Library Journal
“Kwak’s fluid and evocative prose provides a gripping, moment-by-moment account… This powerful memoir about making tough choices and finding new directions will appeal to a variety of travel readers.”
Foreword Reviews
“The Passenger, with its bare-bones honesty and dry, cynical humor, reveals that when all is said and done, it’s the little things that matter: small acts of courage and kindness, words of love, and gratitude for the gift of another day.”
— Foreword Reviews (starred)
Kirkus Reviews
“With a mix of candor and cynicism… A down-to-earth, relatable examination of career and life choices.”
Alexander Chee
“… a gripping story of survival, capitalism, maritime history—nothing less than a very modern adventure, and an instant classic of travel writing.”
— Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel
Paul Lisicky
“Down to earth, funny, irreverent, vulnerable, candid, The Passenger… subverts all the expected tropes of its narrative. By its final pages, it’s no longer the story of just one person, but a song of interconnectedness, a realization of all the other lives that make one’s little time on earth possible.”
– Paul Lisicky, author of Later: My Life at the Edge of the World, a 2020 NPR Best Book
Lori Ostlund
“Kwak observes human beings with a precise, compassionate eye, moving from poignancy as he contemplates his place in the universe to biting social commentary aimed at the Twitter-storm of armchair storm chasers hoping to capitalize on his doom.”
– Lori Ostlund, author of After the Parade and winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction
Ted Conover
“A cruise gone terribly wrong frees a veteran travel writer to tell the truth—and Chaney Kwak, mordant and urbane, makes the most of the opportunity.”
— Ted Conover, author of Newjack (Pulitzer Prize finalist)