One Girl, One Dream by Laura Dekker (3.5 stars)

One Girl, One Dream by Laura Dekker

I didn’t know exactly what to expect when I began this book but it’s basically a journal or a travel-log of Laura’s journey, and as such, it’s much more interesting in some place than in others. It is divided into sections for each country she lands in and acts as a daily check-in injected with a lot of her tongue-in-cheek humor. I was drawn far more to her time on land and her battles with the government, but that is not really what this book is about and I believe there are some published by other people (including one by her grandmother) that go over that in much more detail.

I love Laura’s personality and teenage snark as well as her story, but I think I might’ve preferred reading a narrative account of her voyage rather than the day-to-day details. The days are pretty repetitive and she admits to being bored a few times herself so it’s hard not to feel that way as a reader. Expect a lot of entries about what she ate, the books she was reading, and how much time she spent cleaning the boat each day. Surprisingly, she glosses over all the parties and contacts with the media, because as she makes clear in her writing, that was never what her trip was about. Unless you know or care a lot about different sails or sailing boats in general, there’s a lot here that you’ll probably end up wanting to skim over.

The best parts of the book to me were the beginning details about her battle with the government of The Netherlands to be able to take her trip, and her descriptions of her adventures with other people whenever Guppy was docked. At those times, it was much more of your typical travel book. I loved the anecdote about pulling out the shampoo during a rainstorm on her sailboat and she does have a very mature and beautiful way of talking about her own journey and mindset and what she discovers during her travels.

I would love to hear more about what she’s doing in life now and how she feels about her voyage around the world and the publication of this book. I’m so surprised that this book has so few reviews on Goodreads, what Laura did was incredible!

That being said, it was kind of a drag to finish. So much of it is just so dull and repetitive. Laura is an incredible person and her journey was record-breaking, but for lack of entertainment value, I can only give this book a 3.5.