3 out of 4 stars
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‘’Here we were, in terrible weather, the ship miles from land, smoke high and low. We had no idea where the fire was, or what kind of fire we had. The next few minutes were critical’’
Adrift by Charlie Sheldon consist of various themes, broken marriages, friendships, death, workplace issues, child custody, and family. Steve, William, Louise, Travis, Pete, and Myra are the main characters whose individual lives are discussed in this book. They have special chapters with their names as chapter titles, and their peculiar stories told. Steve Procida served six years as the captain of Seattle Express until one day he was woken up by a ringing fire alarm. His employers dismissed him from work, and he decided to stay at home with his disabled son Jimmie. William, 59 years old, was terribly affected by the cold weather after they had abandoned Seattle Express. Dispirited Myra is desperate to find her father William as she learns that he is lost in the woods of Haida Gwaii. Louise and Larry are partners in life and in businesses, their boat crew has managed to tow the abandoned ship, but Larry passes away in the process. Travis worked as a reporter for the Peninsula News and was forced to break up with her lover Judy because she was his editor’s younger sister. Travis loved working with Larry, so he accepted Larry’s request to help them tow Seattle Express. Pete, a divorced father who constantly fights with his ex-wife to spend time with his son. He is a security officer for Buckhorn; the owner of the abandoned ship: Seattle Express.
I liked the author’s ability to merge the main story with sub-stories that consist of the character’s distinctive stories. Including the individual lives of characters made the story engaging and more interesting. The author was also able to focus on the main theme whilst discussing other themes. I, in addition, liked that the book was well organized. This is a very complex book, but the author could divide the different selections into chapters. This made the story easy to understand and follow. There was no moment of confusion or misunderstanding as one would expect from a book like this one.
I was disappointed to find that there was no page of content. With the division of sections into chapters, one would expect a content page otherwise; the division of chapters has served half their purpose. They organize the book but do not offer a guide to readers. I also did not like that the author used vulgar during the character’s dialogues.
This book would be suitable for adults, particularly those who have an interest in ships. I would not recommend this book to teenagers and young adults as it discusses strong adult themes, for example, unhappy marriages and disturbing behaviors of married people, this might affect how they perceive the world.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. I removed a star because of the author’s use of vulgar and the absence of a content page. I gave it three stars because the characters and themes were well developed.
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Adrift
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