My River Home: A Journey from the Gulf War to the Gulf of Mexico

by Marcus Eriksen

Eriksen provides an account of his five-month voyage down the Mississippi River on a homemade raft, from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, ten years after the end of the Gulf War, in which he fought as a marine. He had planned on the journey when returning home with a fellow marine. He also relates his experiences in the war and how he became an antiwar protestor. There is no index. Eriksen works in research and education at the Algalita Marine Research Foundation. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

255 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2007

Reviews

[Leanne Ellis]

I wouldn't have picked up a book like this if it hadn't been written by a friend and former colleague (which is why I won't rate it), but I'm glad I did, especially this Memorial Day weekend.

[Matthew Billingsly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific story of a Marine and Iraq War veteran reckoning with the meaning of service and war, and a terrific story of hardship and adventure on the Mississippi River.

[el_quijote · Rating 4 out of 5]

Occasionally I find one, hidden among the travel section at my local public library. A jewel of a book about the destination I am researching. More than a travel guide, a book that just doesn't fit in any other category. Usually a first hand account about travel within an area. I like to think, if they weren’t so famous, this is where you would find the journals of the travels of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark up the Missouri River, or the memoirs of Audubon as he painted birds across the southern States.

This time I found the personal journal of a man that travels the length of the Mississippi River from Lake Itasca, Minnesota to his home in New Orleans, Louisiana on a homemade river craft. He undertakes the journey to heal himself of the mental wounds he suffered during the first Gulf War of the 1990s and to reconcile his feelings about our present involvement in the Middle East.

Mark Ericksen has a natural no nonsense, but engaging style of writing that is both stark and fruitful. Perhaps a cross between Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway. However, it is not his style, but what he has to say that is of interest. As he travels down the Mississippi he describes his river journey, interlaced with his journey to reconcile his experience with war and the soldiers that must fight.

I recommend this book to those of us that find pride in our nation but somehow feel we have lost our way.

[Desiree · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book after seeing the author on the "Back to the Chatahoochee" river race a few years ago, paddling a boat he made from plastic bottles. I am from LA and his story intrigued me. I find his viewpoints on the war very interesting and I enjoyed his story of his river trip. I wish he would have written more about his river trip. I also wish that he would have tied his war story in better with the river trip.

All in all, I'm glad I read this book and it kept my interest (something that is difficult to do) - I would read it again and recommend it to others looking for a book in this genre. Not my favorite book, but by far not the worst I've read either.