cover image Rowing to Alaska: And Other True Stories

Rowing to Alaska: And Other True Stories

Wayne McLennan, . . Granta UK, $14 (239pp) ISBN 978-1-86207-787-4

Bank clerk, construction worker, gold miner, dishwasher, tree planter and deckhand, McLennan has found his true calling as a storyteller in his first collection of personal essays detailing his adventures around the globe. Beginning with his younger days in his native Australia, McLennan keeps the testosterone coming as he rides broncos, boxes, plays rugby and "pig chases" (a discreet term for hunting wild boar) while clerking in a bank and keeping company with a bar stool each night. Needing some distance from his homeland, he travels to Europe, then takes a tree-planting job in Washington State, where, inspired by the miners of the gold rush, he and a buddy build a boat in which they row to Alaska. After this six-month escapade and a stint on a fishing boat, McLennan heads to South America to mine gold and soon after discovers something just as important: "I would never stay doing one job all my life, and that I was going to live away from my home town, far away." While the transitions between essays are somewhat uneven, McLennan adroitly captures the fleeting details of travel, making this collection a charming success. (Dec. 1)