Just finished A Pearl In The Storm. I like the structure of this story. Tori decided to emphasize the row that failed rather than the second, successful row. This allowed her learn from her obstacles and grow as a person. The row becomes less about fighting inner demons and more about embracing the demons, the helplessness, that makes us all human.
It is a thrilling story. At various points I caught myself chewing on my nails with anxiety for her safety. But she has a great story that says so much: while working on the Muhammed Ali Center, Muhammed Ali himself told Tori, " You don't want to be known as the woman who almost rowed across the ocean."
My husband has a deeply dedicated, intelligent, talented, hard-working, admirable boss.
Showing posts with label Pearl In A Storm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pearl In A Storm. Show all posts
April 10, 2010
April 6, 2010
Hello helplessness
I looked up from Pearl In A Storm yesterday and found myself on page 197. I got sucked in.
What I'm amazed with is Tori's tenacity. She finds herself square in the middle of Hurricane Danielle, she dislocates her shoulder, probably suffers from a concussion, her face is covered in blood, she can't feel her right arm, and she has a nasty lower back injury that sends sparks down her leg, but she wonders whether or not to use the international distress signal. She growls at helplessness, but eventually she decides not to commit suicide by hurricane and calls for help.
I suffer from Crohn's Disease, an ignoble intestinal autoimmune irritation. Yesterday, I felt like my innards set sail through a hurricane. I understand Tori's anger at human frailty. I kept going. I poured extra doses of prescriptions down my gullet. I had a date with my husband and damnit, I was going. Ultimately, though, the only "cure" is rest and time. Hello helplessness.
Maybe Tori and I aren't so dissimilar.
What I'm amazed with is Tori's tenacity. She finds herself square in the middle of Hurricane Danielle, she dislocates her shoulder, probably suffers from a concussion, her face is covered in blood, she can't feel her right arm, and she has a nasty lower back injury that sends sparks down her leg, but she wonders whether or not to use the international distress signal. She growls at helplessness, but eventually she decides not to commit suicide by hurricane and calls for help.
I suffer from Crohn's Disease, an ignoble intestinal autoimmune irritation. Yesterday, I felt like my innards set sail through a hurricane. I understand Tori's anger at human frailty. I kept going. I poured extra doses of prescriptions down my gullet. I had a date with my husband and damnit, I was going. Ultimately, though, the only "cure" is rest and time. Hello helplessness.
Maybe Tori and I aren't so dissimilar.
April 4, 2010
Power must be taken
Last night while falling asleep reading Tori's memoir, I had a realization: I am the polar opposite of this woman.
Tori's main premise is that she has dedicated her life to a battle against helplessness, a battle inspired by the countless attacks her developmentally disabled brother endured throughout childhood. In a very telling moment during her college years at Smith, she asked then Smith president, Jill Kerr Conway, how she could ever choose to become Catholic when women were powerless in the church and Conway replies: "Power is never given; power must be taken." And so, Tori has never rolled over and given up. If her strength, endurance, or dedication are questioned, she takes that as a challenge to prove her naysayers wrong. In high school, the guidance counselor suggested that she not apply to Harvard, Princeton and Yale. After graduation from Smith she applies to divinity school at Harvard, Princeton and Yale and is accepted at all three. At Harvard the field placement officer told Tori she wouldn't last three weeks at Boston City Hospital -- a hospital notorious for uninsured patients with gunshot wounds and the growing AIDS epidemic; she stayed a year.
How am I different? I give up easily and cry over my wounds. Endurance? What on earth is that? And if this gives you any indication, when thinking of my approaching trip to Buenos Aires, I have already started a mental list of all of the medications I will need to bring! I wouldn't have lasted an hour rowing across the ocean.
One thing Tori and I do share, aside from deep affection for my husband: we both detest cocktail parties and the small talk that is expected at them. We both lack pretense.
Tori's main premise is that she has dedicated her life to a battle against helplessness, a battle inspired by the countless attacks her developmentally disabled brother endured throughout childhood. In a very telling moment during her college years at Smith, she asked then Smith president, Jill Kerr Conway, how she could ever choose to become Catholic when women were powerless in the church and Conway replies: "Power is never given; power must be taken." And so, Tori has never rolled over and given up. If her strength, endurance, or dedication are questioned, she takes that as a challenge to prove her naysayers wrong. In high school, the guidance counselor suggested that she not apply to Harvard, Princeton and Yale. After graduation from Smith she applies to divinity school at Harvard, Princeton and Yale and is accepted at all three. At Harvard the field placement officer told Tori she wouldn't last three weeks at Boston City Hospital -- a hospital notorious for uninsured patients with gunshot wounds and the growing AIDS epidemic; she stayed a year.
How am I different? I give up easily and cry over my wounds. Endurance? What on earth is that? And if this gives you any indication, when thinking of my approaching trip to Buenos Aires, I have already started a mental list of all of the medications I will need to bring! I wouldn't have lasted an hour rowing across the ocean.
One thing Tori and I do share, aside from deep affection for my husband: we both detest cocktail parties and the small talk that is expected at them. We both lack pretense.
April 1, 2010
Setting sail (oh,please make me stop with the sea metaphors)
Progress! I have a.) mailed my old passport off along with $75 and some terrible new pictures so that I can receive my new passport in time to fly to Argentina, and b.) ordered all of my reading materials for my first MFA residency (all on Amazon; all used; total=$34. Whoohoo!). All of this is to say, I'm going to Buenos Aires to study creative non-fiction at the end of June and now I finally believe I'm doing it.
Progress again. I'm 80 pages into Pearl In A Storm. Slow going, much like Tori's row at the beginning. That's not to say it's slow reading; it's action-packed with sea life, storms, injuries, and tormenting memories. I'm just now committing to reading the book. It's good. It's odd, much like Tori. She's funny, but not Dan Savage funny. She's funny in a quoting Herman Melville and John Adams way. The woman is Smart. Her symbolism isn't heavy-handed and self-congratulatory like one Julie Powell, but rather thoughtful, honest, not overly-clever so that it's smug, but sincere. She is Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird and her brother is both Boo Radley and Tom Robinson.
Progress again. I'm 80 pages into Pearl In A Storm. Slow going, much like Tori's row at the beginning. That's not to say it's slow reading; it's action-packed with sea life, storms, injuries, and tormenting memories. I'm just now committing to reading the book. It's good. It's odd, much like Tori. She's funny, but not Dan Savage funny. She's funny in a quoting Herman Melville and John Adams way. The woman is Smart. Her symbolism isn't heavy-handed and self-congratulatory like one Julie Powell, but rather thoughtful, honest, not overly-clever so that it's smug, but sincere. She is Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird and her brother is both Boo Radley and Tom Robinson.
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