FAVORITE PHRASES FROM THE BOOK INTO A FUNNY SHAPE ON THE PAGE AND CALL IT A POEM. I CAN'T BELIEVE YOUR EDITOR DIDN'T TAKE THE PAGE YOU WROTE THAT ON, CRUMPLE IT UP, DIP IT IN ARSENIC, AND *MAKE YOUR CHILDREN EAT IT WHILE YOU WATCHED*.
March 23, 2018
I read this years ago and it was one of my favorite travel/adventure books.
September 18, 2018
In the acknowledgments at the back of the book, the author Ann Linnea notes that her paddling partner, Paul, "read and critiqued the entire manuscript and lent valuable insight to its development." I wish someone outside of knowing her and knowing the experience had done the same.
I read this book immediately after reading A Year in the Wilderness: Bearing Witness in the Boundary Waters (by Amy and Dave Freeman). Where this couple had difficulty describing what it was like for them in a way that went beyond basics and allowed the reader to immerse herself in the experience of living in the Boundary Waters for a year, Ann Linnea was so dramatic and personal in her descriptions of her trip around Lake Superior it became overwhelming and uncomfortable to read. I cannot say that either book was well-written, although I will give it to Ann Linnea for at least providing some idea of the strength and knowledge it took to complete her journey and for providing some okay descriptions about some parts of the lake.
There were times I needed to remind myself that the journey for this woman took place in the early 1990s. Communication technology, as well as outdoor gear have certainly changed quite a bit through the past 20+ years. I am sure that that had some impact on her in a way that might not be as present today. Beyond that, though, I could not connect with the author because her way of connecting to the wilderness is very different from mine. I could get past the rituals. The noting of how often she cried, though, the anger towards men and living in a misogynistic society... I get that stuff, but I don't get her telling of it in the way she did. I questioned whether some of her comments about her husband were fair to put into this book. She desperately needed a good editor.
That said, I don't doubt that doing this trip at the time she did it was a big deal. I would not have put up with the weather and physical conditions produced by that weather that she did. This book is subtitled as a spiritual journey at midlife, but it came across as more of a testimony to grief.
I read this book immediately after reading A Year in the Wilderness: Bearing Witness in the Boundary Waters (by Amy and Dave Freeman). Where this couple had difficulty describing what it was like for them in a way that went beyond basics and allowed the reader to immerse herself in the experience of living in the Boundary Waters for a year, Ann Linnea was so dramatic and personal in her descriptions of her trip around Lake Superior it became overwhelming and uncomfortable to read. I cannot say that either book was well-written, although I will give it to Ann Linnea for at least providing some idea of the strength and knowledge it took to complete her journey and for providing some okay descriptions about some parts of the lake.
There were times I needed to remind myself that the journey for this woman took place in the early 1990s. Communication technology, as well as outdoor gear have certainly changed quite a bit through the past 20+ years. I am sure that that had some impact on her in a way that might not be as present today. Beyond that, though, I could not connect with the author because her way of connecting to the wilderness is very different from mine. I could get past the rituals. The noting of how often she cried, though, the anger towards men and living in a misogynistic society... I get that stuff, but I don't get her telling of it in the way she did. I questioned whether some of her comments about her husband were fair to put into this book. She desperately needed a good editor.
That said, I don't doubt that doing this trip at the time she did it was a big deal. I would not have put up with the weather and physical conditions produced by that weather that she did. This book is subtitled as a spiritual journey at midlife, but it came across as more of a testimony to grief.
April 15, 2018
A book about a personal journey, as well as a kayaking one around Lake Superior. Paul and I did the Lake Superior Circle tour by car (and camped) in 2010 I wanted to read this. I am not a 'in-water' person, love the water as long as I am terra firma.
What I liked about this book was her detailed descriptions of the kayaking (and it really sounded miserable, a very wet and cold summer (1992) - and having my own scrapbook of our circle tour so that I could follow along. It was a different perspective of course. This story only reconfirmed how I never want to spend more than an hour at a time in a kayak, if even that much!
What I liked about this book was her detailed descriptions of the kayaking (and it really sounded miserable, a very wet and cold summer (1992) - and having my own scrapbook of our circle tour so that I could follow along. It was a different perspective of course. This story only reconfirmed how I never want to spend more than an hour at a time in a kayak, if even that much!
December 6, 2019
I appreciated this memoir for its authenticity. Linnea succeeded in bridging the chasm between her life (sporty, Northern, mother of young children, in the process of ending her marriage, new-Age-ish) and mine (none of those things). I think her honest accounting of her thoughts and feelings made it ring true, and made it compelling.
February 18, 2025
Absolutely. Adored. This. The story of the first woman to kayak around the whole of Lake Superior in the early 90s. I love Lake Superior, I love books about people being challenged in the wilderness, and I love books about people’s spiritual awakenings in Mother Nature. Oh, and I read this in two days while vacationing in a cozy log cabin outside of Grand Marais this past weekend.
July 26, 2019
Excellent-I live in duluth so this was especially interesting to experience her trip as a paddler myself. Loved her honesty and sensory descriptions-felt like she held nothing back in retelling her life-changing experience.
November 26, 2021
This was an OK read. I didn't really get into the more spiritual parts of Ann's journey, they seemed a little too... Personal? And didn't make a ton of sense to me. I was more impacted by the physical journey around Lake Superior, and the toll it took on her.
February 26, 2025
I loved this book. Inspiring and raw. Every emotion she writes about is so understandable. The lake that is the greatest will do that to you. Lake Superior’s magic is not a fantasy. Ann has experienced it. What a great book.
June 13, 2025
My cousin shared this one with me and I thought “what the heck?” I really enjoyed the parts about the paddle around the big lake. As someone who enjoys time along Minnesota’s North Shore, it was fun to read about other parts of the lake. Parts were a little self-indulgent for me.
September 16, 2018
Enjoyed reading about the conditions and experiences of a kayak paddle around the perimeter of Lake Superior .... but what a wacky author.
June 10, 2020
This engrossing adventure and story of spiritual awakening and inspiration tells the true story of Ann Linnea, the first woman to circumnavigate Lake Superior by sea kayak.
October 9, 2020
Was cool to read about traveling around Lake Superior. But the way she talked got old and tedious. No one talks like this all the time. Sounded to much like text book.
December 9, 2020
A good book about kayaking the big lake. I wasn't so into the mystical stuff, but that's my fault, because that's clearly what she's about.
Read
February 11, 2025My new favorite book! This author will assist you in delving deeply into your own personal life journey. Wow!
March 15, 2025
This book will stay with me in ways I had not expected.
July 22, 2016
Deep Water Passage: a spiritual journey at midlife by Ann Linnea
I read this book at 2 different levels, with the author leading the way. At 43, which is my current age (not anymore), the author went on a journey in a kayak around Lake Superior in search of her own selfhood. For me it was fun to read of her physical travels, having followed a similar route, although on land. Who knows, I may have been one of the tourists she waved to or conversed with. I've experienced the same extreme cold Lake Superior offered her --- one night's camping on it's shore is forever frozen on my mind.
At the same time she was on a journey to find out who she is. She wanted to shed society's cover over her and reveal HERSELF -- a person.
The analogies she used as she paddled through the calm waters, the stormy waters --- the land as she hugged it and cried --- the land as she became one with it. All are the same as we pull our way through life.
It was uplifting to read of her struggle "..a journey to teach me my humanness was the loneliest journey of my life", and know that such a struggle is necessary and well worth it. "This sense of inferiority is not a solitary battle -- every female faces some form of it. The struggle to claim ourselves as the authority in our own lives, while living in a culture where we are conditioned to give men our authority, is basic to our freedom". This freedom is what she sought.
The final 10 miles were for her most difficult. She had discovered her self; but "....this was the strength I was seeking, to be able to return home .... enough confidence to claim my own truths, the ability to invite others into my space rather than always accommodating myself and trying to fit into theirs". Return she did...all of her. 11/97
I read this book at 2 different levels, with the author leading the way. At 43, which is my current age (not anymore), the author went on a journey in a kayak around Lake Superior in search of her own selfhood. For me it was fun to read of her physical travels, having followed a similar route, although on land. Who knows, I may have been one of the tourists she waved to or conversed with. I've experienced the same extreme cold Lake Superior offered her --- one night's camping on it's shore is forever frozen on my mind.
At the same time she was on a journey to find out who she is. She wanted to shed society's cover over her and reveal HERSELF -- a person.
The analogies she used as she paddled through the calm waters, the stormy waters --- the land as she hugged it and cried --- the land as she became one with it. All are the same as we pull our way through life.
It was uplifting to read of her struggle "..a journey to teach me my humanness was the loneliest journey of my life", and know that such a struggle is necessary and well worth it. "This sense of inferiority is not a solitary battle -- every female faces some form of it. The struggle to claim ourselves as the authority in our own lives, while living in a culture where we are conditioned to give men our authority, is basic to our freedom". This freedom is what she sought.
The final 10 miles were for her most difficult. She had discovered her self; but "....this was the strength I was seeking, to be able to return home .... enough confidence to claim my own truths, the ability to invite others into my space rather than always accommodating myself and trying to fit into theirs". Return she did...all of her. 11/97
January 8, 2015
Oh, my aching paddling arms. Oh, my aching Psyche. Paddling around the entire Lake Superior Shore is no doubt a daunting feat and to have returned to the original dock is an accomplishment worth writing about.
There are things to be learned (via arm-chair-paddling) about the physical aspects of The Lake, the tasks at hand of each day, and I'm certain that no-one understands the mental determination, emotional roller-coaster that must occur over the course of a 9 week journey.
However. . . Note to self: "VJ, Pay more attention - 'A Spiritual Journey at Midlife' - could bog this down from an outdoor adventure, set in your favorite area, to a thinly veiled crisis of husband vs. girlfriend.
My apologies to the author and to fans of what our family refers to as: "do-do-do-do" (Twilight Zone)......
I kept reading, however, for the references to areas of the Lake Superior shore that I've been lucky enough to travel, enjoy and camp.
I will look for other books about the adventure, that are not based on such a long-lasting and very personal crisis, particularly along a path of changing sexual orientation in a way that I don't criticize, but simply cannot understand. Oh, and setting up 'altars', burning sage, gimme a break.....
There are things to be learned (via arm-chair-paddling) about the physical aspects of The Lake, the tasks at hand of each day, and I'm certain that no-one understands the mental determination, emotional roller-coaster that must occur over the course of a 9 week journey.
However. . . Note to self: "VJ, Pay more attention - 'A Spiritual Journey at Midlife' - could bog this down from an outdoor adventure, set in your favorite area, to a thinly veiled crisis of husband vs. girlfriend.
My apologies to the author and to fans of what our family refers to as: "do-do-do-do" (Twilight Zone)......
I kept reading, however, for the references to areas of the Lake Superior shore that I've been lucky enough to travel, enjoy and camp.
I will look for other books about the adventure, that are not based on such a long-lasting and very personal crisis, particularly along a path of changing sexual orientation in a way that I don't criticize, but simply cannot understand. Oh, and setting up 'altars', burning sage, gimme a break.....
April 2, 2012
I do love a good "woman-on-a-journey" memoir, whether the journey be spiritual, a physical challenge, an emotional passage, or some combination thereof. What leads me to impatience, however, is when, after setting off full of determination and confidence, the author promptly and ongoingly succombs to self-doubt and second-guessing, saying things like, "What ever made me think I could do this?", "What a crazy idea, after all." OK ... so our journies are often risky and we all have moments when our resolve is shaken, confidence undermined. And circumnavigating Lake Superior certainly presents formidable challenges, enough to rattle anybody's fortitude. I just feel that Linnea bemoans it all (the physical challenges, her marriage, her life's limitations) a bit too much. A little less kvetching, and this book would have merited a higher rating from me.
But then again, this is Linnea's memoir, right? So, who am I to say she should have written it differently? You'll learn a great deal about the powers and the magic of this lake if you read this one.
But then again, this is Linnea's memoir, right? So, who am I to say she should have written it differently? You'll learn a great deal about the powers and the magic of this lake if you read this one.
March 24, 2014
I think I gave this book four stars because I found it so fascinating. When I tried to think of what I learned or what great lesson Ann Linnea was trying to convey I came up empty. But I truly enjoyed the book and found her experience of paddling a kayak around the perimeter of She-Who-Is-Biggest (Lake Superior) amazing. She wrestles with grief, her own self image, and making a huge change at midlife, but beyond that the sheer adventure of living in the wilderness, facing dangerous situations, and pushing her body to its limits was captivating. I recognized myself in some of her dilemmas, but even when I didn't, my heart went out to her and even more so to her family and what they endured that summer.
August 25, 2016
You know, my expectations for this book and what the book turned out to actually be, were different. That always sets you up for an interesting experience as you're waiting for the book to be one thing, and it's marching in a completely different direction. I expected more "adventure" and more about the travails of the trip itself. It wanted to be more about a spiritual journey and "deep dig" into the author's grapples with grief, inadequacy, and other emotional challenges. Neither is a bad thing, but, given my expectations, I think I wanted more nature writing and ended up getting lots of spirit animals. It was a fast, easy read, and I certainly had takeaways from it. In the end, I'd give it 3.25 stars - not sad that I read it!
July 1, 2011
Though written in 1995, my memories of this wonderfully adventurous and soulful book remain. Ann Linnea writes of her daring and inspiring journey by kayak around the whole of Lake Superior. The day after her 43rd birthday she set off from Duluth, Minnesota on a 65 day journey in search of the unknown, the unresolved, and more than anything, herself. Beautifully written, full of danger at every turn, yet filled with the glorious bounty only Lake Superior can provide. Will she make it...read this, savor it and discover how drawn in you can be to someone elses exciting and dangerous journey of discovery. An absolutely wonderful book.
April 11, 2013
I read this book before a Lake Superior kayak trip, and I found it interesting but frustrating. Linnea paddled the lake in the worst possible conditions, and I admired her persistence although I felt she should have given it up. The story borders on self-absorption as she struggles with the death of an adventure-buddy who she loved dearly. It's clear, too, that she's preparing to leave her husband. I'm not sure what I wanted from this book, but I felt it just didn't quite measure up. Her descriptions of the Pukaskwa Peninsula, which I paddled the next summer, were encouraging, and I wasn't disappointed.
June 10, 2010
There are a lot of superlatives in the description of this book, and there is no doubt the journey was daunting, dangerous and deeply transformative. It just doesn't translate to these pages. I'm reminded of my mother taking a series of 8-12 shots of a panoramic scene and then assembling the snapshots when she got her pictures. It's nearly impossible to relay the majesty of such scenery. As a paddler, I honor Ann Linnea's courage and tenacity: as a reader, I wish the dangerous, quixotic, freezing water had shown up as awesomely as Lake Superior truly is.
January 30, 2008
This author made me realize that I could do anything I put my mind to. It gave me strength to get into shape to speed-walk a 1/2 marathon. Being that the setting is in my backyard, I could relate to all the places, the smells of the lake, the damp, the cold--all of it. My dream is to bicycle around Lake Superior--not quite as dangerous as kayaking but, I'm sure it would still be as strenuous. I do feel like I'm running out of time though!
August 11, 2009
Two people kiacked around Lake Superior and this book tells their story. It took them 3 months and they faced every kind of weather and once nearly died in a storm. At the end of each day they when to shore and set up their tents, ate their meals and slept. About every 3 weeks they met a friend or family member who brought them fresh supplies. It is a wonderful story of true adventure and spiritual applications.
April 20, 2012
It always embarrasses me when white people offer tobacco to the Spirit, etc. I want to shout at them, "Oh, stop it. You're Lutheran. Stop playing Indian." The cringe-worthy New-Age-y spirituality irritated me, and distracted me from the story. Also, the author is not adept at writing. Her trip probably had moments of exhilaration, anxiety, fear, exhaustion, despair. But the author's writing style conveys none of this. A drab read about an exciting premise.
May 23, 2013
Journeys are always both inner and outer, and this one is no exception. In navigating around Lake Superior at the age of 43, Linnea leaves her family for the summer and undergoes a midlife ritual of reappraisal. It's an often terrifying journey, and her honesty about her doubts and griefs is as courageous as the ten-feet waves she often encounters. I finished it feeling stilled, encouraged and reaching for my paddle...
August 9, 2013
I read this while on a recent trip to the shores of Lake Superior - picked it up at a small shop in Grand Marais, MN because I was needing a book to sink into. The writing is mediocre - the passages of "dialogues" were tedious and annoying. Despite this, I enjoyed the parts that gave details of the paddle, plus I am one who likes reading books about women on emotional/spiritual/physical journeys. It doesn't measure up to other books I've read within this genre, but it was an ok read.
September 21, 2008
I really loved this book. I love the Upper Peninsula but so far have only been to the southern shore of Lake Superior. I could relate to so much in this book as woman. Although I could never physically do anything like this, and could never get into so much of the mystical stuff, I appreciated reading such emotional honesty.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews