Ocean Boulevard - Reviews from Human Beings

Here's a bunch of review comments on Ocean Boulevard from 'real people' who contacted the publisher, or Amazon, message boards or some such, rather than the higher profile ones that the publishers use. here's a half-dozen to be getting on with... I saved the best one to the end!

I read Ocean Boulevard over a year ago and thoroughly enjoyed it - so bought further copies to give away to friends who have also really enjoyed it. I couldn't help constantly reading passages aloud to my husband and we laughed to the point of tears!
Thanks for all that fun, it's a fab book!
Celine T

I read Ocean Boulevard last year and totally loved it... It is such a hella-funny book. I really want to write Windy a "fan letter" and let him know how much I think his book rocks. My first thought after reading the book was that it was definitely written for male readers -- but that it was about the funniest book I've ever read.
Kati C

Every time I go to buy a book I wish I'd never found and read Ocean Boulevard so I would have the pleasure of rediscovering it. It is the best book I've ever read. Absolutely hilarious. I desperately need to read another one of his quickly.

Claire H

Ocean Boulevard is brilliant. You have a wonderful way of describing things. There are lots of examples but the one that springs to mind is how you said those palm trees on the beach were bending towards the water like old men looking for coins. And the raunchy bits - they were great. Fulfil every woman's fantasy - wondering what sailors get up to on boats!

I am still laughing about the time you first drove a mini moke and when you first threw that mooring rope down to someone on the wharf. I almost wet myself reading those bits.

The ONLY bit I didn't like about Ocean Boulevard was that it finished.

Shani L - New Zealand

This book is devastatingly funny!
I have never read a book so fast, and once finished I was immediately re-reading my favourite parts. I can certainly tell you that spontaneous convulsions, punctuated with smirks and snorts & interspersed with bouts of drooling is one way to get 6 train seats to yourself.
 
It is a fantastic story, expertly told, and I found myself wishing I had been the author – and yet so glad I wasn’t. I went through all his adventures with him. The endless hours scrubbing the cavernous, sweltering tanks used to transport hot coconut oil, the lucky & unlucky moments with women at various ports. I cowered with him as he hid from the Mate beneath the spare propeller. I nervously stood by him as he pledged his allegiance to Neptune, and was pleased to boycott with him the dance of the penguins. I can honestly say that there is not a dull sentence in the entire book.
 
Absolutely and literally fantastic!

Sean C

I read “Ocean Boulevard” and laughed and laughed (and actually fell out of bed laughing one night) at the testosterone-loaded humour and also thought it was rather touching/moving too – and an insight to ship-board life that very few people will have experienced. (Maybe Windy’s books can be appreciated by a middle-aged women too?) I totally loved it! Very funny and pretty well-written actually. I thought it was really, really good.

Right now, I am now totally hooked on “Jumping Ships ”. Great fun, again - quite well written (it is certainly a gripping, ripping yarn – a page-turner) and it is great to catch up with all of Windy’s fellow ship-board characters again – and to meet some new ones too. I love David’s self-depreciating humour – particularly when it comes to pulling women or proving what a tough, fearless, macho man he is!! (Err, not!)

His writing is in the great tradition of British writers who, subtly and dryly – and with some finesse [but no dignity what-so-ever], let you know their own personal failings and frailties and conceits. (Very funny, very engaging and very endearing and writing that everybody – be they male or female – can relate to).”

Elly D

I loved this book! It's a real page turner, and made me laugh out loud a lot. Last night I was crumpled up on the sofa and shaking my head saying “no, no, no, it can't really be true!” when reading the bit about the tunnel and the church and the film director.

I was touched by the blokish, heartfelt appreciation of the South Pacific islands, and the rant about how the islanders were  treated during the second world war. I imagine it's pretty unusual to have someone who's been through all that *and* can write *and*  appreciates the beauty of nature and other people's cultures *and* is meticulous enough to be able to pull it all off without the book likely to piss people off.

Toby C

And this one is my personal favourite review - for reasons that will become obvious.

It's from Philip Blazdell – on the BootsNAll Travel Network. And no, we're not friends or related!

Ocean Boulevard – David (Windy) Baboulene
Do not, under any circumstances, read this book in a public place.
Do not read it on a plane, a train, a bus or a boat. Do not read anywhere where uncontrollable laughter might attract attention as this book is truly hysterical. I laughed so much when I read this wonderful book that I often had to put the book down, dry my eyes and try to compose myself.
Ocean Boulevard is a blissful series of misadventures. Windy undergoes an initiation ceremony upon crossing the equator for the first time (which has to be one of the funniest passages ever committed to paper), falls in love at least once a chapter, has meaningless, mindless casual sex, details the etiquette of masturbating on a ship, is fooled into searching for an electric hammer and motor-trikes across the sand-dunes of Barbados. He also finds time to attend church on Christmas Day (buy the book just for this story alone!)
Windy writes about his exploits with such a deftness of touch but he also captures the awful jobs, the claustrophobia and the difficult conditions under which he works (pursuit of the non-existent by the clueless armed with the unworkable…) with both humour and dignity.
This book works well both as a travel book and as a memoir of a young man’s right of passage. Windy writes beautifully and captures the moment or describes characters in a way which enthrals the reader. Windy is equally adept at describing the beauty of Pacific Islands as he is as describing the sexual exploits of the crew and there really is not a bad sentence in this book. Windy, unlike most other writers, can be both moving, profound and hysterically funny in the same paragraph and once you finally stop laughing (it may take some time) you will realise what a profoundly moving book this is.
If you only read one travel book this year then read this one. Then buy copies for all your friends and share the pleasure of this wonderful, wonderful book.