South with the Sun

The details of Roald Amundsen's famous explorations to the South Pole and the Northwest Passage are interwoven with accounts of the author's own efforts to swim (in only a bathing suit!) in subzero temperatures. Amundsen is a role model for Cox--she wants to know how others who did things in cold places that had never been done before found their way. Narrator Christine Williams adeptly delivers Amundsen's feats, including his unusual efforts to learn from the inhabitants of arctic environments. The narrative's footnotes are extremely distracting; they sound disconnected, as if they were added after the main narration. In addition, Cox's details on her research methods are not very interesting. The combination of narrative, footnotes, methodology, and Williams's overly upbeat voice becomes tiresome. A.B. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

July 18, 2011
As a teenager, Cox (Swimming to Antarctica) was enamored with Norwegian explorer Amundsen (1872â1928), the first to lay claim on the South Pole. Aside from chronicling Amundsen's frosty adventures, Cox details her efforts to swim in the waters off Antarctic and Greenlandâin the very icy waters where Amundsen sailed. An ambitious mélange of biography, memoir, and journalism, Cox's work covers too wide a terrain, feeling choppy and abrupt, conditions not aided by her flavorless writing and poor organization. As a memoirist, Cox fails to establish a personal connection to her aquatic quest and doesn't define her historical inspiration. As a reporter, she seems more concerned with celebrating her friendships and networking abilities than in uncovering information, an annoying tactic that will leave readers wondering who the book is really about. Overlooked and underreported, Amundsenâhe was also the first to sail through the Northwest Passageâis relegated to being the nebulous center in a book that is hopelessly adrift from the opening pages. 62 photos; 3 maps.