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| The Boat Who Wouldn't Float | 
| Author: Farley Mowat
Publisher: Starfire
Category: Book
List Price: $5.99
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $5.98 (100%)
New (17) Collectible (3) from $2.84
Avg. Customer Rating:  29 reviews
Sales Rank: 21530
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 055327788X
Dewey Decimal Number: 910.453
EAN: 9780553277883
ASIN: 055327788X
Publication Date: May 1, 1984
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: With pride from Motor City. All books guaranteed. Best Service, best prices.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Laugh out loud page turner October 24, 2002
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I have read this book twice and I still laugh when I re-read some of the passages. This book captures the spirit of Canada during Mowat's youth and compiles the voyages (or not so voyages) of his ambitious father. Great book and highly recommended.
 An Unexpected Joy July 12, 2002
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I bought this book for my father, a maritime history enthusiast. I planned to save it for a holiday gift, but I decided to read it myself first. Not being as excited about maritime stories as my father, I didn't have high expectations, but after the first page, I was hooked. My husband could not be in the same room with me because my laughter disturbed his own reading. I was especially enthralled with Mowatt's anectdotes and descriptions of the people residing in the various villages he visited. I felt like I was there with him. This book was sheer delight from beginning to end. I don't think I will be able to wait until Christmas to give this book to my father, I must share this unexpected joy.
Classic Mowat! June 5, 2002
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Farley Mowat has written on a wide variety of subjects, from arctic wolves, Northern Man, WWII, deep-sea salvage tugs, and his experiences as a boy and young man. All have been well worth the reading, and many have become my treasured friends, to be re-read over and over...In "The Boat Who Wouldn't Float" Mowat describes in detail his ownership of a Newfoundland schooner "Happy Adventure" (aka "Itchatchozale Alai" and the flagship of the Basque fleet of St. Pierre - read the book, you sort of had to be there...) Vintage Mowat, and yet another which I have worn out the paperback, and sought the hardback.
Funny, Poignant, and Inspiring April 23, 2002
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Warning: Mowat's love of the sea, the people of Newfoundland, and his defiant schooner is contagious. A few pages in, and you'll feel like following in his footsteps. Wry anecdotes are coupled with fond sketches of the people of Newfoundland's outport communities at a turning point, shortly before many of these ancient, remote towns were completely uprooted in the name of government cost-cutting. Happily, thirty years after this book came out, I made of a couple trips to Newfoundland harbour communities and report that these warm, resilient folk will never change. If you can't make the trip yourself, then "lard jesus, bye" read this book! The last pages of the book do rush through years rather quickly, but remember that it's really a biography of a boat, and she wasn't doing much in those years. But when she was busy, the tales she could generate...
A Wonderful Introduction To A Little-Known Life March 17, 2002
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I first read this book in middle school, and have re-read several times over the years. What I really liked about it was that, though Happy Adventure ... and Farley are the reason for the book, the real story and focus is on the Newfoundlanders and their way of life. Far more than you hear about Farley, you hear about Muddy Hole, "the boys of Burin", Farillon and Ferryland, and various other places, as well as the people who inhabit them. It's a delightful peek at another place and time, that still endures to this day.
I was recently delighted that I had read it, since I discovered the band Great Big Sea, which comes out of Newfoundland. Thanks to this book, I can understand their idiom, and recognize places that they sing about. It gives the music a richer feeling for me.
Both are worth spending your time on.
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