Ms.+Fox

[[image:Pearl.jpg width="65" height="96"]]
Book Title: A Pearl in the Storm Author: Tori Murden McClure

Entry 1 Date: 9/10/09 Summary: At 35 Toni Murden set off from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina in a row boat, determined to row 2500 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to France. Her plan was to be the first woman to row alone across the Atlantic. This is her story. The book begins with the day she pushes off from Cape Hatteras. Murden blends the present events with flashbacks to her childhood and growing up with a brother who is developmentally disabled. In the first few pages Murden tells about her childhood and how she came to decide to row across the Atlantic. She describes an interview with a newspaper reporter prior to her departure. Within the first 10 days on the ocean, Murden sees dolphins and sharks. She loses her satellite phone communication when salt water gets into the circuitry, and she makes a mistake and loses a valuable tool when a wave causes it to slide off the boat. Reaction: I like the voice of the narrator. Murden begins with stories from her childhood which make it easy to connect with her on an emotional level. I have looked after my little brother as she looked after hers. There is a vulnerability in it that I know. I immediately admire her determination and her strength. She can leg press over 600 lbs at the start of her voyage. There is something about the ocean that draws me, so I'll find this voyage interesting based soley on that element, I think. Q-words - synchrony, ballast, gunwale BALLAST - (n) //Nautical//. any heavy material carried temporarily or permanently in a vessel to provide desired draft and stability.

Entry 2 - pages 59-84 Date: 9/17/09 Summary: Tori loses her satellite phone in the section I read recently. Now she is without easy communication. She flashes back to when she is in the seventh grade and is put in a position to defend her brother again. She tells about her school and explains that she is put in the same section as her older brother who is developmentally disabled because the school automatically assumes she is also "dumb." She describes a fight she got into in defense of her brother and how her nose, which was easily made to bleed, ended some fights that might have gone on longer if not for the sight of blood. Tori has a stormy Fourth of July and she faces the feeling of helplessness, a feeling she rages against as she remembers her inability to help her brother. In this section she shares why she has chosen never to fall in love and to instead name herself as guardian over her brother's safety.

Reaction - I can't believe how awful the other kids were to Tori's brother. It seems like some adult would have stepped in. How sad. Her reflections help me to understand why she is so driven as an adult. Q-words - BARRAGE

Entry 3 - pages 85-110 Date: 9/25/09 Summary: The days of rowing are laborious and in the night, Tori loses miles she gained in the day. She begins to notice a regular pattern. She has lost the brief ride she had found in the Gulf Stream when a storm pushes her out of it. She can't rely on it to push her along anymore. Day after day, she gets bad weather, and at one point she tries to see the positive side, saying "Sadness wil lnot bring back the Gulf Stream. The greatest freedom allotted to any human being is the freedom to choose one's attitude. Whatever the weather, it is my weather, and I must do my best to enjoy it" (p 87). In these pages, Tori shares that at age 15 she switched schools and went to live with her grandmother. She writes also about how she learned to use the tools she uses aboard the American Pearl. She learned about tools from the Reverend William Leo Deutsch, who ran a summer camp near where she lived. This man had a big positive affect on her life. A teacher in her new school had a big affect on her as well. Mrs. Longley took Tori and educated her about the game of school and helped her any time she needed help. At the end of this section, Tori has been as sea for 43 days. Reaction - It amazes me that Tori even set out on a boat to row. At this point, I think I might want to give up. To row all day only to lose miles at night would frustrate me. I enjoy reading about her childhood too. I'm always glad to read or learn about adults who positively affect the lives of children especially children who need a little extra or who have so much potential. Q-words - enigmatic

Entry 4 - page 110-130 Date: September 30 Summary: In these pages, Tori introduces us to the woman who first taught her to row. She was in college when she got into her first rowboat. She includes a few more experiences from her time at Smith College. including when she received the scholar-athlete award. She then returns to the ocean to describe a giant tentacle about eight to ten feet long floating by. She pauses to reflect on what would have eaten the rest of it. This section flips back again to her college days when she decides to sign up for NOLS and ends up traveling to Kenya. Then she applies for admission to Harvard in pursuit of a master's of divinity. 61 days at sea. Reaction: I'm amazed at the numerous experiences she seeks. I wish I had been as free to pursue adventure when I was in my twenties. Q-words - enthralled -

Entry 5 - pages 130-151 Date: October 3 Summary: As Tori listens to Barbra Streisand, she notices a terrible smell. She comes to discover that a sixty-foot sperm whale has surfaced beside her boat and she is smelling its breath. She also describes her strange experience in the Bolivian Andes. Back on the boat, she gets hit by a huge wave from one direction and then a 30 ft wave from the other direction. She wonders what to make of these rogue waves. She flashes back to Harvard where she had taken a personality test and discovered that she is an introvert with exceptional problem solving skills. Back on the boat...more bad weather. Reaction: Oooh! This has to be my favorite description so far! Crazy whale experience. Wow! I wonder if she'll have any more close encounters with animals from the ocean? In the section about Harvard, she writes a line I can relate to in describing her introvertedness, "It is my firm belief that unscripted social engagements should come with distress beacons." Q-words - ROGUE

Entry 6 - pages 152-174 Date: October 5 Summary: In these pages, Tori shares about her trip to the South Pole. She manages to persuade her advising professors to let her do her thesis research in the field. On January 17, 1989, she and another woman became the first women to reach the South Pole by an overland route. The wind on the ocean reminds Tori of the wind in the Antarctic. It's September 5, and she experiences the worst storm on the ocean yet. Her boat is tossed and capsized several times beating her body and loosening the hinges and joints of her boat. She realizes by the way the winds and waves come, that she is in a hurricane. She begins to consider flicking the beacon switch called an EPIRB and asking for a rescue, but she doesn't want to call anyone out in the storm and risk other lives being lost. Reaction: I'd be scared and really ready to go home. There is something about reading this that makes me experience some of the mental difficulties she must have had. I would want to go home. She waits tho. I wonder what I would do? I think I would give in to the storm and wait to see if I live. Q-words EPIRB

Entry 7 - pages 175 - 187 Date: October 9 Summary: 84 days at sea. Although her body is battered and bruised, Tori lives through the hurricane. She emerges from her cabin and tries to make some clean water to drink. She finds her water maker broken. She remains calm and focuses, using what she knows about electrical wiring to get her water maker running again. At one point, Tori realizes she faced death and knows now what she wants to do if she makes it back home. Reaction: This lady has skills! Also, I've been waiting for the turning point or the point where she experiences a change. This is where it happens, I think. Q-words

Entry 8 - pages 187- 210 Date: October 11 Summary: Just about the time the reader thinks that Tori is out of danger, another set of dark clouds rolls in. This time she is knocked unconscious when her boat rolls. She finally loses the mental battle and gives in to the storm. She sets off the EPIRB. A huge Russian ship bringing trade goods to the US picks her up. Tori doesn't let the captain know how bad her injuries are. Just getting dressed is a huge effort. She dresses and comes to the meals each day. Eventually, the press finds out that she is on the ship and she receives many phone call interviews before she is even on dry land. She learns that she had been rowing during the worst hurricane season. Reaction: I'm surprised that Tori is so prideful about her injuries. She refuses Tylenol when it is offered. One of my favorite quotations comes from these pages. She says about an older man she knew in college, "The thing I liked most about him was that he adored his wife." Q-words - pristine, condescension

Entry 9 - pages 211 - 255 Date: Summary: Reaction Q-words

Entry 10 pages 256 - 292 Date: Summary: Reaction Q-words