Tenured Radical reviewed Swimming to Antarctica by Lynne Cox
Review of 'Swimming to Antarctica' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I enjoyed this book. I wanted to love it, because the stories are amazing and Lynne Cox is a giant of open water and adventure swimming. All the crazy things people do now with extreme cold water swims? Lynne Cox did them first, and well before anyone even imagined they could be done, at all, let alone the way she did them: obeying traditional 'Channel rules' (i.e. no wetsuits or other aids). Some of this comes across in the book, but the writing is at times stilted and insufficiently rich in detail. For instance, there are a few points where an astounding athletic feat has been concluded, and ... well, that's about how the event concludes! It's as if Cox wants simply to rush past the event itself. Other times, there is considerable detail where a simple, elegant phrase or two would easily have sufficed. It's a fine line, writing …
I enjoyed this book. I wanted to love it, because the stories are amazing and Lynne Cox is a giant of open water and adventure swimming. All the crazy things people do now with extreme cold water swims? Lynne Cox did them first, and well before anyone even imagined they could be done, at all, let alone the way she did them: obeying traditional 'Channel rules' (i.e. no wetsuits or other aids). Some of this comes across in the book, but the writing is at times stilted and insufficiently rich in detail. For instance, there are a few points where an astounding athletic feat has been concluded, and ... well, that's about how the event concludes! It's as if Cox wants simply to rush past the event itself. Other times, there is considerable detail where a simple, elegant phrase or two would easily have sufficed. It's a fine line, writing compelling adventure narratives: sometimes the best work in the genre is done by professional writers taking part in the activity but not themselves key figures in the adventure. Cox writes with a degree of modesty and immediacy that is sometimes refreshing, but other times doesn't do justice to her extraordinary accomplishments and their significance. And, frankly, she has usually succeeded at these amazing swims, so there isn't cause for the other kind of forensic adventure writing that is so compelling (e.g. "Into Thin Air"). So, in short: a good book about an extraordinary person doing incredible things, but with prose and structure that at times threatens to sell the author short on her own importance as a visionary and inspirational adventurer.