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Kayak Morning: Reflections on Love, Grief, and Small Boats
“There is indeed life after death, and Rosenblatt proves that without a doubt.”
— USA Today From Roger Rosenblatt, the bestselling author of Making Toast and Unless It Moves the Human Heart , comes a poignant meditation on the nature of grief, the passages through it, the solace of solitude, and the healing power of love. Rosenblatt’s Kayak Morning is a classic in the making, akin to A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis—a coming to terms with tragic, senseless loss that offers readers an unsentimental and deeply moving account of the possibility of true redemption. A profoundly beautiful and intimate gift from an exceptional writer, Kayak Morning is Roger Rosenblatt writing bravely and unforgettably from the heart.
— USA Today From Roger Rosenblatt, the bestselling author of Making Toast and Unless It Moves the Human Heart , comes a poignant meditation on the nature of grief, the passages through it, the solace of solitude, and the healing power of love. Rosenblatt’s Kayak Morning is a classic in the making, akin to A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis—a coming to terms with tragic, senseless loss that offers readers an unsentimental and deeply moving account of the possibility of true redemption. A profoundly beautiful and intimate gift from an exceptional writer, Kayak Morning is Roger Rosenblatt writing bravely and unforgettably from the heart.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 3, 2012
About the author
Roger Rosenblatt
56 books135 followersROGER ROSENBLATT, whose work has been published in 14 languages, is the author of five New York Times Notable Books of the Year, and three Times bestsellers, including the memoirs KAYAK MORNING, THE BOY DETECTIVE, and MAKING TOAST, originally an essay in the New Yorker. His newest book is THE STORY I AM, a collection on writing and the writing life.
Rosenblatt has also written seven off-Broadway plays, notably the one-person Free Speech in America, that he performed at the American Place Theater, named one of the Times's "Ten Best Plays of 1991." Last spring at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, he performed and played piano in his play, Lives in the Basement, Does Nothing, which will go to the Staller Center for the Arts at Stony Brook, and the Flea Theater in New York in 2021. He also wrote the screenplay for his bestselling novel LAPHAM RISING, to star Frank Langella, Stockard Channing, and Bobby Cannavale, currently in production.
The Distinguished Professor of English and Writing at SUNY Stony Brook/Southampton, he formerly held the Briggs-Copeland appointment in creative writing at Harvard, where he earned his Ph.D. Among his honors are two George Polk Awards; the Peabody, and the Emmy, for his essays at Time magazine and on PBS; a Fulbright to Ireland, where he played on the Irish International Basketball Team; seven honorary doctorates; the Kenyon Review Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement; and the President's Medal from the Chautauqua Institution for his body of work.
Rosenblatt has also written seven off-Broadway plays, notably the one-person Free Speech in America, that he performed at the American Place Theater, named one of the Times's "Ten Best Plays of 1991." Last spring at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, he performed and played piano in his play, Lives in the Basement, Does Nothing, which will go to the Staller Center for the Arts at Stony Brook, and the Flea Theater in New York in 2021. He also wrote the screenplay for his bestselling novel LAPHAM RISING, to star Frank Langella, Stockard Channing, and Bobby Cannavale, currently in production.
The Distinguished Professor of English and Writing at SUNY Stony Brook/Southampton, he formerly held the Briggs-Copeland appointment in creative writing at Harvard, where he earned his Ph.D. Among his honors are two George Polk Awards; the Peabody, and the Emmy, for his essays at Time magazine and on PBS; a Fulbright to Ireland, where he played on the Irish International Basketball Team; seven honorary doctorates; the Kenyon Review Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement; and the President's Medal from the Chautauqua Institution for his body of work.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews
May 14, 2017
Towards the middle of Kayak Morning by Roger Rosenblatt, the author admitted that “[t]here isn’t a hell of a lot to do these days but go kayaking and project.” And project—about kayaking and other random things—he does. Unlike the predecessor to this slim memoir, Making Toast, which I criticized for lacking philosophy, Morning is in the clouds and content to stay there.
In a stream of conscious rambling, Rosenblatt references the kayak and the creek ad nauseum, literature (can’t go into Nature without making mention of Emerson), and his own experiences as a journalist, name-dropping included, to work through the grief of his adult daughter’s passing. If Making Toast was a family drama, Kayak Morning is a one-man show, a very depressed man.
The prose was often random and disconnected, featuring foreign (to my eye and ear) terms that distracted me from the point. You could tell a lot more polish and literary research went into this memoir, rather than the bulk of the narrative coming from his own experience. The brightest spots were when Rosenblatt reverted to the family snippets. And while the inference of all his life-and-death posturing was the enduring resonance of love, even when it takes the form of grief, it was a dense journey to get there.
I don’t fault him his grief or anger or confusion. For true writers, writing is the way they make sense of the world and the events that take place in it. I just wonder if this wouldn’t have been better left on the hard drive until he could analyze it--and himself--clearly.
In a stream of conscious rambling, Rosenblatt references the kayak and the creek ad nauseum, literature (can’t go into Nature without making mention of Emerson), and his own experiences as a journalist, name-dropping included, to work through the grief of his adult daughter’s passing. If Making Toast was a family drama, Kayak Morning is a one-man show, a very depressed man.
The prose was often random and disconnected, featuring foreign (to my eye and ear) terms that distracted me from the point. You could tell a lot more polish and literary research went into this memoir, rather than the bulk of the narrative coming from his own experience. The brightest spots were when Rosenblatt reverted to the family snippets. And while the inference of all his life-and-death posturing was the enduring resonance of love, even when it takes the form of grief, it was a dense journey to get there.
I don’t fault him his grief or anger or confusion. For true writers, writing is the way they make sense of the world and the events that take place in it. I just wonder if this wouldn’t have been better left on the hard drive until he could analyze it--and himself--clearly.
January 25, 2012
I can't believe this is the same author who wrote "Making Toast," which I thought was a wonderful book about grieving the death of his daughter. This is more of a long, boring stream of consciousness ramble, of unconnected thoughts, more about kayaks than about grief. I hope it helped this author to get to a better place by getting this all down on paper, but there are some books that just don't need to be published for the rest of us to consume.
January 16, 2012
I have long been a fan of Roger Rosenblatt's reflective writing. Back when he wrote a regular column for Time magazine, I would turn to the back of the magazine first to read him before any of the headline news. His "Man in the Water" essay is up there with Annie Dillard and Emerson in my book. So I have followed his recent career and read an excerpt from Making Toast, the book he wrote following his 38 year old daughter's unexpected death, that was printed in the New York Times. In Kayak Morning, Rosenblatt describes the cloak of grief and meditates about the business of keeping afloat among the living which he is achieving through excursions in a kayak he bought and has learned to paddle recently. My husband and I bought each other kayaks when we were married. I understand the balance metaphor that Rosenblatt is using in this lovely, little book. Like a paddle in shallow water, his narrative dips into passages of poetry, memories of stories from war zones he covered in his reporting, and daily reflections. This book should be a gift for any dear friend who loses a love one - or a reminder to the those not enveloped in grief that loss comes without invitation and lingers like a wind on rough water.
May 30, 2012
Kayak Morning, reflections on love, grief, and small boats, by Roger Rosenblatt
Ecco (HarperCollins), 2012.
How does one do justice to a piece of writing whose quality is far beyond the five stars permitted?
In Kayak Morning, the author is paddling on a creek two and one-half years after the unanticipated death of his thirty-eight-year-old daughter, Amy, due to a congenital anomaly of the heart. She left behind not only her parents, but her two brothers “who move about as if Amy were standing between them.” Her world of family and friends has felt a gap where she fell through, one that her father cannot close. Here, in the midst of nature, where many of us have found solace for the monstrous things that happen to us, he does not.
I could have begun this review by quoting a sentence or two to demonstrate the book’s outstanding qualities of thought and expression, but that would only lead to more sentences, and the fabric of this piece is so tightly woven that excerpting a thread, and then another, would do unraveling violence to the whole.
I chose to read Kayak Morning because I’ve indulged in many of Rosenblatt’s essays in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and other media, and always found myself asking, “How did he do that?”
Also, because as a psychologist, I’ve specialized in death and dying, a field the author seems to have no use for, although my specialty has been concerned more with those facing their own deaths rather than caretaking or grieving. I’ve counseled many, many people, taught classes, read books and articles in the field, and even written some. For Rosenblatt, his grief lingers and worsens, instead of following the more usual trajectory of gradually transforming itself into loving recollections.
Many people believe that there are stages of grief. The research seems to show that there are not. There are phases like denial and anger and acceptance and then perhaps anger again; we go in and out of them in no particular order. Grieving is not a progression up the scale or even down; it is more of a fever chart, or a process that we spiral in and out of until some of the pain fades. To my question as to how long grief lasts, one therapist responded that grieving was “as long as a piece of string.”
According to some of the reviews and comments on this book, a number of readers are disappointed that nature provides no transcending relief at the end. They have their own bereavements to deal with, and they would like to see a healing result as expressed in the metaphor of a beautiful kayak morning, because that would brighten their own prospects. But Rosenblatt is no hypocrite, and he does not deliberately give the reader what he or she wants; he is nothing if not honest.
Many years ago, a psychologist named Therese Rando wrote a seminal work on “complicated mourning,” the state in which people become what I call “stuck in grief.” The rewards of getting stuck are many: once we identify ourselves as bereaved, we may receive so much sympathy and love, that it is tempting to remain in this state; or we are guilty over our part in the tragedy, often undeservedly so, and extended grieving is a satisfying way of punishing ourselves; or the grief is like a quicksand that we simply cannot dig ourselves out of. It becomes our role in life. We wouldn’t know what else to do or who else to be. Somehow, in some way, out grief may give us something we can’t get anywhere else. To minimize it or give it up would be a loss itself.
I mention complicated mourning with the hope that people who read this book for a story of transformation search elsewhere. Some kind of movement, one way or the other, is what many counselors are alert for. If on reading this review, you question where you are with regard to any loss, whether of a loved one, or a career, or a house to foreclosure, or another future, it may be time to seek the counseling of a bereavement specialist. Because, no matter what your loss, you are indeed bereft.
As a psychologist, yes, I can share all of the above, and it may even help. But, as a mother of five daughters, I know that if I lost one to death, my estimated length of survival would be about six months. No, nothing deliberate. I’d just drop from the unbearableness of it.
_________________ Patricia Weenolsen, Ph.D.
Ecco (HarperCollins), 2012.
How does one do justice to a piece of writing whose quality is far beyond the five stars permitted?
In Kayak Morning, the author is paddling on a creek two and one-half years after the unanticipated death of his thirty-eight-year-old daughter, Amy, due to a congenital anomaly of the heart. She left behind not only her parents, but her two brothers “who move about as if Amy were standing between them.” Her world of family and friends has felt a gap where she fell through, one that her father cannot close. Here, in the midst of nature, where many of us have found solace for the monstrous things that happen to us, he does not.
I could have begun this review by quoting a sentence or two to demonstrate the book’s outstanding qualities of thought and expression, but that would only lead to more sentences, and the fabric of this piece is so tightly woven that excerpting a thread, and then another, would do unraveling violence to the whole.
I chose to read Kayak Morning because I’ve indulged in many of Rosenblatt’s essays in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and other media, and always found myself asking, “How did he do that?”
Also, because as a psychologist, I’ve specialized in death and dying, a field the author seems to have no use for, although my specialty has been concerned more with those facing their own deaths rather than caretaking or grieving. I’ve counseled many, many people, taught classes, read books and articles in the field, and even written some. For Rosenblatt, his grief lingers and worsens, instead of following the more usual trajectory of gradually transforming itself into loving recollections.
Many people believe that there are stages of grief. The research seems to show that there are not. There are phases like denial and anger and acceptance and then perhaps anger again; we go in and out of them in no particular order. Grieving is not a progression up the scale or even down; it is more of a fever chart, or a process that we spiral in and out of until some of the pain fades. To my question as to how long grief lasts, one therapist responded that grieving was “as long as a piece of string.”
According to some of the reviews and comments on this book, a number of readers are disappointed that nature provides no transcending relief at the end. They have their own bereavements to deal with, and they would like to see a healing result as expressed in the metaphor of a beautiful kayak morning, because that would brighten their own prospects. But Rosenblatt is no hypocrite, and he does not deliberately give the reader what he or she wants; he is nothing if not honest.
Many years ago, a psychologist named Therese Rando wrote a seminal work on “complicated mourning,” the state in which people become what I call “stuck in grief.” The rewards of getting stuck are many: once we identify ourselves as bereaved, we may receive so much sympathy and love, that it is tempting to remain in this state; or we are guilty over our part in the tragedy, often undeservedly so, and extended grieving is a satisfying way of punishing ourselves; or the grief is like a quicksand that we simply cannot dig ourselves out of. It becomes our role in life. We wouldn’t know what else to do or who else to be. Somehow, in some way, out grief may give us something we can’t get anywhere else. To minimize it or give it up would be a loss itself.
I mention complicated mourning with the hope that people who read this book for a story of transformation search elsewhere. Some kind of movement, one way or the other, is what many counselors are alert for. If on reading this review, you question where you are with regard to any loss, whether of a loved one, or a career, or a house to foreclosure, or another future, it may be time to seek the counseling of a bereavement specialist. Because, no matter what your loss, you are indeed bereft.
As a psychologist, yes, I can share all of the above, and it may even help. But, as a mother of five daughters, I know that if I lost one to death, my estimated length of survival would be about six months. No, nothing deliberate. I’d just drop from the unbearableness of it.
_________________ Patricia Weenolsen, Ph.D.
November 27, 2011
In a lot of ways, this is a continuation of his meditations that began in "Making Toast". Rosenblatt is still deeply mourning his beloved daughter, now gone for a few years. He cannot shake his grief and anger, except, these days, as he paddles the creek behind his house in his one man kayak. He ponders things large and small out on the water, taking on memories and dreams with the same ease he watches the fish flitting around him, or the deer taking a drink from the creek, or the smudges on the windows at the back of his house. He uses the solitary hours to sort through himself, still trying to find a way to live with a sorrow that will not got away, trying to find room for the love and joy his life still offers. His pain jumps off the page, you cannot help but feel it yourself. However, this book did not make me sad, only thoughtful, thinking of people I've lost and remembering the parts of them I still have with me, making me a better person for having known them if but briefly.
August 12, 2016
My heart goes out to Roger Rosenblatt. I love this author and love reading his books but his one was a sorrowful book that rambled and often got lost in his sadness and pain. This is the second book I have read after his daughter's untimely death and he seems to have gone deeper into his grief and his writing is even more uneven and wandering and broken as far as I am concerned. There some magical parts and some movingly touching moments but overall, I thought this book needed to be much better edited. I still will always recommend him however because how can one ever begin to put pen to paper after such a loss...and his effort to communicate such a private grief is one that we should all share if he so nobly cares to write.
February 28, 2016
A follow up to Burnt Toast,it was more of a resolution than a sequel.Roger gives you a miriad of things to discover:nature books,Psychology,music etc.Another book for my keeper shelf,I am now reading Book of Love:Improvisations on a Crazy Little Thing.I looked over a lot of reviews,and a few of them mentioned that his writing was disjointed,untidy,did not follow a plan...blah,blah,blah.These are the same type of complaints that I read about Cormac McCarthy.Kent Haruf,or Miriam Toews because they don't use quotation marks when expressing dialogue.Climb out of your boxes people.One of Elmore Leonard's rules of writing is that when you've learned the rules of writing,then you can break them.Roger has earned that right.
January 8, 2012
This is the January author to be featured by Thurber House. I would not recommend this book; I'm not even looking forward to his reading in a few weeks.
I found his thoughts disjointed. While he did have some wonderful observations on grief, they were few and far between. This time, instead of dropping celebrity names he writes of exotic travel.
The book could have, and maybe should have, been an essay.
I found his thoughts disjointed. While he did have some wonderful observations on grief, they were few and far between. This time, instead of dropping celebrity names he writes of exotic travel.
The book could have, and maybe should have, been an essay.
September 17, 2015
This book was recommended to me by one of the moms in the on-going grief group that I attend in remembrance of the daughter that I lost. This particular mom who recommended it lost her son in a very tragic manner and is not one to speak up very much in group. So, when she spoke so highly of this book and how beautiful it was, I simply had to give it a try. I am so glad I did. The author is a father who lost his daughter who at the age of 38 died of an unexpected anomalous in her heart. This book is a collections of reflections and thoughts he has as he is kayaking along a creek near his house. By profession the father is an essayist for the New York Times. The book reads a bit like an essay, it is in essay form but it is so deeply moving and deeply personal I was able to overlook that approach to the book's format. He quotes several comforting lines of poignant poetry. I will be planning to blog about this book and how it affected my outlook as a bereaved mother soon, that is how much it moved me. Thanks to my friend (Cathryn) from group for a great recommendation.
June 13, 2012
A beautiful, elegant, heartbreaking elegy.
November 25, 2018
This was a sequel to an earlier book this author wrote which I loved called Making Toast. I enjoyed this one as well....it would make a good gift for anyone that loses a loved one. Reflections on the passage of grief and how time does indeed shed some light into going on living a life when you're not sure it makes sense. I love how he uses the kayak as a metaphor to maintain balance...It kind of makes me want to go and get one. Lovely read-
February 1, 2012
This slim volume is a lovely treatise on grief, but it often rambles. It's as if Rosenblatt has to spew everything that's on his mind, in his stream of consciousness-style of writing. His inconsistency is jarring when he addresses his daughter Amy directly, yet other times, refers to her in the third person. My favorite passage is this one:
"You have to understand," she said. "Grief lasts forever."
"Like death," I said.
"Like death. Except death is someone else's condition, and grief is all yours."
"I feel worse now than I did shortly after she died."
"And you'll feel even worse next year. And worse the year after that, unless you find a way to transform your grief."
"We're back to that."
"We've never left it," she said. "Grief comes to you all at once, so you think it will be over all at once. But it is your guest for a lifetime."
"How should I treat this guest? This unwelcome, uninvited guest."
"Think of the one who sent it to you," she said.
"You have to understand," she said. "Grief lasts forever."
"Like death," I said.
"Like death. Except death is someone else's condition, and grief is all yours."
"I feel worse now than I did shortly after she died."
"And you'll feel even worse next year. And worse the year after that, unless you find a way to transform your grief."
"We're back to that."
"We've never left it," she said. "Grief comes to you all at once, so you think it will be over all at once. But it is your guest for a lifetime."
"How should I treat this guest? This unwelcome, uninvited guest."
"Think of the one who sent it to you," she said.
July 14, 2016
Kayak Morning by Roger Rosenblatt is a flowing mediation on all sorts of topics, including life and death, literature, and memory, as the author paddles along in his kayak not far from his home. It's a lyrical journey as he contemplates his grief over the loss of his daughter. His sadness is palpable, but he continues to move forward in life and reaffirm its goodness.
January 15, 2012
This is one of the most beautiful books I've ever read. I highly recommend it for anyone who has experienced the grief of losing a loved-one. The writing is lovely and his insight into the grief process is both personal and meaningful.
May 7, 2012
I see that many did not care for this book.
While the author does tend to share random thoughts, they all lead back to one thing...the depth of his pain.
I, for one, found that he communicated this quite well.
I did like this book, but it is a very sad story, indeed.
While the author does tend to share random thoughts, they all lead back to one thing...the depth of his pain.
I, for one, found that he communicated this quite well.
I did like this book, but it is a very sad story, indeed.
February 2, 2013
This may be the first time I've encountered something like stream of consciousness / free association / interior monologue in non-fiction. Writing the book may have been therapeutic for the author but I don't know what I was supposed to get out of it as a reader.
April 30, 2013
I have always loved his past appearances and vivid, intelligent critiques. Was then moved beyond words when his essay about losing his daughter appeared in the New Yorker. And this elegy and even further eulogy has been a very special read.
March 20, 2012
I liked this well enough - it was more a meditation, or a meandering than a full story or essay. Some of the language was beautiful, but I would have liked more of a narrative.
June 14, 2012
Very disjointed and difficult to read. Made no sense at all. This one was a clunker.
June 6, 2023
I love historical events like this.
Boats and historical events are what make me love reading. Could you please share the sequel books of your series?
In fact, even though I started reading very late, I'm getting more and more immersed every day.
It is a great chance to read the books of important authors. I know that. I'm looking forward to your new books.
I am writing the importance of reading a book here for friends who want to read this book. I hope it will benefit sellers and customers...
Are the top 10 benefits of reading for all ages:
1. Reading Exercises the Brain
While reading, we have to remember different characters and settings that belong to a given story. Even if you enjoy reading a book in one sitting, you have to remember the details throughout the time you take to read the book. Therefore, reading is a workout for your brain that improves memory function.
2. Reading is a Form of (free) Entertainment
Did you know that most of the popular TV shows and movies are based on books? So why not indulge in the original form of entertainment by immersing yourself in reading. Most importantly, it’s free with your Markham Public Library card.
3. Reading Improves Concentration and the Ability to Focus
We can all agree that reading cannot happen without focus and in order to fully understand the story, we have to concentrate on each page that we read. In a world where gadgets are only getting faster and shortening our attention span, we need to constantly practice concentration and focus. Reading is one of the few activities that requires your undivided attention, therefore, improving your ability to concentrate.
4. Reading Improves Literacy
Have you ever read a book where you came across an unfamiliar word? Books have the power to improve your vocabulary by introducing you to new words. The more you read, the more your vocabulary grows, along with your ability to effectively communicate. Additionally, reading improves writing skills by helping the reader understand and learn different writing styles.
5. Reading Improves Sleep
By creating a bedtime routine that includes reading, you can signal to your body that it is time to sleep. Now, more than ever, we rely on increased screen time to get through the day. Therefore, by setting your phone aside and picking up a book, you are telling your brain that it is time to quiet down. Moreover, since reading helps you de-stress, doing so right before bed helps calm your mind and anxiety and improve the quality of sleep.
6. Reading Increases General Knowledge
Books are always filled with fun and interesting facts. Whether you read fiction or non-fictions, books have the ability to provide us with information we would’ve otherwise not known. Reading a variety of topics can make you a more knowledgeable person, in turn improving your conversation skills.
7. Reading is Motivational
By reading books about protagonists who have overcome challenges, we are oftentimes encouraged to do the same. The right book can motivate you to never give up and stay positive, regardless of whether it’s a romance novel or a self-help book.
https://numberoneboats.com/
https://theboatyacht.com/
https://theboatyacht.com/boats-for-sa...
https://numberoneboats.com/boats-for-...
https://theboatyacht.com/boats-for-sa...
https://numberoneboats.com/boats-for-...
Boats and historical events are what make me love reading. Could you please share the sequel books of your series?
In fact, even though I started reading very late, I'm getting more and more immersed every day.
It is a great chance to read the books of important authors. I know that. I'm looking forward to your new books.
I am writing the importance of reading a book here for friends who want to read this book. I hope it will benefit sellers and customers...
Are the top 10 benefits of reading for all ages:
1. Reading Exercises the Brain
While reading, we have to remember different characters and settings that belong to a given story. Even if you enjoy reading a book in one sitting, you have to remember the details throughout the time you take to read the book. Therefore, reading is a workout for your brain that improves memory function.
2. Reading is a Form of (free) Entertainment
Did you know that most of the popular TV shows and movies are based on books? So why not indulge in the original form of entertainment by immersing yourself in reading. Most importantly, it’s free with your Markham Public Library card.
3. Reading Improves Concentration and the Ability to Focus
We can all agree that reading cannot happen without focus and in order to fully understand the story, we have to concentrate on each page that we read. In a world where gadgets are only getting faster and shortening our attention span, we need to constantly practice concentration and focus. Reading is one of the few activities that requires your undivided attention, therefore, improving your ability to concentrate.
4. Reading Improves Literacy
Have you ever read a book where you came across an unfamiliar word? Books have the power to improve your vocabulary by introducing you to new words. The more you read, the more your vocabulary grows, along with your ability to effectively communicate. Additionally, reading improves writing skills by helping the reader understand and learn different writing styles.
5. Reading Improves Sleep
By creating a bedtime routine that includes reading, you can signal to your body that it is time to sleep. Now, more than ever, we rely on increased screen time to get through the day. Therefore, by setting your phone aside and picking up a book, you are telling your brain that it is time to quiet down. Moreover, since reading helps you de-stress, doing so right before bed helps calm your mind and anxiety and improve the quality of sleep.
6. Reading Increases General Knowledge
Books are always filled with fun and interesting facts. Whether you read fiction or non-fictions, books have the ability to provide us with information we would’ve otherwise not known. Reading a variety of topics can make you a more knowledgeable person, in turn improving your conversation skills.
7. Reading is Motivational
By reading books about protagonists who have overcome challenges, we are oftentimes encouraged to do the same. The right book can motivate you to never give up and stay positive, regardless of whether it’s a romance novel or a self-help book.
https://numberoneboats.com/
https://theboatyacht.com/
https://theboatyacht.com/boats-for-sa...
https://numberoneboats.com/boats-for-...
https://theboatyacht.com/boats-for-sa...
https://numberoneboats.com/boats-for-...
April 15, 2019
I love to kayak and clear my head at the same time. So naturally, I was doubly excited to find this book at a used clearance sale at Changing Hands in Phoenix, AZ. (Side note; this book store is a "must visit" your next trip to Phoenix if you're a book lover. One of the few new & old bookstores that has a coffee bar that also serves wine!)
I rated this only three stars because the author mostly used this book as a poetic outlet for his grief of his deceased daughter. Although there were many great references to life versus paddling the open waters, I couldn't help but feel a little weighed down by Roger Rosenblatt's aching heart that couldn't seem to quite reach over the bow of the boat he was slumped in. The author isn't shy about this either.
"When you love someone, every moment is shadowed by the fear of loss. Then loss occurs, and you feel more love than ever. The more you loved, the more you feel the loss. Depression, then, may be seen as the strongest expression of love. That's where logic gets you."
Make no mistake, I felt no time wasted in reading this and in fact, I packed this book around on a couple of my hot spring trips as I was in the midst of my own healing and I could not yet take my own kayak out for a ritual float.
"You can't always make your way in the world by moving up. Or down, for that matter. Boats move laterally on water, which levels everything. It is one of the two great levelers."
I rated this only three stars because the author mostly used this book as a poetic outlet for his grief of his deceased daughter. Although there were many great references to life versus paddling the open waters, I couldn't help but feel a little weighed down by Roger Rosenblatt's aching heart that couldn't seem to quite reach over the bow of the boat he was slumped in. The author isn't shy about this either.
"When you love someone, every moment is shadowed by the fear of loss. Then loss occurs, and you feel more love than ever. The more you loved, the more you feel the loss. Depression, then, may be seen as the strongest expression of love. That's where logic gets you."
Make no mistake, I felt no time wasted in reading this and in fact, I packed this book around on a couple of my hot spring trips as I was in the midst of my own healing and I could not yet take my own kayak out for a ritual float.
"You can't always make your way in the world by moving up. Or down, for that matter. Boats move laterally on water, which levels everything. It is one of the two great levelers."
October 17, 2021
I haven't yet read "Making Toast," but "Kayak Morning," braided with various concerns around kayaking, literature, and grief has led me to put it on my short list of books-to-read. The fragments of understanding, in short paragraphs or passages, often read like poems. As a grieving father, I found much to quote and think about. His reflection that "Americans do not believe in death, which is why we are forever shocked by its intrusions" comes with startling clarity. His meditation on Emerson's "shallow grief" at the loss of his child and Rosenblatt's observation that he wrote "Making Toast" so that he would not lose his daughter all registered and helped me in navigating so much of my own grief that is made too private and without guideposts or manuals.
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May 2, 2022It was a little hard to follow along, as it really was disjointed reflections strung together, but it definitely had some gems throughout:
"Grief. The state of mind brought about when love, having lost to death, learns to breathe beside it. See also love."
"...death is someone else's condition, and grief is all yours."
"Grief comes to you all at once, so you think it will be over all at once. But it is your guest for a lifetime."
"How should I treat this guest? This unwelcome, uninvited guest."
"Think of the one who sent it to you," she said.
"Grief. The state of mind brought about when love, having lost to death, learns to breathe beside it. See also love."
"...death is someone else's condition, and grief is all yours."
"Grief comes to you all at once, so you think it will be over all at once. But it is your guest for a lifetime."
"How should I treat this guest? This unwelcome, uninvited guest."
"Think of the one who sent it to you," she said.
August 29, 2018
This is more of just a bathroom book to read a little at a time than a book to consume all at once. In that case, it is quite boring. However, read bit by bit in sittings of no more that 5 minutes, it’s very interesting. Roger writes in a very stream of consciousness style that is a little erratic, but it is also the mind of someone who has experienced great loss. Much can be learned from a mind like that which is trying to find peace.
September 15, 2019
Rosenblatt is wrestling with how to both want to live as well as figure out how to do so after the unexpected death of his adult daughter who left behind a husband and 3 young children.
Is is often hard to follow....numerous allusions to literature (once in a while, I had no idea what he was referring to) and other historical figures or events.
The lines on grief were spot on...I enjoyed the kayaking stories...
Is is often hard to follow....numerous allusions to literature (once in a while, I had no idea what he was referring to) and other historical figures or events.
The lines on grief were spot on...I enjoyed the kayaking stories...
September 26, 2019
In my opinion this book is written with very deep heartfelt emotions struggling with another force yet very professional and somewhat poetic. When the grief turns to negative feelings, keep reading because the author will touch on feelings and experiences either you didn’t know you had or were completely oblivious too! Get to know yourself better through this read and God bless you, Roger Rosenblatt! Keep sharing the Love.
November 2, 2020
Daughter (MD, mid-thirties) dies suddenly & Rosenblatt is obsessively mourning her. This is essentially a book of poetry (written in prose format). The feelings, the writing is incredibly beautiful, simultaneously strong. Do not read this if there has a recent death in the family - esp. the death of a child. After losing 3, I was weeping throughout. There can't ever have been such a perfect eulogy written.
Find me one. I'd love to compare.
Find me one. I'd love to compare.
March 2, 2021
I was able to glean some meaningful lines from this book, for which I’m grateful. The line that means the most to me came at the end of the book: “Grief. The state of mind brought about when love, having lost to death, learns to breathe beside it.” Grief is a difficult thing, and it thrusts itself upon you and becomes part of you. I’m still figuring out how to make peace with my grief, but this line helps me see grief in a gentler way.
August 14, 2021
This just wasn’t a book for me. I appreciate poetry, but I’m not a poetry connoisseur by any means. I guess I expected this to be more about nature and it’s healing properties for grief. I respect the author’s reasons for writing this as a means of managing his grief for losing his daughter, but there are far too many passages that just feel like incoherent ramblings. It made it really hard to connect to as a whole.
June 25, 2018
Heartbreaking, hopeful and honest; a deep meditation on grief and loss.
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