Deep Water

by E.M. Kahn

A HEARTWARMING SAGA OF LOVE, SAILING AND LIFELONG DEDICATION Gene is a successful woodworker in New York with two passions in his life. One is sailing, from the abandoned islands that dot Long Island... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1560235179
• ISBN13: 9781560235170
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Haworth Press
• Length: 242 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

A wonderful and moving memoir.

This is my second favorite memoire in a years time. I loved THE TENDER BAR, and I loved this book. I love sailing and it visits many places out of my past, and it's a wonderful love story.

A Beautiful Story

This is a wonderful piece of writing. Ostensibly about boating and about the loss of the author's lover to AIDS, it is in fact a powerful and evocative love song to both. I am not a boating person, but I felt as if I were on the sea with that beautiful young boy, savoring the wind and the salt spray and those fleeting but unforgettable moments of profound happiness, shared. It brought tears to my eyes, but not the maudlin, grieving tears that so many of these memoirs inspire. These were tears of joy, for the love these two young men had together, and gratitude to the author for sharing it with me. Victor J. Banis

An outstanding history of one man's nautical pursuit of his two most deep passions: sailing

Deep Water: A Sailor's Passage, a memoir by E.M. Kahn, is an outstanding history of one man's nautical pursuit of his two most deep passions: sailing, and his life-mate Kevin. E.M. Kahn's autobiographical depiction of his adventures at sea face the reader with the chilling eyes of reality as the author and Kevin must sail through Hell Gate in the East river, blindingly dense fog in Cape Cod, and many more thrilling tales. Deep Water is highly recommended reading for those with an interest in boating, gay lifestyles, and unique biographical memoirs.

A love story and sailing adventure in one book

Deep Water: A Sailor's Passage, by E.M. Kahn, is a memoir of sailing adventures with a loved one, now deceased. After a less than hoped for career in journalism, New Yorker Gene Kahn became a successful ships' carpenter. He caught the sailing bug after he and a friend took sailing lessons at City Island (Bronx, NY) during the summer of 1978. Kahn tells his story in a series of logically unfolding remembrances, which eventually form a cohesive story, full of love that leaves the reader wishing for the story to continue...as does the brokenhearted author. The story, while well written, nonetheless got off to a rather slow start. At first, I didn't know what course the author was taking, no pun intended. I continued to read Deep Water, at first because of its setting, the familiar (to me) navigable waters surrounding Long Island. Before I realized it, I couldn't put the book down. I was totally taken in by the strong bond of love that existed between Gene Kahn and his late lover, Kevin. Kahn began his story with the start of his sailing adventures, learning the ropes in a 14 foot Blue Jay. Over the course of years, Kahn stepped up to larger boats, while at the same time expanding his sailing explorations of all the harbors in and around Long Island Sound, Block Island Sound, Nantucket Island, as well as vacation trips to the beautiful Caribbean islands. Always by Gene's side, at home, at work, and for all the sailing adventures, was Kevin. Kevin first rode, literally, into Gene's life looking for employment at his downtown Manhattan carpentry shop. Kevin and his dog, Kasha, had been living in a crime ridden neighborhood some distance from the shop. Preferring not to have to worry about the very real possibility of Kevin getting mugged, or something untoward happening to Kasha, Gene suggested the two move into his not much larger but, better situated apartment. Needless to say, the arrangement worked out. While Deep Water: A Sailor's Passage, is a story of many exciting sailing adventures, it is far more than just that: It is a deeply felt love story. Deep Water is E. M. Kahn's tribute to Kevin, who at first was his employee and friend, then later became his lover and partner in life. Kevin is sorely missed and his loss is deeply felt. Kahn's Deep Water: A Sailor's Passage is a solid read, and especially enjoyable if you're fond of sailing adventures.

DEEP WATER: A New Writer's Passage into Fine Literature

EM Kahn. Mark the name. With this 'first novel' we are introduced to a writer who shows the gifts to join the ranks of those writers who tell stories about people who happen to be gay but whose sexuality is incidental to the overall aspect of the novel. Think for a moment about the way the following works affected us: Jamie O'Neill AT SWIM, TWO BOYS, Michael Cunningham A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD, Brian Malloy THE YEAR OF ICE, Andrew Holleran THE BEAUTY OF MEN, Alan Hollingsworth THE LINE OF BEAUTY. Though Kahn is not yet in that special realm in which these authors create, given the beauty of DEEP WATER: A SAILOR'S PASSAGE he certainly has the promise of joining them. Though written as a memoir about a young man's experiences in Manhattan, Gene (our narrator) is a committed sailor, spending his spare time from his occupation as a woodworker learning the ins and outs of sail boats and the spectrum of guiding all manner of small craft along the waterfront of New York, Long Island, East River, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and all the myriad odd islands that are the cores of mystery and history the sea breeds so well. Gene hires a young lad Kevin to work in his shop. The two are committed to their work and gradually to each other as a tender relationship develops between them. Kevin is emotionally needy, being the progeny of distant parents beleaguered by alcohol and wanderlust, and subsequently adopted by a loving couple when he was a teenager. Gene is ten years older and wiser, and not the blond beauty that Kevin is, yet he sees his good fortune in finding Kevin and commits to this relationship wholeheartedly. The experience they share, one that solidifies their bonding, is the sea and sailing. Gene teaches Kevin the ropes and they both set out on many watery diversions that, though terrifying at times (in keeping with the challenge of the sport), bring them together as one. They include friends on excursions to Florida and the Caribbean, sharing their lives with those whose lives run parallel in many ways. The memoir takes place from 1978 to 1995 - the era of the pestilence of AIDS - and Kevin contracts the disease, lives through it for four years, and finally succumbs, dying in the arms of his lover Gene. The manner in which this journey proceeds is some of the more sensitive writing about loss in the time of AIDS that has been written. After Kevin's death Gene carries on with the sturdy help of his friends and extended family and shows us how tragedy is part of the comedy of life: it is all in how we cope and proceed. Some readers my overlook this book at first encounter, finding it simply too full of sailing terms and lingo, but Kahn knows exactly what he is doing in his writing style. He invites us into the realm of passion for the sea and for sailors buy teaching us the basics of getting out on the water, and by the mid portion of this immaculate novel, even the most landlocked reader will feel at ease with the mechanics