Book review 'Casting Off': Flail, sail, love

At 31, Emma Bamford is leading a life that she has worked diligently towards. She has a steady job as a news reporter at a reputable newspaper, she has an apartment on the right side of town, and her life, to many, is an enviable one. Yet, Emma is constantly feeling the pressure of being single and unmarried, that somehow, by not settling down with an appropriate man, having a family and moving to the suburbs of London, she is missing out on an integral part of life, and is being left behind.

As Bamford writers in her memoir, “By 31, the Docs were long gone, the art of walking in high heels was perfected (well, improved) and there was a lot of stuff shoved into the recesses of the handbag. Yet there was no house, no husband, and no children. There was a motaged-to-the-hilt-and-then-some ex-council flat, a few ex-boyfriends and some dates, the last one of whom tried to charm me by pointing out my knobbly knees.”

One day, Emma decides to step out of the misery that she has essentially inflicted upon herself. She quits her job, kicks out her flat-mate and puts her apartment on rent. She decides to do what she loves best — an unusual hobby she has inculcated over the years — sailing on the high seas. She responds to an online ad — a British man with his own sail boat is sailing in Borneo and is looking for crew members. Emma takes the job and leaves behind her life in England (at least for the moment) to live one that she feels will offer her (temporarily, at least) freedom, adventure and happiness.

Yet, life on the high seas is not without turbulence. Her first sailing stint is on a yacht, Kingdom, owned by a man named Steve, who though living a life seemingly full of adventure after quitting his corporate job, is desperately lonely and looking for a girlfriend. Emma’s time on the boat becomes increasingly uncomfortable as she succumbs to Steve’s advances — though she does not particularly like him, and then when the relationship begins to sour, she decides to leave the yacht. Though this derails her plans, the enterprising Emma finds herself on another yacht, which though has no toilet, nor is as well kept as Steve’s, but has a jovial, young crew. After a short stint on this sail-boat, Emma goes the other extreme and takes up a position as crew on a luxury yacht, and spends a summer sailing around exotic European islands, waitressing for super-wealthy families from around the globe.

Over the course of Casting Off, we travel with Emma through her year on the high seas. We see her through her romance with a handsome man named Guy who she first met in Malaysia, but who she keeps in touch with throughout her travels, and with whom, in a very Eat-Pray-Love style (spoilers ahead!) she eventually decides at the end of the book to pursue a relationship with.

There are many things that I enjoyed about Bamford’s memoir. Firstly, her problems seem distinctly Indian — her anxiety over not settling down with the right man, her tears when she finds out about her best friend’s pregnancy, her need to escape the social pressures of London, and going as far away as physically possible from the life that she has worked hard to build and the job that she has always dreamt of having because she feels that she is being left behind in life. I’m not sure if women in the West can relate to Emma’s problems as much as an Indian girl can. After all, in the West, 31 is hardly over the hill, and Emma is good-looking, has an exciting career and adequate security. What’s there to complain about? Yet, Emma does write honestly about her feelings of inadequacy. While Emma does write candidly, and in a very readable way about her journey, in many ways her memoir seems like a poor cousin of Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. We see the same need for freshness, love, adventure, but without the accompanying depth, and spiritual component.

Overall, Casting Off is a breezy read. Yet, the book lacked the inspiration that I was hoping to get, and Emma, though she had all the potential, did not come across as the heroine that I wanted her to be.

Ira Trivedi is a novelist, yoga teacher, entrepreneur and speaker. Her latest book is India in Love.