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A Mile Down: The True Story of a Disastrous Career at Sea | 
 enlarge | Author: David Vann
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $3.33
You Save: $11.62 (78%)
New (24) Used (18) from $1.10
Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 51472
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.1 x 0.7
ISBN: 1560257105
Dewey Decimal Number: 910.45
EAN: 9781560257103
ASIN: 1560257105
Publication Date: May 10, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: SATISFACTION GUARANTEED! NEW Book! May have remainder mark. Most orders ship within 1 BUSINESS DAY with ORDER CONFIRMATION.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
If you've ever owned a sailboat or had a friend who did, you know how it begins: with a dream. You dream about the ship, and gradually the dream consumes you. Practical considerations lose all meaning ... until, inevitably, the dream morphs into a nightmare. David Vann is familiar with that nightmare. His begins in Turkey: a thirty-year-old tourist, he stumbles across the steel frame of a ninety-foot sailboat that cries out to be built. From friends, family, and credit cards, he borrows the $150,000 to construct the ship. The Turkish builders take shameless advantage of him, eventually charging him over $500,000. On the edge of financial ruin, Vann starts a chartering business. But, when some new part of the ship isn't falling apart, he encounters freak storms. As his debts escalate, Vann begins to wonder if he is merely repeating his father's dreams and failures at sea—which ended with his father's suicide. At once a page-turning true story of adventure on the open ocean and an archetypal tale of one man's attempt to overcome fate and realize his dream, A Mile Down is an unforgettable story of struggle and redemption by a writer at the top of his form.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 A lot of whining! February 3, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I don't know, guys. I read the hype for this book, bought it, and dove in with great expectations. Overall, it is well written but the author's agenda - to blame everyone and anyone but himself for mistake after horrific mistake - overshadowed any merit to the story. It felt a bit like a deposition written in hopes that his former creditors might read it and exonerate him. I found it hard to feel badly for someone who used and abused other peoples' trust and money so that he wouldn't have to get a real job. Poor Mr. Vann!
 A great read. Powerful, unstoppable November 17, 2007
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a terrific read... a true story, as they say, about a guy who charms money out of friends and acquaintances -- twice -- to go to sea in a dubious boat -- twice -- which is going to be his Get Rich Quick scheme so he can sail and write for the rest of his life, and you can use "sail" and "write" to substitute for anything you'd rather be doing. Vann, as portrayed in "A Mile Down," is a deeply flawed but perniciously charismatic character who gets away with near-murder. I don't even like sea-adventure books, and I couldn't put this one down; I read it in one solid four-hour marathon. His writing is exciting, his disclosure satisfying, his problems hair-raising and yet empathetic.
Riveting adventure July 10, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is riveting with a haunting foreboding that draws you from page to page, to wit: "what will go wrong next?" When you think the misadventures of boat building, in a foreign land, and sailing can't get any worse, they do. The irony is that the author demonstrates an expertise in his craft yet is assailed by incompetent or selfish people and Mother Nature herself. (Although there does appear to be one particularly egregious lack of judgement by the author ... )
This book can be enjoyed by sailors and non-sailors alike. I don't have a nautical bone in my body, nor even indulge in water activities, yet the author drew me in to his sweat and misery with wonderfully graphic language. Normally, I have a 100-page test: if the book doesn't appeal after 100 pages I stop reading it. This book made me forget I even had a test.
It's wonderful to find a true life adventure that is also a page turner. If it was fiction you would swear some of the antagonists were taking their self-serving actions only to further the plot. But no, this is real-life at its most basest `passion of the mind.' Vann presents a counter to this side of humanity by highlighting the generosity of those who helped fund his adventure. His ability to enchant `lenders' with his quest is reflected once again in his ability to enchant the reader with his tale.
Following Your Dream November 14, 2006
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book is well written. In fact, I read it in two sittings. There are a few places where Vann does not adequately prepare the reader for events, but they are minor and not really worth mentioning. In the beginning, I felt Vann's hope. Identified with his dream of escaping the day-to-day boredom of teaching (work), and then I felt his escape. The elation mixed with worry over the ship builder's ability is excellently portrayed. Because of the shipbuilder's friendly nature, Vann manages to suppress his instinctive distrust. His final despair (or release), as he watches his boat sink to the bottom of the ocean, is greatly contrasted to his initial hope. In the end, Vann finds his dream and brings us full circle. While I found the ending a little weak, with today's trend toward non-fiction, I highly recommend the book. It's all about following your dream.
Ctitique of critics September 22, 2006
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Criticism of "A Mile Down" seems to focus not on the writing or subject matter, which is universally accepted as excellent and engaging, but on the author himself and his character. This seems odd to me. Hemingway is no less a great author because of his many defects of character.
The book is a great read for anyone - sailor or no. I ate it like candy in a few days. Like others, I wished it would not end. I was inspired by the author's resilience, educated by the mistakes, and horrified by the dark side of human nature it revealed. Anyone who has sailed in a storm will understand.
Of the critics of the author's judgment, it is easy to play armchair second-guesser from the comforts of a stable, warm, dry and probably quietly desperate life. Hindsight is always 20/20, Monday morning quarterback, and all that. What I see in this book is one who, living in a glass house, throws stones at that house, and critics' complaints about the author's character ring of jealousy that they themselves haven't dared to take their best shot at their own houses. So they complain that the author's choice of stone is flawed. Horse hockey.
I deeply identified with the author. I too am a hard worker, a dreamer, a sailor, and one not content to settle for second best. I also am like the author in that I make many mistakes. I think our saving grace is the ability to learn from our experiences and remain afloat, buoyed by optimism and an abiding belief that the exceptional can be acheived.
Of course there are mistakes made. That all the ills that befall David Vann are ultimately his "fault" is without question, since had he chosen to remain safely on shore, his boat would never have sunk with him in it. So is the lesson "stay ashore?" Absolutley not.
The lesson, at least for me, is: adversity is not a reason to hide from your dreams. It is an opportunity to advance them, wiser from the the experience. This book is a fresh parable evincing an age-old truth - that which doesn't kill us makes us stronger.
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