The Adventures of Louis De Rougemont

Rating:
Summary: Classic adventure tale
Review: This book details the life of a shipping investor shipwrecked off Australia's coast in the early 1800s. He struggles with loneliness, develops relations with indigenous peoples, weds an aboriginal wife, has children -- and all the while tries to find his way back to "civilization."

de Rougemont uses clear, inviting, inventive language to describe his triumphs and losses. No hidden meanings or complicated subtexts here; just a ripping good yarn based on this fellow's endless adventures. And no analytical coldness or floods of facts, either -- this guy lived fully and completely on every level and conveyed his triumphs and disappointments stoutly and directly.