This is truly a good read. It is well written and captivating, I couldn't stop reading - I had to know how it ended! I hope there will be a part 2.

Really liked the book, tho it would have been nice to read what was next for author. Nicely done.
Thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

Upending their lives and taking to the seas was supposed to solidify their marriage. Instead, what became clear was that something had to give.

"We had never sailed alone together on the ocean, and never overnight. [...] Neither of us had ever stepped foot onto a sailboat until we owned our own, so we had to learn everything: from how to raise and lower the sails, to how to avoid hitting rocks and capsizing." (loc. 304*)

Despite an irrational dislike of boats (I am an excellent swimmer, but there's just something about the idea of being out beyond the sight of land and knowing that you're too far out to swim to safety if need be), I have a thing for "packed up my life and sailed away" sorts of books. Russ went into the sailing adventure with limited (though, for their purposes, adequate) boating experience and even more limited confidence.

"Brian oozed competence—it's what had drawn me to him all those years ago. He had all the qualities I desired and wanted to attain for myself: he was confident, capable, and knew who he was[...]. Initially, I'd hoped some of his confidence might rub off on me. But over the years, I'd ended up hiding behind it at the expense of my own. It was easier to let him take the lead than to risk making a mistake. Now, I couldn't see past him. Everything I knew about myself—from my likes and dislikes, to my sense of who I was—had taken shape within the confines of our relationship. And I only knew how to be the person Brian wanted me to be." (loc. 332)

So it's a sailing story and a relationship story and a self-discovery story. It's evident early on that the status quo of the relationship suits Russ's husband well, but Russ less well; the question becomes what to do with that, and what their relationship will look like when all is said and done. The events of the book took place some number of years ago, which for book purposes is great; it means that Russ has had the time to think it over and process and figure out how the pieces fit together. The emotions are still there but not the same kind of raw that can come across when the story is still new. I'm curious about more of the what came after, but I also understand why it's out of the scope of this book.

Readers looking for more along these lines might like Torre DeRoche's "Love with a Chance of Drowning".

*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Becoming the Ocean follows the voyage of the sailboat Delos across the Pacific, where the ocean swells and storms mirror the emotional turmoil that Russ experiences as she navigates her fragile relationship with her husband.

The combination of threats from without and within made this memoir incredibly suspenseful — I tore through it in a single day. The writing feels vivid and urgent, and I enjoyed learning more about the process of her transformation from novice sailor to a mariner at ease on the sea.

The book left me wishing for more — whether an epilogue about where the author’s journeys have taken her, or a bit more presence of a present-day narrator who is reflecting on the past, I’m not sure — more, perhaps, of the author making meaning from her experience, and sharing that with the reader.