The Great Wide Sea

It is always fun to read a book where the setting is where you live or someplace you have traveled. (Richard Peck's Central Illinois books) I enjoy reading books where the time period is my time period. (When You Reach Me's 1970's) Another of my favorite things is learning about a different culture and their cooking, ingredients, meals. We can easily try Chinese, Mexican, Italian. A short drive and we can try Thai and Indian.

In The Great Wide Sea by M. H. Herlong, a father, reeling from his wife's tragic death, goes on sabbatical, sells their home and takes his three boys for a year-long Carribean Sea voyage. At one of the harbor markets, there is a vendor selling fresh karashi conch. There is a description of how the live conch are opened and removed from their shell. Later the boys catch their own conch to eat.

So when I was taken to Fuji's for my birthday, and I saw "karashi conch" on the sushi appetizer menu, I knew what I had to try. I have to say that I'm not particularly fond of sushi - an acquired taste in my book - but this was FANTASTIC. The flavor was simply tremendous! I'd definitely order it again. I love when books inspire you to try something you might not otherwise. My disclaimer - I did not know what an actual live conch looked like at the time. Can we say "giant snail" or worse - SLUG. Kidding. I like escargo ... I will try anything.

The question is why were the boys catching and killing conches? Maybe? The oldest boy is 15. The middle boy is 11. And the youngest brother is barely 5. All three are traumatized by their mother's death as well. No one is doing well. Their father's plan sets them in a new tailspin. None of them want to go. They need some kind of normal to continue without her. But what your father commands, you obey.

I find it amazing that, between the four of them, they run a tight ship. Ben is in charge of the mechanics. Dylan is in charge of navigation. Gerry is gradually introduced to chores that he can manage along the way. More and more chores as he gets older. I can imagine a number of children that would love to be taken out of school to be homeschooled on a boat for a year. They swim the beaches of multiple islands, go exploring on their own, and study when they like. What most kids would forego ... living on a small sailboat with a father you are barely talking to and taking care of your two siblings when your father is too grieved to do it himself.

This was a hard book to read. I like it, but there is a lot of pain. Ben hates his father. Ben loves his brothers. And this tears him apart. I learned a lot about sailboating on the open ocean. The storms at sea were very vivid. But the jacket summary says something about one almost drowning, one almost dying, and one going crazy. And I will warn you that they lose their father when he falls overboard one night at the tiller while the boys all sleep peacefully. So I'll leave you to wonder how this book can get worse before it gets better.