If I'm Not Back By Wednesday: Trapped in Jamaica's Blue Mountains - Hardcover

Haddad, Geoffrey B.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1460274385 ISBN 13: 9781460274385

Publisher: FriesenPress, 2016

Synopsis

NOTE: This review is for the Hardcover and 'Flexbind'(Personalized COLOUR PHOTO Edition) Books, Published by Rossi ResourcesInc, viz;ISBN: 9780994034311 and ISBN: 9780994034304, only

IF I'M NOT BACK BY WEDNESDAY - Trapped in Jamaica's Blue Mountains is  an autobiographical  memoir - A TRUE STORY - which describes how close to the death  five schoolboys came, as they suffered in below zero temperatures (due to the wind-chill effect), faced raging winds and fog, lack of sunshine, mental exhaustion - just about out of food and water.  Would any of them be found and if so alive!
   Miraculously they were spotted in a tiny fern patch surrounded by a tall trees and densely knitted forest- a place they never thought they would have been found much less rescued; and were ready to set the mountain on fire in the early morning hours of Christmas Eve 1967.
 
A glimpse of the rarefied world of a colonial boarding school at the twilight of the British Empire. Students think that the tortures and rituals of their seniors are brutal and unpredictable, until a weekend outing turns into a struggle for survival.

About this title

From the Author

NOTE: This review is for the Hardcover and 'Flexbind'(PersonalizedCOLOUR PHOTO Edition) Books, Published by Rossi ResourcesInc, viz;ISBN: 9780994034311 and ISBN: 9780994034304, only.

The story begins simply enough: 5 adventurous schoolboys set out to blaze a trail through uncharted territory in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica to the Peak, at elevation 7402 feet - traversing  jungle terrain described as inaccessible as anywhere in the world and perhaps where man has never trodden, similar  terrain to that of  Myanmar - the very jungle used for training by British and Canadian troops, before going war.
   They never made it.
   I had done the research, meticulously collecting and cataloguing every bit of information I could, including memorabilia related to the trip. That process should have, I suppose, served as a kind of catharsis, as a way to purge the demons. Yet, every year - especially on the anniversary - I am still haunted by the events of my 1967 Christmas season; in fact, I had nightmares of this ordeal every December for 20 years. I've told the story to myself and others many times over, always arriving at the same conclusion: I really should not be alive.
   Initially I had planned to write a sort of extended diary, including some never-before-seen photographs and give copies to family, friends and interested parties. But after 20-30 repetitions beginning with hand-written versions, then by mechanical and electronic typewriters, computers using floppy drives to our computers of today; and with some inspiration from friends and the publishing arenas, I realized the commercial value of this - one of the largest and most extensive search/rescue missions on the island in recent history where - "On December 24th, 1967, boys from one of the island's elite high schools, Jamaica College, became 5 of the most wanted persons in Jamaica". 
   The story doesn'tabruptly end with how we were found 'in the last days of the search' and the dramatic rescue that followed from the only fernpatch in the mountainous jungle, the existence of which has been suggested to be no more than 1: 1,000,000, if we knew that it existed somewhere on the mountain (obviously we did not know of its existence, infinitely reducing the probability of running into it); but goes on todescribe the aftermath,the ripple effect on those who were witnesses, and the lastingimpression theexperience left on me for the rest of my life.
  If I'm Not Back By Wednesday is not only the tale ofsurvival against the odds--it is also a catalyst for learning more about thediverse social dynamics of life in Kingston, Jamaica in the late 1960s, as wellas a testimony to how life's occurrences, for better or worse, are engineeredby something more than coincidence.
   I have concluded that there are no such things as coincidence or even beyond coincidence. The stories of amazing coincidences and the mystery and mathematics that lie behind by authors Martin Plimmer and Brian King in their book Beyond Coincidence - come to mind.
   This is a story that has burned inside me for 50 years and one which I had to write.

From the Back Cover

                  NOTE: This review is for the Hardcover and'Flexbind'(PersonalizedCOLOUR PHOTO Edition) Books, Published by RossiResourcesInc, viz;ISBN: 9780994034311 and ISBN: 9780994034304, only         
                                 NO CELL PHONES, INTERNET OR GPS
                             ALL THEY HAD WAS THEIR WILL TO LIVE   

A glimpse of the rarefied world of a colonial boarding school atthe twilight of the British Empire. Students think that the tortures and rituals of their seniors are brutal and unpredictable, until a weekendouting turns into a struggle for survival.
                                 
An amazing true story - five stars
      - Darcy Rezac, CD, Managing Director Emeritus, The Vancouver Board of Trade

Survival at its most elemental. A brutal rite of passage to manhood,and the triumph of the human spirit. If you enjoyed 'Alive', The Story of the Andes Survivors, Haddad's superb book is a must!
      - Professor Diana cooper-Clark, departments of English and Humanities, York University

Riveting, well paced and attention holding tale of five teenagers who came within a hair's breath of death. Demonstrates that fact tops fiction when it is well written
      - Lady Colin Campbell, New York and London Times best selling author and
                                                   media personality
 
Non-fiction response to high school staples like 'The Young Warriors','Escape to Last Man Peak', 'Lord of the Flies' or any other male-oriented coming of age stories....historic, literary and anthropological merits.. all the trappings of a high school principal reading list. Saliently illustrates the complex social and class relations which existed then and still exists in Jamaica today.
     -  Ann-Margaret Lim, The Observer

Edition details

• Publisher: FriesenPress
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1460274385
• ISBN 13: 9781460274385
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 282
• Illustrator: Kitson Patrick