Swimming the Channel

by Sally Friedman

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805054448
• ISBN13: 9780805054446
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Owl Publishing Company
• Length: 247 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

This book makes you appreciate life!

Never have I read a book and cried and smiled like I did with this book. I know the author and yet there was so much I learned about her. Her writing draws beautiful images for you and you can see, feel, and experience all that she endures in this beautiful book. The sudden and unexpected loss of her partner, Paul the day before she was to swim the English Channel with him by her side, makes us think of how quickly life can be cut short. This book is full of emotions that makes our heart ache and tears fill our eyes. She is so sincere and open with her emotions that you feel as though you are peeking into a journal, yet, it is her heart that you are truly reading. I gave it to a few of my friends to read and they agree that this is a very special book, one that you wish could keep going and going. Never have I read anything about the art of swimming so beautifully written in such amazing detail before this book. When you are done with the book, you know that you have truly read something that you will not soon forget.

Do you have some tissues handy? You'll need them.

Browsing through the library stacks one day, the title of this book caught my eye. I love swimming and grabbed it, hoping to find an interesting story about what it's like to train for swimming the English Channel. I found that, plus so much more. I was blown away by the depth of this couple's devotion and love as well as the terrible, awful unfairness of a life cut short. Through this love story, Sally Friedman shows the world how love and marriage is supposed to work. I read this book on a plane and felt embarrassed when I just couldn't stop the tears from flowing. I plan to buy several copies of this book to give as gifts for friends. Sally Friedman, I don't know if you ever read these reviews, but if you do, I want you to know I am so sorry for your loss. Your book has touched me like few others. I wish Oprah would pick THIS book for her book club so that a large audience could read and react to this book together.

A totally heart-wrenching story told with great skill

I originally came across this book while looking for information on swimming the English Channel. What I got was a book that I will never forget. It is hard to imagine someone loving another person as much as this woman loved her husband, and the way she intertwines the story of his loss with her quest to swim the Channel is truly a great accomplishment. Read it- it'll make you appreciate life in a whole new way.

So moving, I reread it immediately after I finished.

One of the strenghts of the book was that nothing was given away on the jacket of the paperback edition. I thought I was going to read about swimming the English Channel, and to some degree, I did. But I was completely taken unaware of what the book was truly about, and that made the book that much more of a jewel unearthed. Ms. Friedman's lyrical prose was mezmerizing and I completely identified with the love that she felt for her husband. Her grief was real enough to touch and the ways in which she dealt with her grief expanded my compassion for others going through the same experience. I want to loan the book to my friends and family, but I find I can't give it up yet. Such a personal feeling I have for it...