Book Review: The Lifeboat

Two weeks, three books, and one 6-day trip to New York and Connecticut under my belt (food-filled blog post about that is forthcoming). I thought I'd do more reading on the flights to and from JFK, but alas, I like to sleep on planes. I did finish book #3, though: The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan.

The Basics via Amazon:

Grace Winter, 22, is both a newlywed and a widow. She is also on trial for her life.

In the summer of 1914, the elegant ocean liner carrying Grace and her husband Henry across the Atlantic suffers a mysterious explosion. Setting aside his own safety, Henry secures Grace a place in a lifeboat, which the survivors quickly realize has exceeded capacity. For any to live, some must die.

As the castaways battle the elements and each other, Grace recollects the unorthodox way she and Henry met, and the new life of privilege she thought she'd found. Will she pay any price to keep it?

THE LIFEBOAT is a page-turning novel of hard choices and survival, narrated by a woman as unforgettable and complex as the events she describes.


Why I picked it up:

Whenever I teach Lord of the Flies, I start with an activity called "Who Should Survive" that mirrors this novel's opening plot. I thought it would be interesting to see that activity played out long-form. I also thought it might be a little bit Titanic and a little bit Life of Pi, which was intriguing.

If my Nook version had had this hardback cover, 

I probably would've gravitated toward it faster. 

This is my kind of cover.

What I did know beforehand:

The reviews I read before choosing this book made two points that I now agree were valid: a) there are a lot of characters at the beginning and it can be hard to keep them straight; b) the novel may have been more interesting if it had been told as a multi-perspective piece including more than one of the survivors. (I was reading this purely for pleasure, so I combatted the first problem by simply glossing over most of the names and not trying too hard to remember exactly who was who. Worked for me.)


Why I recommend it:

It's quick and easy but still intriguing. The vocabulary level is good enough to include in one of my PSAT reading camps, but I don't think the storyline is complex enough to stand up to literary scrutiny. It's mostly for recreational readers who don't want traditional beach lit. This novel is set in 1914 and isn't some flighty love story. There is a philosophical element to it because you're forced to ask if you might do the same as Grace given the circumstances (my answer is a resounding NO). It's a fun read that I will probably forget most of 3 months from now.

It's also (of course) in pre-production for a movie. I'm kind of sick of this theme right now, actually, even though I love that books are being adapted into movies. I think it's kind of the lazy road for everyone - movie makers don't have to come up with their own stories and audiences get just the gist of a novel from seeing the movie but then think they don't need to actually read the book. Lame. Anyway, this one is possibly going to star Anne Hathaway. I like Anne Hathaway, so I really hope that if this movie gets made they do some movie magic to beef up the main character and give her something to really DO with it. I don't see this being a particularly exciting movie otherwise.

Who should read it:

- People who liked Titanic
- People who like a quick read but are sick of reading about romantic relationships or crime dramas
- People who liked Life of Pi (the movie version)
- Students who loved the "Who Should Survive" activity (which a lot of you did)

What the pros say:

New York Times Sunday Book Review

The Guardian Book Review

"An enthralling story of survival at sea.... One hell of a debut." (Jonathan Raban, New York Review of Books)

"An eerie, powerful debut you'll want to race through, but try to resist the urge. A slower read reveals a psychological depth that'll leave you thinking." (Helen Rogan, People)

A beautifully constructed first novel.... Rogan crafts a harrowing, suspenseful take of survival.... The Lifeboat raises forever fascinating questions without moral posturing or sentimentality. (Jocelyn McClurg, USA Today)

"In her assured debut, Rogan has written a layered and provocative tale of survival and impossible decisions. But her biggest achievement is the disarmingly demure yet fiercely shrewd Grace, a narrator as fascinating and unreliable as they come."―Stephan Lee, Entertainment Weekly

"Rogan manages to distill this drama about what's right and wrong when the answer means life or death into a gripping, confident first novel...Other novels have examined the conscience and guilt of a survivor among the dead, but few tales are as thoughtful and compelling as this."―Christina Ianzito, Washington Post

Book Review: The Girl on the Train

I'm one week into summer break and have completed book #2, The Girl on the Train. Not bad progress, though I think if it had been a bit more gripping from the start Paula Hawkins' 288-page debut novel should have only taken me 1 day, maybe two. Instead it took 3 days to complete and I only really enjoyed the last one.

The Basics via Amazon:Intersecting, overlapping, not-quite-what-they-seem lives. Jealousies and betrayals and wounded hearts. A haunting unease that clutches and won’t let go. All this and more helps propel Paula Hawkins’s addictive debut into a new stratum of the psychological thriller genre. From the opening line, the reader knows what they’re in for: “She’s buried beneath a silver birch tree, down towards the old train tracks…” But Hawkins teases out the mystery with a veteran’s finesse. The “girl on the train” is Rachel, who commutes into London and back each day, rolling past the backyard of a happy-looking couple she names Jess and Jason. Then one day Rachel sees “Jess” kissing another man. The day after that, Jess goes missing. The story is told from three character’s not-to-be-trusted perspectives: Rachel, who mourns the loss of her former life with the help of canned gin and tonics; Megan (aka Jess); and Anna, Rachel’s ex-husband’s wife, who happens to be Jess/Megan’s neighbor. Rachel’s voyeuristic yearning for the seemingly idyllic life of Jess and Jason lures her closer and closer to the investigation into Jess/Megan’s disappearance, and closer to a deeper understanding of who she really is. And who she isn’t. This is a book to be devoured. -Neal Thompson


Why I picked it up:The Girl on the Train is basically the It novel of the summer. I've been seeing it everywhere. It started on a list of debut authors everyone should read that I saw back in February or March and just kept popping up. Plus, several friends have read and loved it.


What I didn't know:Everything. I don't even think I read any jacket copy before downloading this one. I especially liked that it was set in London and the train the protagonist takes her to and from Euston station, my stomping grounds near University College London. She even ends up at University College Hospital in one scene, which gave me a nice warm, homey feeling as everything about London does these days.


Why I recommend it:
Mostly because everyone else is reading it and so it's going to be talked about. Plus there is (inevitably) a movie being made. It's almost always better to have read the book before seeing the movie, so...
HOWEVER

I wasn't as enthralled as some people. The book was good, but it didn't amaze me. I felt the ending was satisfactory, but not great. I also didn't really like the main narrator; it's hard to get into a story when you don't actually sympathize with the person whose eyes you're seeing it through. But that's just me.

Who should read it:- People who like chiller/thriller/suspense novels and quick reads
- People who liked Gone Girl, etc. (I kept thinking as I read it that it was like Gone Girl but just not quite on the same level. Gone Girl was extraordinarily intricate and shocking, something the Girl on the Train lacked in many ways. When I started looking for pics to include in this post, I found this article from someone else who felt the same way.)
- People who like books told from multiple points-of-view, which I usually do

What the pros say:

“The Girl on the Train marries movie noir with novelistic trickery. . . hang on tight. You'll be surprised by what horrors lurk around the bend.”—USA Today

“[The Girl on the Train] pulls off a thriller's toughest trick: carefully assembling everything we think we know, until it reveals the one thing we didn't see coming."—Entertainment Weekly

“Hawkins’s taut story roars along at the pace of, well, a high-speed train. …Hawkins delivers a smart, searing thriller that offers readers a 360-degree view of lust, love, marriage and divorce.”—Good Housekeeping

“There’s nothing like a possible murder to take the humdrum out of your daily commute.”—Cosmopolitan

"Paula Hawkins has come up with an ingenious slant on the currently fashionable amnesia thriller. . . . Hawkins juggles perspectives and timescales with great skill, and considerable suspense builds up along with empathy for an unusual central character."—The Guardian

“Paula Hawkins deftly imbues her debut psychological thriller with inventive twists and a shocking denouement. … Hawkins delivers an original debut that keeps the exciting momentum of The Girl on the Train going until the last page.”—Denver Post

“The novel is at its best in the moment of maximum confusion, when neither the reader nor the narrators know what is occurring” – The Financial Times

“This fresh take on Hitchcock’s Rear Window is getting raves and will likely be one of the biggest debuts of the year.”—Omaha World-Herald

“Hawkins’s tale of love, regret, violence and forgetting is an engrossing psychological thriller with plenty of surprises. . . . The novel gets harder and harder to put down as the story screeches toward its unexpected ending.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune

“A gripping, down-the-rabbit-hole thriller.”—Entertainment Weekly Hotlist

Book Review: The Light Between Oceans

So this is what it feels like to stay up late to read for fun again. I remember this but it's been a while. 

My summer break is 3 days old. So far I've created new year-long unit maps for both of my classes and written a completely new syllabus from scratch (something I haven't done in about 5 years). I've also finished the first book on my way-too-long-to-actually-manage-it summer reading list.

Buy It Here

I'll be honest: I put this book on my list mostly because it matches my house and would look pretty on a bookshelf. (Ironically I then read it on my Nook, so I still don't actually own a physical copy.)


So here's the basics from Amazon:
"Tom Sherbourne is a lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, a tiny island a half day’s boat journey from the coast of Western Australia. When a baby washes up in a rowboat, he and his young wife Isabel decide to raise the child as their own. The baby seems like a gift from God, and the couple’s reasoning for keeping her seduces the reader into entering the waters of treacherous morality even as Tom--whose moral code withstood the horrors of World War I--begins to waver. M. L. Stedman’s vivid characters and gorgeous descriptions of the solitude of Janus Rock and of the unpredictable Australian frontier create a perfect backdrop for the tale of longing, loss, and the overwhelming love for a child that is The Light Between Oceans. --Malissa Kent"

Here's why I decided to pick it up:My sophomores just finished reading All Quiet on the Western Front (a book I hated when I was 15 but absolutely LOVE now) and I was looking for an easy transition into summer. The Light Between Oceans features a protagonist who is a WWI soldier navigating the difficult return to civilian life. Plus it sounded like a bit of a love story and a bit of a mystery and takes place in Australia, so that sounded cool.

What I didn't know:One of the main threads of the novel has to do with the loss of children, especially through miscarriage. Tom's wife Isabel suffers three increasingly traumatic miscarriages in a row and the book explores the effect of such devastation on her before she finally has a child to call her own. My own miscarriage experience last August has made me identify with stories like this in ways I never could before. While my experience was not physically traumatic and I am now experiencing what seems like it will be a healthy, successful pregnancy, it's hard to explain the scar that miscarriage leaves on your psyche. It's always easier to like a book when you can see yourself in one of the characters, so Isabel hooked me.Why I recommend it:
There's enough intrigue and suspense to keep you turning the pages, the characters are well-formed and believable, and you can't help wondering what you would do if you were in the same situation. The last 100+ pages were all read in one swing that happened when I was planning to read for 15 minutes before bed and instead stayed up an additional several hours because I kept saying to myself, "Well, alright, just a little more..." and around 2 am that turned into, "Well, alright, I'm so close to the end now it just seems silly to stop..." Most of my favorite books have ended that way.

Who should read it:
- People who appreciate poetic writing and an author who can craft a beautiful phrase.
- People who wondered what might have happened to Paul after AQWF (if, ya know, he hadn't died).
- People who like a little suspense and a little crime and a little "but how?" in their reading but aren't looking for a thriller or a full-on mystery novel
- Pretty much anyone I talk to in the next few months, who will all be getting this recommendation from me. 
- Anyone who might be tempted to see the movie version that is supposedly coming out this year. Michael Fassbender (young Magneto) is playing Tom, so I'll definitely be there. (Side note: the Tom in my head was not that sexy by a long shot...) It's a Disney/Dreamworks production and the few shots I've seen of filming make it look like a Nicholas Sparks adaptation, but I promise it's more inspiration and less devastation than that.

Some professional reviews:
"Irresistible...seductive...a high concept plot that keeps you riveted from the first page."—Sara Nelson, O, the Oprah magazine

“An extraordinary and heart-rending book about good people, tragic decisions and the beauty found in each of them.”—Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief

“M.L. Stedman’s The Light Between Oceans is a beautiful novel about isolation and courage in the face of enormous loss. It gets into your heart stealthily, until you stop hoping the characters will make different choices and find you can only watch, transfixed, as every conceivable choice becomes an impossible one. I couldn’t look away from the page and then I couldn’t see it, through tears. It’s a stunning debut.”—Maile Meloy, author of Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It

“Haunting...Stedman draws the reader into her emotionally complex story right from the beginning, with lush descriptions of this savage and beautiful landscape, and vivid characters with whom we can readily empathize. Hers is a stunning and memorable debut.”—Booklist, starred review

“This fine, suspenseful debut explores desperation, morality, and loss, and considers the damaging ways in which we store our private sorrows, and the consequences of such terrible secrets.”—Martha Stewart Whole Living

“Elegantly rendered…heart-wrenching…the relationship between Tom and Isabel, in particular, is beautifully drawn.” (Elysa Gardner USA Today)

“Sublimely written, poetic in its intensity and frailty…This is a simply beautiful story that deserves the praise and wide audience it’s receiving. A stunning debut from a new voice that I can’t wait to hear again.” (Karen Brooks, author of Illumination)