Passage to Juneau : A Sea and Its Meanings

by Jonathan Raban

Release Date: 07 November, 2000

Edition: Paperback

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Powerful, beautiful and touching

Passage to Juneau is travel writing at its very best. Lyrical and soaring at one moment, darkly introspective at another, moods tracing the contours and texture of land and sea along the fantastic inner passage, this book hooks and engages the reader at every level. Raban highlights the interplay and clash of culture from the eighteenth century to the late twentienth, with an utterly unsentimental hand and eye. His rich and polished writing is a joy, and his personal involvement with his material reaches the reader's soul. Highly entertaining, richly informative, adventurous and deeply moving, this is one of the most affecting books I've read in years.

An Excellent Read

Jonathan Raban's carefully detailed journey from Seattle to Juneau is beautiful and haunting. His book not only documents this magical area of the world as it now exists, but also as it must have existed when Captain Vancouver led his expedition in the 1790s. Raban's frequent digressions into native symbolism, primitive sociology and life aboard Captain Vancouver's vessel are fascinating and give the book substance that makes it transcend any travelogue. Adding to this enthralling tale, Raban also shares with us important parts of two simultaneuous voyages -- the unravelling of his marriage and the death of his father in England. Glad to surmise from Raban's jacket photo that he should have time to bless us with more prose (he should stop smoking for the sake of us, his would-be future readers). If Raban continues to write, I hope he sticks to the pattern of weaving a variety of messages into his texts; long live the digression!