Review of Black Wave

Black Wave

John and Jean Silverwood

Early Reviewer Edition

On Sale July 1, 2008

Jean and John Silverwood have it all, a beautiful family and a thriving business in California yet they felt something was missing. Both Jean and John spent a large part of their young adult life traveling and sailing. They always knew they would one day return to the sea. With four young kids in tow they decided to spend their retirement savings on a sailboat, Emerald Jane, to travel the world.

Black Wave is their story of sailing around the world and what happens one fateful night when they struck a coral reef and almost lose it all. The first half of the book is told from Jean's perspective. I thought much of the first section was repetitive. The second half was told from John's perspective. John went into great detail on another tragedy at almost the exact same point. While it was interesting to read this eeery similarity I wanted to hear more of his perspective on giving up everything to sail around the world. Jean went into this in her section but I felt she was only speaking from her point of view.

I would have also liked to read about their kids and how they dealt with the aftermath of this horrible accident. Perhaps they will save that for another book. Overall, this was a good book, Jean has a gift for story-telling. I admire their courage for actually living their dream at a point in their lives where they could actually enjoy it.