Book Review: Graveyard of the Pacific by Randall Sullivan

• Title: Graveyard of the Pacific: Shipwreck & Survival on Americas Deadliest Waterway
• Author: Randall Sullivan
• Year: 2023

In 2022 I visited the Columbia River Maritime Museum, purely because I wanted an excuse to drive to Astoria. Prior to that visit, I knew nothing about the Columbia River or its infamous and deadly river bar. The museum did a great job of teaching the history of the river with a particular focus on that bar, and I learned a lot. It piqued my interest, so when I saw this book in the list of new acquisitions at my library, I immediately jumped in the hold queue so I could learn more about the history of the region.

I’m sure there’s history in this book. There must be, right? I mean, it’s kinda implied by the subtitle, isn’t it? But from what I read, that very interesting history was going to hang off a very boring (to me) story of two over-privileged, rich, aging white dudes trying to cross the bar in an outrigger kayak. The instrument has yet to be invented that can plumb the depths of my apathy for that story. I came here for history, not for rich men’s midlife crises.

And so I closed the book, set it aside, and will be returning it to the library next week.