Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book for anyone who has dared to dream, 17 Oct 2001
By A Customer
This book was recommended to me although I am not a sailor. However, after reading the book cover to cover in one evening, something I have neve done before, I realised this is a book for the adventurer in us all. Sailing is the back drop. Tracy Edwards really comes across as heroine of our time even though she is pains through the book to point out that she is not.
The book takes us through her extraordinary life in a whirlwind ride. From her troubled youth and rebellious schooldays to her first encounter with the love of her life, the ocean. This is not a fasionable rebellion like so many others your read, but a painful and aggressive transition from child to adult. Tracy tells it like it is.
Her days as a nomad of the oceans had me reaching for the atlas and planning to run away to sea. Her rise up through the ranks surprises her and this really comes across. Her description of her first round the world race with 17 guys had me in stitches, it was a tough introduction to the world of ocean racing, no yacht club membership here!
The days of Maiden, which of course we all remember are told with passion and fire and again humour and humility. The characters that come and go became so real to me and Tracy even more so. There were some sailing expressions that I didn't know but it didn't matter as I was completely swept along by the girls and their absolute belief that they could win this unbelievably tough race.
The nervous breakdown after the race seemed to surprise no-one except Tracy and I have to say most of us would have been reduced to a quivering wreck but no, she bounces back. After some years of a hermit existence she is back with a new and even more terrifying adventure.
The Jules Verne round the world record had me hiding under the covers and turning the central heating up. The descriptions of the huge catamaran, the amazing women that crewed the yacht and the odds against them are truly mind blowing. The roller coaster rides in the Southern ocean and the frank admissions of the fear and doubt made me look around me at my own comfortable surrounding swith renewed appreciation.
The appearance of Tracy's daughter on the scene shows a gentler side of this tough lady and the dedication to her at the beginning of the book suddenly made perfect sense. It brought a lump to my throat. But this is a woman who gives 100% to everything she does so this shouldn't be a surprise.
I absolutely loved this book. I loved it's honesty, openess, passion and humour. Andy MacNab says that Tracy Edwards has always been his hero and this book tells you why. It certainly does that. At the end of Living Every Second Tracy tells us of her motivational company doing teambuilding and leadership seminars. I just wish my company would employ her because if we took away even a small part of what she tells us, we would be the best company in the world! I'm going to read it again and tell my friends to buy it.
|
|
|
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A great read, 27 Nov 2001
Living Every Second is a genuine page turner, and there is no doubting that Tracy Edwards is an exceptionally brave and courageous woman. Her determination and refusal to accept defeat have turned her into what she is, and made it possible for her to achieve the success story that was Maiden.We get a picture of a woman who, like most true achievers, takes huge risks and does not really contemplate failure. Although there is some introspection and self doubt in the book, this is someone who has been prepared to risk (almost) everything, including home and husband, in a single-minded drive to sail round the world. With all this in mind, you cannot help but be aware that this is her version of the story. I wonder what her husband or crew mates really think and how much of the subsequent criticisms aired in the media were justified (not much, to go by her own account). Nevertheless, it is a gripping tale which brings the terror of the ocean to life and goes a long way towards explaining the world of Tracy Edwards
|
|
|
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a story ! What a life ! What a girl !, 28 Feb 2001
By A Customer
'Living every second' is the sort of book that makes the reader feel both proud and inadequate. Tracy Edwards took on the male dominated arena of round the world sailing and won. 'Living every second' is a beautifully crafted emotional roller coaster as Tracy unfolds her extra ordinary life, the frustration, the hopelessness and the despair of getting the Maiden project off the ground and the chance meeting that gives her the one break she needs.Tracy writes with such an open-ness and poignancy that you feel from the first that you know her like an old friend. Her grief is your grief. Her happiness is your happiness. And one bursts with pride at her success. Then when you appreciate what she has achieved one feels somewhat inadequate. It is impossible to understand fully the misery of the Southern Ocean when one is reading the book in the comfort of an armchair at home but Tracy's wonderful style makes us believe that we can. 'Living every second' is one of the best written, most fascinating, most well observed books that I have ever read. I fell in love with Tracy from page one... Duncan Wells
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
See all Product Description
With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is). 
Amazon Home
