Reviews

The Frayed Atlantic Edge: A Historian's Journey from Shetland to the Channel by David Gange

kizzia's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

A beautifully descriptive and utterly fascinating book that I highly recommend to anyone looking for an emersive journey around the west coast of the British Isles. 

The amount of information contained in these 400 pages is staggering; there were so many captivating anecdotes, both historical and from the journey itself, that I know I'm going to need to experience it several times to get the most from it.  I was particularly taken with the details of family life in lighthouses and the history of Toraigh, the most remote inhabited island of Ireland.

I listened to the audio version of this book and found Ed Hughes narration excellent.

rojulian's review

adventurous informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

queltynoedd's review

adventurous informative medium-paced

3.25

eoinmeen's review against another edition

3.0

First audiobook of the year! Going to try keep this 3/1 ratio unless I need a sprint finish to hug my goal in december. Definitely made me want to visit the Scottish isles as well as the skelligs. Unique writing style because it's a historian writing about his firsthand experiences of kayaking across our local islands. Loses a star because I've pins and needles while reviewing :P

ronanmcd's review against another edition

5.0

This was special. A deep look at familiar cultures from an unfamiliar angle. The author tours the west facing shores of the British Isles in a kayak, discussing the environment along with cultural and historical heritage.
I loved it of course. It has everything I love in it. I especially enjoyed Gange's ability to distinguish the core of issues facing these communities, the truth of history, and an ability to see both sides when merited.
But beyond any of that I loved his journey - in the waves and outside beneath the stars. It's the stuff of dreams.

ashbandicoot90's review against another edition

2.0

Sadly, dense and dry. Brims with very selective history, but very matter of fact and fails to build much engagement for what is a very cool personal journey.

mturner1334's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing slow-paced

5.0

bethl's review against another edition

4.0

Ok so this was surprisingly really interesting - I’d picked this up to listen to as I fell asleep but the history of all the places he visited were actually really cool. I didn’t realise I knew so little about costal villages/communities. Highly recommend!

rosie_b's review

adventurous slow-paced

2.0

This sounded really interesting but didn’t quite work for me. It felt like the book tried to cover too many different topics, and jumped so fast between them that my ADHD brain couldn’t keep up. It also meant there wasn’t time to explore some topics in detail. There were some really interesting parts of the book; mainly anytime the author was talking about kayaking or talking to people, or he was sharing stories of people who lived in these places in detail. The rest was a lot of talking about authors and poets, and it wasn’t that interesting to me. I skimmed a lot as I reached the end. 

stewart_monckton's review

adventurous informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Wonderful book - a thoughtful combination of history, travel, poetry, natural history and kayaking.

It is at its best when it makes us think about what we think we know of history.

Very highly recommended.