The Girl of the Sea of Cortez

I had only read Jaws, and the Beast from Benchley before, and i was shocked that he could write such a fantastic story that didnt involve a monster...(well not a typical monster anyhow) This is the magical story of a young girl who is at one with the ocean and it is almost spiritual the way Benchley describers her adventures...She dives to honor the memories of her father and to guard the seamount from its enemies...including the enemy that happens to be her brother...Fortunatly she has a large Manta Ray to aid her in her quest in more ways than one... This book had the opposite effect on me that Jaws had - This wonderful Fairy tale made me want to get in the water and swim away... Relic113

As an avid scuba diver and underwater photographer I found this lovely little book a true joy. Its description of the underwater wonders along with a beautiful story is one I wish to share when I can find a copy of my own.

At 31, even though I have never seen the ocean, I have already visited the sea. I read this book when I was 12 years old and cannot, will not forget it. The relationships described between the girl and the ocean animals and societies parallel my own relationships with other land locked animals like myself. It is nice to read a book that describes the feelings and thoughts associated with such natural relationships. I certainly may never have the opportunity to do so myself. With this book others can learn the importance of respect for nature and be given the basic tools for strengthening that respect and turn it into love for all earth's creatures. One of the few books I reccomend that EVERYONE read.

I first read this book as an 11 year old living in Mexico. I immediately identified with the girl who was the main character. Her spirit and sense of adventure and freedom changed me as a person, to realize that I too could be independent and listen to my heart. My love of nature, the ocean especially was infused with a feeling of magic that could only come from its depths.

When I first began this book, I expected the usual Benchley fare: killer sea creatures, blood, blood, and more blood. What I actually got astounded me. Peter Benchley has used his infinite knowledge of the ocean, its teeming life, and our own feelings toward it to create a powerfully raw look at the human psychological connection with Nature and her creations. While it may not be life-changing material, it is definitely life-enhancing. I know I will never look at the ocean and her beauty the same way again. From the beginning of the novel, Benchley establishes the powerful connection between man and the sea; both the beauty we should see in it as well as the devastation we reek upon it are explored in wonderfully grand, often horrifying detail. From the moment I met father and daughter and began to understand his teachings, from the moment I began to understand brother's (man's?) feelings toward the ocean and its life as undeniably ignorant and unfounded, from the moment I read the unforgettable climax, I knew this was no ordinary novel; this, for me at least, was indeed life-changing stuff. While the ocean has always been a place of solitude and peace for me, I now view it as a wondrous, perfect community, one which puts our own to shame. Read The Girl of the Sea of Cortez, if not to better your own understanding of our relationship to the sea, then to at least have a better understanding of what we should be passing on to our own children. If you walk away from this novel without a sense of pride, without a sense of the overwhelming beauty of the sea, without the sense that your life has been somehow altered, then you obviously need to start it all over again. Mr. Benchley, many thanks to you for putting together and sharing with the world such an amazing story. You have no doubt opened many minds with your beautiful words, making the world all that much better a place to be.