A Pirate Looks at Fifty

By: Jimmy Buffett

Hennepin County Library hardcover 458pages

Published: 1998

Genre: Memoir, travelogue

I heard about this book when we were traveling through the Florida Keys in January. I'm not a big Jimmy Buffett fan (a "Parrothead"), but I was curious. I'm not sure I should have spent the time reading this . . . 

This would be perfect for:

• Parrot Heads
• pilots / people who love planes
• people who have wanderlust
• people who know the Caribbean really well
• fishing fanatics
  

 

I don't fit any of those categories and thought several times about just returning it to the library. I soldiered on and just finished it.

 

It didn't really resonate for me. I anticipated some wisdom or insight on aging. Below are the spots I noted, but nothing really stands out for me.

 

Page xvi (preface): "You can't force characters into unnatural stories or situations any more than you can force-feed canned peas and carrots to disinterested children. Unsavory legumes and watery fiction are both offensive to the palate."

 

This is one of those places where his way with words appealed to me.

 

Page 5: "That to me is the way any good romantic would look at his life: Live it first, then write it down before you go."

 

After another 451 pages, I'd say he was still focused on living life . . . and writing everything down. The book dragged.

 

Page  37: "There were also enough car wrecks, fights, carnival-ride accidents, and gypsy trickery to make Mardi Gras the world's biggest excuse for bad behavior."

I have long disliked that the day before Lent begins is seen as a legitimate excuse to be as sinful and selfish as possible. You're missing the point of the Holy Season here!

Page 45: "If you caught a fish every time you put your line in the water, they would call it catching, not fishing."

Buffett is sharing his dad's gem of wisdom about the draw and challenges of going fishing.

 

Page 67: "When you spend a lot of time on the water, you lose touch with what's happening on the land."

I love that sense of drifting away mentally (along with physically) when you go out on a boat!

Page 98: "I pray to God, Buddha, Saint Christopher, Saint Jude, and my loyal guardian angels to watch over my family and me."

This makes me wonder if Buffett ever figured out what he believed about eternal matters. He died in 2023 at age 76 . . . 

Page 111: "We started out being the people our parents warned us about, but we turned into them, or close facsimiles, anyway, because we shared the common burden of rearing children, and children change your entire life."

I can agree with that! Children do change your entire life. I was just talking with a teacher today and we acknowledged that our profession affected our parenting and our parenting affected our teaching.

Page 122: "I have been involved in the fight to preserve the quality of life in the area that I call home, where greed is a worse epidemic than any disease transmitted by Florida's mosquito population."

I wonder what he thought about Donald Trump and Mar-a-lago. I agree that greed is a horrible disease.

Page 164: "'It's getting worse, Jim,' he said flatly. 'It's the scariest thing I have ever been through in my life.' I didn't know what to say. I was in tears but couldn't speak. Saying I was sorry just didn't feel like enough."

When Buffett and his dad are talking about his dad's memory loss, I teared up too. It's so very hard to see someone you love start to lose themselves.

Page 180: "The best way for an American to get around in the world is to not act like you saved it or own it. . . . Hollywood has more clout worldwide than the U.S. State Department. Very few people in the street know who Madeleine Albright or Warren Christopher are, but everybody knows Harrison Ford and Jack Nicholson."

Wow. This is an interesting observation. I've heard stories about how much people in other countries (especially European countries) dislike the "ugly American" behavior. And I'm not shocked that celebrities are better known than policy people.

Page 200: "There's plenty of time for my kids to adapt to whatever school situation they'll eventually find themselves in. But by the time they get there, they will have ridden elephants in Thailand, experienced G-forces in an airplane, learned to bait a hook and release a fish. And they will have swum neckie in a waterfall by the sea."

Instead of finding this an endearing parenting perspective, I was turned off. He could afford to give his kids all those opportunities. Most children don't get to travel to a foreign country, much less jet set all over the world, experiencing life. He had resources at his disposal that most people can't even dream of having.

Page 224: "New Orleans is a whole other book that I'll write one day, but I need to try to get back to the beach in Costa Rica and end this damn chapter."

His digressions and love of telling stories that led to other stories are part of what made this book so long and slow. At times, it felt a bit like Alan Rickman's published journals and at other times, it felt more like a senile old uncle rambling on endlessly.

Page 389: "Life is much more manageable when thought of as a scavenger hunt as opposed to a surprise party."

His analogy of searching being worth the fun more than the finding made sense but there are easier ways to say that! (The journey is better than the destination.)

Page 420: "Unfortunately, the sportfishing boat in the harbor too often means that marinas and condos are not far behind. V.S. Naipaul once wrote that tourism is the 'slavery of the twentieth century.' On too many islands, a few profit-driven individuals can erode an entire culture.Carriacou has somehow avoided the attack so far, but there is always the threat of the wolf in sheep's clothing, scavengers from the corporate world."

This made me wonder if he considered his own role in this situation. He and his family flew all over the Caribbean, stayed in hotels and houses, rented cars and boats, . . . but other people aren't supposed to do that? All of these beautiful places should be undeveloped except for people like him? I agree that overdevelopment (and greed) are awful and can ruin natural beauty, but he just seems a bit myopic on this issue.

Page 425: "Politicians can make all the speeches they want and governments can do all the public-service ads money can buy, but in the islands the reality is this: If you want people to stop selling dope, they have to be able to make a living doing something else."

That observation is one of the wisest things he says in this book. All the "war on drugs" talk won't have as much impact as helping people find other ways to make a good living. Money talks.

Page 456: He closes with a poem called "The Double Life" by Don Blanding. I like the message of "A Restless Me" and "A Quiet Me." I also like to travel / explore AND stay home!

I'm glad I'm done with this book. I'm ready to return it to the library!