{Review} OF FOREIGN BUILD by Jackie Parry

ASIN #: B00OQBWJJE

File Size: 1124 KB

Page Count: 402

Copyright: October 30, 2014

Book Summary:

(Taken from Goodreads)

After suffering an emotionally-brutal bereavement and against her counsellor’s advice, Jackie ran away. Suddenly within a new culture, with a new husband, and no friends, she was living in the obscure world of cruising with zero knowledge of boats.

Crashing within the first twenty-four hours, Jackie realised life would never be the same again; a floating home with no fridge or hot water, and with a dinghy instead of a car. Suffering self doubts, she became fearful of her new world.

The first off-shore voyage took Jackie into a ferocious storm, which battered her physically and mentally. Amid the raging seas, Jackie shed the fear she’d been harbouring.

Soon she was blissfully voyaging around the world, but she still carried the mixed emotions of losing one man, while falling head over heels in love with another.

Not only did Jackie deal successfully with the challenges of her new existence, she also battled with the testosterone fuelled nautical world to become both a professional captain and a qualified maritime teacher. Most importantly, Jackie found herself.

Kathy's Review:

This is a travel journal, really. It’s a history of her travels around the world, with a boat as her home. It is told in a very frank, unadorned manner; a stripped down, bare bones version of what happened. In that way, I think the writing style is a bit on the dry side. The book meanders on, kind of like the ocean itself – calm at times, then choppy, then calm again.

At each port, Jackie encounters a different culture, a different way the people either embrace or distrust them, different food, different attitudes toward women. I appreciated that part of it, because many, many places she visited I had either never heard of, or would probably never travel to myself.

And of course, Jackie’s personal journey is interwoven throughout. It’s great to see how she evolves as a person, in her marriage, and in her confidence with the seas she is sailing. Truly inspirational to anyone who’s ever considered giving up a desk job to do something unconventional. This is about as unconventional as you can get!

Thanks to Jackie, who participated in an author chat with Literary R&R several months ago. Her stories were very engaging and we all came away from that chat feeling very inspired.


*An ecopy of this book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.