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rosielandon's review
4.5
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
rosemaryandrue's review
4.5
Talk about making your midlife crisis your children's problem! Having seen an uptick of chatter online about parents gaming the homeschooling system to let their kids run wild, it was interesting to see what that lifestyle might be like from the perspective of a woman who had grown up through and past it.
Heywood does a good job of keeping the story clipping on at a steady pace - ten years is a long time, but I felt that she'd given us a glimpse at all the ups and downs that she experienced. As she grows from a young child to her late teens, we see her increasing awareness of her parents' shortcomings and her longing for stability develop almost in real time. As someone whose parents always placed great value in education, it was really shocking to see how uncaring Heywood's parents seemed about her prospects, often dismissing it as unnecessary because she was female.
I did wish we learned more about what on earth Heywood's parents were thinking. The author does try to dissect it at the end of the book, but complete answers remain frustratingly out of reach. I was also very curious about how the unstructured upbringing on the boat affected Heywood's brother Jon. She discusses how he ran wild and was allowed more leeway by their parents due to his gender, but it would have been interesting to see compare and contrast their feelings about life on the Wavewalker.
Graphic: Confinement and Abandonment
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny
mshahan's review
4.5
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse and Physical abuse
tetrootz's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Abortion, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation
Minor: Cannibalism and Car accident
lipliplip's review
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
kris_t97's review
4.75
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Colonisation
kmardahl's review
5.0
I was swept up by the story from the start. The writing was good although the story itself is front and center as it is with memoirs. It started out fairly innocent, although the article had taught me this was no ordinary sailing adventure. It wasn't long before I became angry at her parents and stayed angry for the rest of the book. The bullying - my term - that she experienced at the hands of her mother was awful. The father's carefree and reckless approach to life on the ocean shocked me. He did know how to sail, but the decisions he made - and I do speak as a landlubber - seemed arrogant, and they almost cost Suzanne Heywood's life. I am quite impressed at the author's resilience, but still - does a child have to go through hell and high water to prove how resilient they are?? The author did see beautiful sights and have amazing nature experiences at sea, but the bad experiences cast a shadow over those so it was hard to say "what an amazing experience" or "what a beautiful experience" after reading the book. I am more inclined to say "poor child" or "poor neglected child". I would classify the bullying and general treatment as child abuse.
The author is truly telling her story from her point of view. She is not out to point fingers at her parents. The experiences tell the tale however. Her love of the boat is quite moving and quite logical, if I dare use such a dry word. Wavewalker was Heywood's home and companion through all those years. There is a deep connection there. That was driven home in the last part of the book. I listened to the end of the book as I waited on the platform for my train to work. I heard that the narrator was the author herself. I had never paid attention to the narrator's name before. In fact, I had felt slight negative toward the narrator at first. When she spoke lines for the seven-year-old Suzanne, the tone was that of a seven-year-old. I wondered if that was overdoing it a bit. The childish tone disappeared as the story developed. Later, I considered that it was actually appropriate with the childish tone because it was how a seven-year-old would have spoken. In addition, the tone was one of a child seeking love and attention from a parent, which felt even more poignant and painful as time went on. With all that in mind, and with the closing commentary about the boat itself at the end, I felt tears well up in my mind and I had a lump in my throat. I had listened to Suzanne Heywood tell me her story in her voice for all those hours. I was impressed by her bravery and her strength in breaking free. I blinked and swallowed a few times before continuing on my mundane trip to the office. The story will stick with me for a very, very long time.
Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Abandonment