Passage to Juneau: A Sea and Its Meanings

by Jonathan Raban

Book Overview

The bestselling, award-winning author of Bad Land takes us along the Inside Passage, 1,000 miles of often treacherous water, which he navigates solo in a 35-foot sailboat, offering captivating discourses on art, philosophy, and navigation and an unsparing narrative of personal loss.

"A work of great beauty and inexhaustible fervor." --The Washington Post Book World

With the same rigorous observation (natural and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679776141
• ISBN13: 9780679776147
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.1" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Outstanding..............

Jonathan Raban has written his best book since "Old Glory". He brings the mystery and history of the water passage between Seattle and Juneau to life as he recounts his solo journey. Every facet of this wondrous geographical area is portrayed in splendid detail as Raban allows us a deep look at his surroundings and a penetrating window unto himself. When Raban hits his stride, he achieves a level of poignancy not easily paralleled as he seamlessly meshes his personal experience with the environment he traverses. Whether discussing people and places or flora and fauna, Raban strikes a chord in the reader that creates an intense attraction and, at times, an equally intense aversion to this littoral wilderness. Raban simply seems to write better when on the water as is evident in "Old Glory" and I recommend this, his finest effort since, wholeheartedly.

Another Raban that I wished did not have to end

His saddest tale, but as with all the others you dread the book ending. Totally gripping for its insights on the Pacific North West, sailing and the human condition. I feel robbed that there is only a new Raban every 2 years! The world would be better for one every 6 months.

The Inside story--well worth the passage by armchair!

If you love sailing, the Northwest, NW Coast Indian art, or Raban's other travel books, you've got to get this one. Leave it to a Brit--especially this shrewd, funny Brit--to see things here that others have missed, and to put them all into perspective with warm, witty prose. His observations about NW Coast Indian art, in particular, are uncanny. I've studied NW Coast Indian art for years, and I've rarely encountered better, more insightful writing about it. Raban describes in lush detail how the images and techniques of NW Coast Indian art are intimately connected with life on the water--an insight that seemingly no one has written about before, not even the great scholars Bill Holm, Bill Reid, and Hilary Stewart. For my money, this is the book of the year about the Pacific Northwest, and one of the best ever. Its only serious rivals recently are Raban's other fine Northwest-related books, "Hunting Mr. Heartbreak" and "Bad Land."

Travel writing, but so much more

This is an extraordinary book by a master of the surgical mot juste, a work of vivid imagination, of chilling insight and wisdom, of seafaring history and lore so vivid that you can almost taste the salt, containing within its pages, almost incidentally, poignant evocations of two of life's most crushing passages: the loss of a parent, and the dissolution of a marriage. Until I read "Passage to Juneau," I considered Graham Greene's "Journey Without Maps" to stand alone in the genre, with "The Lawless Roads" not far behind. Raban's work measures up in every respect.

Powerful, beautiful and touching

Passage to Juneau is travel writing at its very best. Lyrical and soaring at one moment, darkly introspective at another, moods tracing the contours and texture of land and sea along the fantastic inner passage, this book hooks and engages the reader at every level. Raban highlights the interplay and clash of culture from the eighteenth century to the late twentienth, with an utterly unsentimental hand and eye. His rich and polished writing is a joy, and his personal involvement with his material reaches the reader's soul. Highly entertaining, richly informative, adventurous and deeply moving, this is one of the most affecting books I've read in years.