Oceans Apart

Oceans Apart portrays the life of a young man who finds himself sailing on merchant ships to adventures beyond his wildest imaginings - from delivering high explosives to Vietnam in floating rust buckets, to weathering a ferocious Atlantic hurricane. But for all the terrifying dangers, McCarey writes with a deep passion for the blue majesty of the ocean and the charming people he encounters in colorful ports-of-call: the Portuguese street girl he weds for a day -- the Italian villagers who steer him from certain danger -- the surly stevedore with a soft spot for Puerto Rico's poor -- the bookseller in war-torn Vietnam who lives only for poetry. Just as revealing are the flashbacks to the author's home turf, the Hudson River Valley and his half-cocked Irish-American family. Oceans Apart is a warm and compelling memoir; equal parts rollicking sea yarn and exotic travelogue.