4 out of 4 stars
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My Boogie Board Ride to Denmark is an autobiography of Tedd Wallace. It is set in St. Croix, also nicknamed as "Twin City", for its two towns on opposite ends of the island, Frederiksted on the western end and Christiansted on the east. The book tells the story of Tedd’s life threatening adventure at the beach and what followed.
The author is a fan of boogie boarding. He is the Mayor of Lyon, Michigan and he lives there with his wife. He goes to St. Croix every winter to enjoy the beach and the surroundings. One day he goes to the beach and starts riding his board. Soon he realizes today isn’t his lucky day as he gets carried by a wave that won’t allow him to return to beach. The wave races him to the far end of the beach where nobody can see him behind the rocky cliffs. He calls out to another old man to save him, and that poor fellow dies while trying to save Tedd. God has other plans for Tedd, and this isn’t the last day for him. A local of St. Croix happens to be standing right at the top of the cliff when all of this drama is happening. He tries to rescue Tedd with the help of a few other men, all of them playing against life and death while helping the bruised and injured old man. Will they all survive the sharp-edged lava rock cliff or will their fate be the same as the Danish person who died while trying to save Tedd?
Reading My Boogie Board Ride to Denmark was a fantastic experience for me. When a person feels his imminent death, then he musters all in his power to avoid what is coming for him. Reading another man’s struggle between life and death shook me to my core and made me realize the importance of life. The gut to risk one’s own life to save another soul is quite rare these days, but the brave men of St. Croix and Mr. Madsen, the Danish man who died, gave proof that humanity is still alive. It doesn’t matter how selfless we have become, we still feel the pain of others in need and run to their rescue. Mr. Madsen’s wife’s display of courage and forgiveness when she hears about her husband’s death was very inspiring. After his rescue, Tedd tries to reconnect to the whole of his family, even his thick-skinned brother who breaks down when he learns that his brother almost died. It is truly amazing how the thought of death and losing close ones brings people together.
Some authors tend to give huge length to biographies by adding irrelevant text which not only bores the reader, but also affects the quality of the book. In the case of My Boogie Board Ride to Denmark there was no such thing. Tedd Wallace has written everything in a specific and to the point fashion. You don’t find anything in the book that doesn’t relate to the original setting of the story. All the details mentioned in the book are very descriptive, even when the author is describing his struggle with the sea waves, the reader can visualize him getting sucked into the abyss of the sea underneath and his struggle to rise to the surface by clinging on to his boogie board. The most extraordinary thing about this whole story is the unexpected and unusual presence of the local on that part of the sea. His story tells us that God works in mysterious ways and even people with predictable habits can do unpredictable things.
I found only two little spelling mistakes which show that the author is a perfectionist. At one place ‘urchin’ was written as ‘urgent’ and at another place ‘by’ was misspelled as ‘byf’. The book is a worthwhile read if you are a keen fan of autobiographies. I rate the book 4 out of 4 stars because of its perfection, its simplicity and the writer’s courage to write about the most difficult situation of his life. I recommend the book to all my readers.
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My Boogie board ride to Denmark
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