Thinking Up A Hurricane (Paperback)

Reviews

"GREAT BOOK!" by Andrew T. - 11 November 2012

My wife got this book through her book club and thought I would like it.She was wrong, I loved it . I didn't expect this when she said it was about a girl sailing around the world with her family.

"Couldn't put it down" by Bryant R. - 11 November 2012

Martinique Stilwell's account of her childhood growing up at sea is at once a riveting travel narrative, a grueling coming of age story and a work of understated comic genius.Her descriptions,through the eyes of the child she was, of her family and the characters she met on her journey , are often funny, sometimes sad ,but always honestly and sympathetically rendered. This book gives a unique perspective into the world of a circumnavigating family and the challenges and delights they encountered, it is also movingly reminiscent of it's era- a time before modern media shrank the planet we inhabit .It tells an astounding story of a young girl's realization that her future is in her hands alone and recalls the sometimes painful steps she had to take to shape that future. This book is a must for anyone who grew up on their own version of the east rand and wished to sail away- after reading it, you will be either extremely sorry or extremely glad you didn't.

Reviewed by Evelyn T. - 9 October 2012

What I didn't expect reading the synopsis of this book is how funny it is! Laugh out loud funny, listen-to-this funny. It's a great book to read aloud, with your partner or older child (10+), due to its clear accessible writing and its episodic structure. This book took me on a rip roaring adventure and made me laugh, gasp in astonishment and cry. It stayed with me for a long time after finishing, which is always the litmus test. Comparable to "The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls and "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight" by Alexandra Fuller, this is South African writing of international standard.