Review: Water Lust by Gerhard Pohle

A revealing and eidetic tour through the life of a perennial adventurer, Water Lust by Gerhard Pohle is a meticulously crafted and inspiring memoir for weekend warriors and veteran wanderers alike.

Bouncing from India and Madagascar to Indonesia, Germany, and more, the author’s life began as an “international vagabond,” forcing him to adapt and make connections quickly, as his father’s work took their family across the world. Navigating the troubles of high society, boarding school isolation, early romantic interests, and the emotional topography of his own family, the first half of the book takes an unflinching look at a truly unorthodox childhood.

Eventually, Gerhard moved to the liberal and tolerant “New World,” a stark shift from the Germany they had left behind, and gets a taste of Canadian education, culture, sports, and language, as well as the opportunity to explore the United States of the early 1970s. Through personal triumphs and fraternal tragedy, readers see the author’s personality and compassion evolve right before their eyes. It takes a number of heartbreaks and missteps, but he eventually finds love, and the tender detailing of his relationship with Irene makes it clear that she is the partner he had always been waiting for.

This is a sprawling read, and the casual reader may not immediately choose such a dense tome of a stranger’s life story, but those that do will be pleasantly surprised at the quietly epic saga, and how one can become absorbed in a stranger’s life. Whether discussing the psychological causes of bullying or his own flaws of self-absorption and obsessive focus, there is a clinical and brutally honest undercurrent to this unfiltered memoir, and the author’s outpouring of detailed tales from decades ago is a testament to the power of human memory, while the casual wisdom he wrings from his experiences is nothing short of profound.

As the book’s title suggests, the author’s fascination with water is a throughline of his life, from the birth of Aquaboy in the Indonesian sea to his countless ship journeys abroad and consuming passion for marine science that drove his career for more than three decades. Nature in all its forms is a fascination of his from a very young age, including the nature of human behavior, which he delves into with insightful articulation. The photos add more texture and depth to the rich portrait of the author’s words, and the curation is well-balanced with the relevant portions of text.

There are very few technical issues, aside from the occasional awkward phrase, and the flow of the narrative does jump quickly from one anecdotal story to the next, but the recollections never grow tiring or redundant; each is linked to a clear mark left on the author’s life, worldview, or even his face, in the case of one childish dispute gone terribly wrong. In terms of depth and detail, some chapters can feel more sluggish than others in comparison to higher-energy anecdotes, but the rambling journey of Pohle’s life is a pleasure to be immersed in overall.

A globe-spanning testament to adaptation, curiosity, observation, and memory, Water Lust is a revelatory glimpse into the past.