The Blue Edge
by Carlos Eyles

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Book Reviews of The Blue Edge

Book Review: Into the Blue Edge
Summary: 5 Stars

The word "mystical" has been used to describe the writing of the book. "Mystical" implies something apart from the human experience. The Blue Edge is experiential. It is about experiences that we all face. It is apropos that the boat is named Nirvana, which is the Buddhist term for "enlightenment." Some of the things that the Buddha realized on the road to enlightenment were, that the world is suffering, all things are impermanent, and that there is no Self. The Blue Edge takes us through part of that journey. It shows us the pain, and the joy, as one man struggles with finding his place in the world. As he tries to balance his love for the ocean, his love for his family, and his love for himself.

Carlos leads the reader through the fragile, and thus transitory, illusion of the permanence of job, family, possessions, and our natural resources. He describes how man's greed, and ego, has affected the balance of the once pristine waters of the Sea of Cortez, and how it also is taking its toll on the San Benedicto islands.

For the spearfishmen this is the journey that some of us go through in our diving careers. Our pictures of full stringers of fish on our desks and walls. Our attempts to give permanence to a moment in time. Our attempts to catch the "most" fish. As our diving careers progress we find we take fewer and fewer shots looking for the "right" fish. The contrast Carlos paints with Jack, who is struggling to find his place in his relationship with Pam and with the ocean, and the spearfishermen aboard the Ambar III that are dumping the carcasses of the filleted fish into the water, to Brian Yoshikawa not taking any shots waiting for the 200 pound tuna.

The Blue Edge may be difficult reading for people who have no ties to the ocean, since the sixty-five day journey is aboard a boat. It, however, is must reading for anyone who spends any time with the ocean. The book encapsulates our life journey in those sixty-five days. It gives us glimpses of Nirvana (enlightenment) through Carlos's eyes. It is this poignant glimpse which is what wraps us up page after page, because we feel from the very beginning of the book that Nirvana is not to be attained for Carlos at this time. The struggles through the grinding teeth of sharks, and lawnmowers, is something the ocean takes us through. The longing to play in the ocean, the longing for wealth, the longing for pleasure, the longing for the kill. The experiences Carlos goes through in The Blue Edge shows us that "Nirvana", on one level, or more simply the struggle to find balance with the ocean, on a lower level, is unattainable as long as we long to possess it.

Summary of The Blue Edge

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