Feb 12
None of the numerous coming-of-age memoirs, fictionalized accounts, or nonfiction historical books of sea-going adventures have captured my imagination as magically as David Paul Collins’ novel Shanghaied, based on his own true story as a merchant seaman.
Collins conveys an amazing depth of feeling in his portrayal of protagonist Jack Sligo. Written as a first-person narrative, Shanghaied sees Jack relates the story of his brutal initiation into survival at sea. Spellbound by his Irish grandfather’s tales of adventure, Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim, C.S.
