Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow [Book Review]

Many, many years ago while I worked in retail, there was a mysterious, smiling man that would come in as a customer. His name was and probably still is Walter. This guy was kind of creepy at first, and it was probably due to the smiling and his sort of weird way he stared at me. There was also these strange pauses that he would make before he would respond to me. The man looked like he was in his own world, but there was a special attention being paid to me... and I was never sure why.

Over the course of perhaps a month or so, he would occasionally walk into the store to buy something or other, but mostly to visit me and just have a little chat. He talked about a lot of fascinating subjects, usually having to do with far off places. He fiddled around with the idea of living in my town, but he never really seemed like he could settle anywhere. Walter was a man of the wanderlust.

After learning that I wrote and read books, he brought in one particular book that he wanted me to read. He gave it a good review himself, and he seemed like he really wanted me to read it. He was more than happy to part with this beloved book with the hopes that I would eventually get around to it. I was a tad nervous about this. I almost never read recommended books from people because I have my own queue of books I want to tackle. But I accepted it. I don't know why really. Walter just... has this lovely way about him. He's charming. He's ridiculously charming, and so I took it... and didn't read it for literal years.

Soon after, Walter drifted out of my life. I moved on to a new job. I always wondered if I'd see him again, but the man just poofed out of existence like a fairy. I'll never forget him. As brief as our time together was, he reminded me that there was more to life than just jobs and survival. There is a beauty to life that people often forsake, which brings me to that book.

"The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow" is a long, non-fiction novel written by Alexander James Mackinnon. It was published in 2002. Its subtitle is listed as "A Mirror Odyssey from North Wales to the Black Sea."

The "Mirror" listed there refers to a Mirror Dinghy, which is a type of small sailing vessel. The whole book is about one man's very long journey on a tiny boat for no other reason but to do it. Perhaps it was a little foolhardy, but he just wanted to do it, and so he did.

The voyage lasted just under a year, and he had to pass through over 200 locks which are these special man-maid structures that allow boats to travel up river. It's kind of a pain though. It's a big deal in the book and something he had to suffer through quite often.

The thing that makes the book amazing though is that this author is just such a nice guy. He's friendly, jolly, and his happiness seems to rub off on random strangers. So many times in the story does random people go out of their way to give him a bed and a dinner. It happened all over the place, even in countries where he did not know the language. Yes, there were some bad people too, but they were in the minority.

The thing that really just blows my mind about the whole thing is just how wonderful this man was. He would happily sing a song as the wind guided him down the water. He often describes the nature that he sees, and would even occasionally just spend some time laying out in a field here and there until the dew settled on him overnight... along with the slugs. (He didn't like the slugs.)

Another thing that really made me happy was that, for the most part, he read most of the same books I did, and he constantly made references to them as the voyage went on. I always knew what he was getting at. It was also nice to see a lot of casual references to Christianity without really being preachy about it. His constant sense of humor was like a fresh breeze, and I really wish I could have met him in person to talk about his adventure.

I don't normally like non-fiction, but this is a non-fiction that reads like fiction. You have this eccentric, pith helmet, wearing man just striking out into an adventure and seeing some of the most amazing fairy tale-like things. It's really just great. I can't recommend this book enough. It's honestly made me want to go sailing myself.

Before I end this blog, I do want to say a few things. The last bunch of blogs entitled "My Reading Habits" were painstakingly written in AJ Mackinnon's humorous style. It was just a little exercise I wanted to give myself before I finished his book. I'm pretty happy with them.

And lastly, I also want to give a profound thanks to Walter for gifting me this book. I think it is only fair I do the same to someone else to keep the "tradition" going. Thank you, Walter. I hope you are having a good life wherever you might be. I'll be praying for you.

This blog was written on August 5, 2022.

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