Not Without Hope

Not Without Hope by Nick Schuyler

Description from Amazon: "On February 28, 2009, Nick Schuyler went on a deep-sea fishing trip with three friends: NFL players Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith, and Will Bleakley, former University of South Florida football player and Nick's best friend. What was supposed to be a day of fun and relaxation aboard Cooper's twenty-one-foot vessel turned nightmarish in the Gulf of Mexico, seventy miles west of Tampa, Florida, when a tragic mistake caused their boat to capsize. With no food or water, no emergency beacon to alert authorities, the four athletes clung to the overturned hull through the night—battling hypothermia, hallucinations, hunger, dehydration, and huge pounding waves, as they prayed, spoke of their loved ones, and shared what they would have done differently with their lives. In the end, only one would reach dry land alive. Much more than a riveting true account of survival, Not Without Hope is Nick Schuyler's inspiring story of courage, resolve, and friendship."

My thoughts: This is a moving memoir. I have recommended it to several friends, and have heard good reviews from them, as well. Schuyler tells a haunting story that has stuck with me. Three people died in this tragedy: Corey Smith, Marquis Cooper and Will Bleakley. The depiction of their deaths is horrifying and sad. In fact, I read that Schuyler received a lot of complaints about this book from the families of the deceased. I can definitely see both sides to that. As the lone survivor, Schuyler absolutely had the right to tell his story. However, I can see how the families might be upset by the publication of their loved ones last moments. I felt a better job could have been done in leaving out some of those details, in honor of the deceased. The fact that Schuyler survived this ordeal is amazing.