OCTOBER 2017 - AudioFile
A honeymoon trip to South America turns into a nightmare for the author and her husband in 1973. Stranded in the jungle after their plane crashes, Holly and Gerald “Fitz” FitzGerald decide to take a raft to Bolivia. Jorjeana Marie narrates their journey using intonations to identify the few people they encounter. The trip is mostly Holly and Fitz alone, and the narration emphasizes the anguish, frustration, and helplessness they feel throughout their ordeal. Marie’s narration brings all the emotions to bear as the couple struggle together while they are stranded for almost a month. M.B. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
The New York Times Book Review - Andrew McCarthy
The "survival" tale has long occupied a storied corner of the travel writing genre, from The Worst Journey in the World, Apsley Cherry-Garrard's classic…to Nathaniel Philbrick's…In the Heart of the Sea. Holly FitzGerald's Ruthless River instantly takes its spot among these giants…The couple endure, maintaining hope and affection for each other. It's this that elevates Ruthless River above the typically heroic tale of survival. In simple, unsentimental terms, Holly FitzGerald has given us a most unlikely love story.
From the Publisher
Admiration for Holly FitzGerald’s
RUTHLESS RIVER
"The 'survival' tale has long occupied a storied corner of the travel writing genre, from The Worst Journey in the World to In the Heart of the Sea. Holly FitzGerald's Ruthless River instantly takes its spot among these giants ... In this world of water, the FitzGeralds struggle in vain to find their way back to the river's current ... The couple endures, maintaining hope and affection for each other. It's this that elevates Ruthless River above the typically heroic tale of survival. In simple, unsentimental terms, Holly FitzGerald has given us a most unlikely love story."
—Andrew McCarthy, The New York Times Book Review
“If you built a survival-adventure book in a laboratory, you’d end up with Ruthless River . . . A completely unexpected real-life thriller.
—Jon Foro, Omnivoracious (Best Biographies & Memoirs of June)
“Adventurous.”
—Outside Magazine (The Best New Survival Books)
“A harrowing survival saga . . . In vivid, absorbing prose, FitzGerald unspools a story that moves from optimism, energy, and a thrilled sense of adventure to abject fear and near starvation.”
—Nina MacLaughlin, The Boston Globe
“Both travel memoir and shocking adventure story, like a real-life Survivor or Naked and Afraid . . . A powerful story about survival, love, and faith in the face of impossible odds . . . Unputdownable . . . absolutely fascinating.”
—Katie Lawrence, Library Journal
“Vivid and consistently compelling . . . An absorbing tale of survival, love, and the generosity of people who helped save their lives.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A detailed, high-stakes debut memoir . . . FitzGerald weaves in the stories from their past with palpable, evocative details of their daily struggles with starvation, strong currents, and despair, all while the couple’s love, self-knowledge, and faith deepen . . . Recommended for fans of survival narratives, coming-of-maturity stories, and travelogues from off the beaten path.”
—Louisa Whitfield-Smith, Booklist
“Adventure, romance, danger, salvation—all in a story that’s beautifully told and, incredibly, really happened. Pick up Ruthless River, but be careful. You might find it hard to put down. This is one of those memoirs you won’t soon forget.”
—Damon DiMarco, author of Tower Stories: An Oral History of 9/11
“There are lots of adventure stories out there, lots of romances, lots of spiritual memoirs, but I know of no other book that combines all three genres with such grace and beauty. Ruthless River is thrilling—edge-of-your-seat, hold-your-breath thrilling—but it’s so much more than that. It’s a meditation on how we find meaning and the strength to survive in an impossible circumstance, and one of the most tender love stories you’ll ever read. I love this book.”
—Kerry Egan, author of On Living
“The best real-life survival tale since Cheryl Strayed’s Wild . . . A jaw-dropper of a memoir . . . A mind-blower of a debut . . . A survival tale so extreme, so insane, so bizarre, that Hollywood couldn’t make it up. It’s stranger than fiction.”
—Lauren Daley, South Coast Today
“A spectacular, frightening, and amazing odyssey that opens a window into the soul. I loved this book; I couldn't put it down.”
—Lynne Cox, author of Swimming in the Sink
“One of the great survival tales. An almost unbearable story told with a physical and emotional intensity that draws the reader in, not just as witness, but as virtual participant. It’s an exhausting, painful, inspiring read.”
—Michael Palin, author of Traveling to Work
Library Journal
04/15/2017
This debut is a travelog of two thrill seekers, the author and her husband, "Fitz," whose dream was to travel the world on a shoestring budget. After a surviving a plane crash and being stranded in a penal colony in Peru for several days without a ferry to take them out, the couple decide to build their own log raft, the Pink Palace, and tackle the Madre de Dios river themselves. They learn the river current will carry them and that they'll arrive in ten days, but it all goes horribly wrong. There's a storm, a tree falls on the raft, FitzGerald ends up covered in fire ants, and Fitz almost falls off the raft. The next morning, they find themselves in stagnant water with no current, no clue where they are, and almost no food. FitzGerald weaves a dramatic tale from there full of misfortune and trials yet also hope. This is both travel memoir and shocking adventure story, like a real-life Survivor or Naked and Afraid. Occasional flashbacks to life prior to the couple's trip are the only drawback; some add to the narrative while others seem to have no connection at all. VERDICT A powerful story about survival, love, and faith in the face of impossible odds, this unputdownable story of travel horrors is absolutely fascinating.—Katie Lawrence, Grand Rapids, MI
OCTOBER 2017 - AudioFile
A honeymoon trip to South America turns into a nightmare for the author and her husband in 1973. Stranded in the jungle after their plane crashes, Holly and Gerald “Fitz” FitzGerald decide to take a raft to Bolivia. Jorjeana Marie narrates their journey using intonations to identify the few people they encounter. The trip is mostly Holly and Fitz alone, and the narration emphasizes the anguish, frustration, and helplessness they feel throughout their ordeal. Marie’s narration brings all the emotions to bear as the couple struggle together while they are stranded for almost a month. M.B. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2017-03-28
The account of a transformational South American odyssey that tested the author and her husband to the limit.In March 1973, having missed their boat after surviving a plane crash at a remote outpost in Peru, FitzGerald and her husband were forced to take a makeshift raft down Rio Madre de Dios to Riberalta, Bolivia, en route to Brazil. What was supposed to be a journey of a few days became a harrowing ordeal. The author's story of the inexperienced rafters being swept by a storm into a tributary they could barely escape, their extreme privation and miseries—weeks trapped in a jungle swamp without shelter, food, or fresh water—is vivid and consistently compelling. FitzGerald often writes fine, lyrical descriptions, especially of nature, though when mooning over her husband, the prose turns purple and overwrought, better suited to a romance novel than a gritty survival adventure. However, considering what the couple endured, the periodic spasms of over-the-top romanticism and superstition can be forgiven, and readers will admire their remarkable fortitude. FitzGerald is at her best when detailing their many challenges or suggesting states of mind. "Despite my physical debilitation," she writes, "my mind had achieved a heightened clarity. My vision of life was now stripped to the bone. As starvation consumed my body, its effects also trimmed the fat and gristle from my thoughts." Since her journal was lost early in the trip and FitzGerald had to record their trial by other means, some readers may question the accuracy of her moment-by-moment recollections, and occasionally, credulity is strained. We also learn little of the young couple's remarkable globe-hopping before and after the disaster, apart from listings of places visited. FitzGerald overcomes her book's few flaws to produce an absorbing tale of survival, love, and the generosity of people who helped save their lives.
