I was sold on this book as soon as I saw the cover: a rubber duckie, looking as if it were recently plucked from Ernie’s bathtub, floating in a vast sea, coupled with a title referring to one of the so-called Great American Novels. Moby-Duck follows the journey of a crate of plastic bath toys. The duck was one of a group of animals, though it seems to have utilized a better publicist than the beaver, frog, and turtle, as its story is the one that has survived in the public’s mind. Left to their own devices, where did the current take them? Who found their beached, faded bodies and where? Who manufactured them and shipped them? How many shipped items are lost at sea? A book simply focusing on these questions would satisfy most readers, but this is also the story of a personal journey, namely that of a high school teacher who pursues the Great Yellow Duck across oceans and years.
I didn’t know about the local connection when I checked out the book. Gore Point features prominently in the story, as do a few Homer residents. Homer News wrote an article about it when the book was released. Gore Point, due to currents, collects heaps of trash. The occasional non-profit organization and a crew of volunteers spend countless dollars and hours to clear the debris and dispose of it. Homer happens to have the nearest dump. The section that focuses on the Kenai Peninsula is a brief one, so don’t read this for local interest only. More often, Donovan Hohn is elsewhere. And for the most part, his blending of science, social/environmental commentary, and travelogue works. Unfortunately, the moments of personal discovery are least interesting to me, and the sum rarely exceeds the parts. As a traveling companion, Hohn is nowhere near as entertaining as Bill Bryson, my favorite travel writer. His existential need to undertake this physical and emotional journey would have been best kept in a leather-bound journal on his nightstand. I was more interested to read about ocean currents and floating trash islands than numerous Moby-Dick allusions and Hohn’s decision to travel to Alaska during the final moments of his wife’s pregnancy. Call me ambivalent.
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Filed under: ADULTS, ALASKANA, GARBAGE, NEW BOOKS, NONFICTION, SCIENCE, TRAVEL
