Reviews
If you read Michael Scott Moore's book, first clear your schedule, because you won't put it down until you've finished it. The Desert and The Sea is an astonishing and harrowing story, told with great humanity, by a writer who ventures where few will ever go., One sun drenched minute Michael Scott Moore was following his curiosity and love of ideas into the greatest adventure of his writer life, and the next he was dragged from a car by armed Somali pirates, beaten badly and dragged away to every traveler's worst nightmare. His account of his nearly three years of captivity is a testament to the strength of one man's indomitable spirit and Moore's great gifts of observation, his humor, wits, and evident gifts as a storyteller. Thank heavens he lived to tell the story, which everyone should now read and cheer., "If you read Michael Scott Moore's book, first clear your schedule, because you won't put it down until you've finished it. The Desert and The Sea is an astonishing and harrowing story, told with great humanity, by a writer who ventures where few will ever go." -- Susan Casey, author of Voices in the Ocean: A Journey Into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins "Highly addictive reading material....Michael Scott Moore delivers an amazing true-life thriller, one of the most suspenseful books written in recent years, that tracks across oceans and underworlds, culminating in a very rewarding, deeply profound end." -- Jeffrey Gettleman, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Love, Africa "His account of his nearly three years of captivity is a testament to the strength of one man's indomitable spirit and Moore's great gifts of observation, his humor, wits, and evident gifts as a storyteller. Thank heavens he lived to tell the story, which everyone should now read and cheer." -- Tom Barbash, author of Stay Up With Me "Among the virtues of this account is that even when discussing sensational happenings, Moore never overdramatizes. This exceptional memoir will attract many readers." -- Library Journal (starred review) A harrowing and affecting account of two and a half years of captivity at the hands of Somali pirates. A deftly constructed and tautly told rejoinder to Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped, sympathetic but also sharp-edged. -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) When a young man who is good and brave, keenly intelligent and observant, with a lively mind and a learned sense of human and historical complexity, is kidnapped by pirates and kept as a hostage for three years in Somalia's harsh and violent bush, the result is The Desert and the Sea. However much you wish Michael Scott Moore had never had cause to write it, this book could not be more engrossing, harrowing, suspenseful, wrenchingly humane and illuminating. -- Francisco Goldman "Not only the definitive book on Somali pirates, but a remarkable work of literature too." -- Ben Rawlence
