Ruthless river : love and survival by raft on the Amazon's relentless Madre de Dios /
Material type: TextPublisher: New York : Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2017Description: xii, 316 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map, portraits ; 21 cmContent type:- text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9780525432777
- 0525432779
- 918.1/104 23
- F2546 .F559 2017
Item type | Current library | Home library | Collection | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Standard Loan | Coeur d'Alene Library Adult Nonfiction | Coeur d'Alene Library | Book | 918.1104 FITZGER (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 50610020763863 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
A stunning debut; a Departures original publication. The ultimate survival story; a wild ride--the wildest--down a South American river in the thick of the Amazon Basin; a true and thrilling adventure of a young married couple who survive a plane crash only to later raft hundreds of miles across Peru and Bolivia, ending up in a channel to nowhere, a dead end so flooded there is literally no land to stand on. Their raft--a mere four logs--separates them from the piranha-and-caiman-infested water until they finally realize that there is no way out but to swim. Vintage Original.
Holly FitzGerald and her husband, Fitz--married less than two years--set out on a yearlong honeymoon adventure of a lifetime, backpacking around the world. Five months into the trip their plane crash lands in Peru at a penal colony walled in by jungle, and their blissfully romantic journey turns into a terrifying nonstop labyrinth of escape and survival.
On a small, soon-ravaged raft that quickly becomes their entire universe through dangerous waters alive with deadly animals and fish, their only choice: to continue on, despite the rush of insects swarming them by day, the sounds of encroaching predators at night. Without food or means of communication, with no one to hear their cries for help or on a search-and-rescue expedition to find them, the author and her husband make their way, fighting to conquer starvation and navigate the brute force of the river, their only hope for survival, in spite of hunger and weakening resolve, to somehow, miraculously hang on and find their way east to a large riverside town, before it is too late. . . .
The author describes how her honeymoon was cut short when her plane crashed in the jungles of Peru, forcing her and her husband to try to survive aboard a makeshift raft as they made their way down the Amazon River to civilization.
Table of contents provided by Syndetics
- Prologue (p. 3)
- Chapter 1 Waiting (p. 7)
- Chapter 2 The Plane (p. 14)
- Chapter 3 Jungle Trail (p. 24)
- Chapter 4 Sepa (p. 31)
- Chapter 5 Prisoners (p. 44)
- Chapter 6 Puerto Maldonado (p. 50)
- Chapter 7 Finding a Raft (p. 61)
- Chapter 8 Launch Day (p. 71)
- Chapter 9 First Day on the River (p. 82)
- Chapter 10 The Border (p. 90)
- Chapter 11 Flying Free (p. 99)
- Chapter 12 The Storm (p. 103)
- Chapter 13 Where Are We? (p. 109)
- Chapter 14 The Rains Poured Down (p. 118)
- Chapter 15 Hope (p. 124)
- Chapter 16 The Logjam (p. 133)
- Chapter 17 Dead Tree (p. 145)
- Chapter 18 Wrestling Match (p. 152)
- Chapter 19 Little Balsa (p. 161)
- Chapter 20 SOS (p. 165)
- Chapter 21 High Noon (p. 168)
- Chapter 22 Swimming with Becky (p. 176)
- Chapter 23 Log Bed (p. 182)
- Chapter 24 Quickmud (p. 189)
- Chapter 25 Rant (p. 194)
- Chapter 26 Desire (p. 198)
- Chapter 27 Butterflies (p. 205)
- Chapter 28 Little Moments (p. 214)
- Chapter 29 Bees (p. 220)
- Chapter 30 What I Want (p. 227)
- Chapter 31 Epiphany (p. 231)
- Chapter 32 Snails (p. 235)
- Chapter 33 Like Sticks (p. 241)
- Chapter 34 My Hero (p. 244)
- Chapter 35 Marsh Birds (p. 248)
- Chapter 36 Rising Fear (p. 255)
- Chapter 37 Tiny Frogs (p. 259)
- Chapter 38 Time Meshes (p. 264)
- Chapter 39 Chasing the Monkey (p. 270)
- Chapter 40 Banana Chips (p. 278)
- Chapter 41 Barraca (p. 289)
- Chapter 42 Maryknoll (p. 298)
- Chapter 43 Riberalta (p. 307)
- Epilogue (p. 313)
- Acknowledgments (p. 315)
Excerpt provided by Syndetics
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Library Journal Review
This debut is a travelog of two thrill seekers, the author and her husband, "Fitz," whose dream was to travel the world on a shoestring budget. After a surviving a plane crash and being stranded in a penal colony in Peru for several days without a ferry to take them out, the couple decide to build their own log raft, the Pink Palace, and tackle the Madre de Dios river themselves. They learn the river current will carry them and that they'll arrive in ten days, but it all goes horribly wrong. There's a storm, a tree falls on the raft, FitzGerald ends up covered in fire ants, and Fitz almost falls off the raft. The next morning, they find themselves in stagnant water with no current, no clue where they are, and almost no food. FitzGerald weaves a dramatic tale from there full of misfortune and trials yet also hope. This is both travel memoir and shocking adventure story, like a real-life Survivor or Naked and Afraid. Occasional flashbacks to life prior to the couple's trip are the only drawback; some add to the narrative while others seem to have no connection at all. VERDICT A powerful story about survival, love, and faith in the face of impossible odds, this unputdownable story of travel horrors is absolutely fascinating.-Katie Lawrence, Grand Rapids, MI © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.Booklist Review
A plane crash into a South American penal colony, a missed boat, and some well-intentioned locals lead a young honeymooning couple well out of their depth in FitzGerald's detailed, high-stakes debut memoir of her true-life tale of survival in the Amazon, against desperate odds. In 1973, social-worker FitzGerald and her reporter husband had been married less than two years when a storm stranded their homemade raft in a dead-end channel off the Madre de Dios River in Bolivia. FitzGerald weaves in the stories from their past with palpable, evocative details of their daily struggles with starvation, strong currents, and despair, all while the couple's love, self-knowledge, and faith deepen. Personal photos taken by FitzGerald mix with rich detail about the towns, birds, bugs, and people along the couple's journey, immersing the reader in the wild jungle-river environment. Recommended for fans of survival narratives, coming-of-maturity stories, and travelogues from off the beaten path.--Whitfield-Smith, Louisa Copyright 2017 BooklistKirkus Book Review
The account of a transformational South American odyssey that tested the author and her husband to the limit.In March 1973, having missed their boat after surviving a plane crash at a remote outpost in Peru, FitzGerald and her husband were forced to take a makeshift raft down Rio Madre de Dios to Riberalta, Bolivia, en route to Brazil. What was supposed to be a journey of a few days became a harrowing ordeal. The author's story of the inexperienced rafters being swept by a storm into a tributary they could barely escape, their extreme privation and miseriesweeks trapped in a jungle swamp without shelter, food, or fresh wateris vivid and consistently compelling. FitzGerald often writes fine, lyrical descriptions, especially of nature, though when mooning over her husband, the prose turns purple and overwrought, better suited to a romance novel than a gritty survival adventure. However, considering what the couple endured, the periodic spasms of over-the-top romanticism and superstition can be forgiven, and readers will admire their remarkable fortitude. FitzGerald is at her best when detailing their many challenges or suggesting states of mind. "Despite my physical debilitation," she writes, "my mind had achieved a heightened clarity. My vision of life was now stripped to the bone. As starvation consumed my body, its effects also trimmed the fat and gristle from my thoughts." Since her journal was lost early in the trip and FitzGerald had to record their trial by other means, some readers may question the accuracy of her moment-by-moment recollections, and occasionally, credulity is strained. We also learn little of the young couple's remarkable globe-hopping before and after the disaster, apart from listings of places visited. FitzGerald overcomes her book's few flaws to produce an absorbing tale of survival, love, and the generosity of people who helped save their lives. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.Author notes provided by Syndetics
HOLLY FITZGERALD was born in Seattle, Washington, and grew up in New Haven, Connecticut. She graduated from Lake Erie College and received a master's degree in counseling from Suffolk University. FitzGerald worked as a counselor with children and adults for many years before teaching and counseling at Bristol Community College, New Bedford, Massachusetts. She lives in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts.There are no comments on this title.