Recycled #Review: A Night To Remember by Walter Lord

RecycledReviews-blueThis review of Walter Lord’s A Night To Remember was first posted at my old Flights-a-Fancy blog on 6/6/12, and I’ve decided to recycle it today.

Night to RememberA Night To Remember/
by Walter Lord
Henry Holt, 2005 edition
Trade Paperback (from library)

It has been over one hundred years since the Titanic disaster, and people are still fascinated by the ship and her fate. Lord’s classic account of the sinking is still noteworthy for the painstaking detail, much of it based on eyewitness accounts by survivors still alive in 1955. Step by step, he takes us through the events of that night, starting with the lookouts who didn’t see the iceberg in time because the binoculars they were supposed to be using were locked in a chest and the key was in London. (The result of a last-minute change in the officers assigned to the ship.)

We hear from people from all three passenger classes – the very wealthy, the middle class, and the lowly immigrants – and crew members from the officers to humble stewards. Though at times the book reads like fiction, it is not. He did an impressive amount of research which is detailed in the Acknowledgements section at the end. From the retrospective of the 21st century, the book represents an impressive undertaking in a world of print-only resources.

film posterI also rented the film, produced in 1958, but it wasn’t the movie I remembered from my childhood. That one was Titanic, starring Clifton Webb, which came out two years before Lord’s book. The film version of A Night To Remember is a British production starring Kenneth More as Second Officer Lightoller and a young David McCallum as Officer Lord. I was surprised at first to realize A Night To Remember was filmed in black and white, but I soon understood why. By not using color, they were able to mix archival footage of the actual ship with the movie reels. So we see the Titanic being christened and sailing off from Southampton as it really happened. There was no such thing as CGI in 1958!

For the best sense of what it might have been like to actually be on the Titanic, nothing can beat James Cameron’s 1997 epic. Like the fictional love story or despise it, the special effects are overwhelming and incredible. In my opinion, it deserved the Oscar simply for being a monumental and innovative piece of moviemaking. And the musical score is both beautiful and haunting.

After reading A Night To Remember, I think I understand why the story of the Titanic still draws us. It was one of the greatest disasters of all time, and it changed maritime history (and law) forever. But at its heart, it’s a very human story– of arrogance and hubris, negligence, bad luck and denial, bravery and cowardice, indifference and sacrifice. A testament to the bad and the good to be found in human nature. And for that reason, it is a story that will live forever in human memory.

At the end of a recent documentary on the Titanic, James Cameron talks about the ship as a microcosm of 1912 society, with its class distinctions. He also sees the image of the unwieldy ship sailing into the iceberg as a metaphor for a continent about to go over a cliff and into one of the most destructive and unnecessary wars of all time. (WWI) And then he talked about how things are not much different now. We are headed for an iceberg called “global climate change” and it’s too late to correct the system in time to prevent the crash.

If you haven’t read this book, I do recommend it.

Linda

First posted at Flights-a-Fancy 6/6/12

Recycled Reviews: Seduction by @MJRose

Seduction: A Novel of Suspense (The Reincarnationist #5)
by M.J. Rose
Paranormal Fiction
Published May 7th 2013 by Atria Books
Read on my Kindle

From the author of The Book of Lost Fragrances (read my review) comes a haunting novel about a grieving woman who discovers the lost letters of novelist Victor Hugo, awakening a mystery that spans centuries.

Opening lines:

“Every story begins with a tremble of anticipation. At the start we may have an idea of our point of arrival, but what lies before us and makes us shudder is the journey, for that is all discovery.”

Review:

I have loved this series from the beginning, so had to grab this book as soon as it became available! 

Jacinthe (Jac) L’Etoile returns in this sequel to The Book of Lost Fragrances. This time she is drawn to the Isle of Jersey by Theo Gaspard, an old friend from her days at the Blixer-Rath Institute where the two teens were treated for psychological problems. (Jac had psychotic episodes that may or may not have been past life flashbacks while Theo was suicidally depressed.) Malachi Samuels, Jac’s therapist from Blixer-Rath, warns her not to go. She’s vulnerable after losing her chance to be with the man she loves (in previous book). Malachai fears that Theo is dangerous to Jac. But as usual, there is a lot Malachai is not telling Jac. 

Theo claims to have knowledge of a lost manuscript by Victor Hugo, one that involves his explorations into the spiritual realm after the loss of his daughter Leopoldine. Jac can never resist a puzzle or a chance to explore ancient ruins, of which Jersey has an abundance. Against Malachi’s advice, she travels to the isolated island where she learns more about Theo and that confusing time at the clinic and also has visions of another time on the island when it was inhabited by Druids.

The book alternates between the contemporary story and excerpts from an imaginary journal by Victor Hugo about his experiences with the spirit world: seances and mysterious visits from The Spirit of the Sepulchre, aka Lucifer.

Seduction is quite different from the other books in the series, which alternate between fast-paced thrillers and past life memories. Seduction is more Gothic mystery than thriller–atmospheric, slower paced, rich in sensory detail and psychological angst. MJ Rose seduces her reader into the inner lives of her characters in all their psychological and spiritual complexity. In the afterword, she explains that she wrote the book in longhand, with an old-fashioned fountain pen,but doesn’t remember writing it. Perhaps she was channeling the spirit of Daphne du Maurier?

I recommend the book for lovers of Gothic or paranormal fiction. While it’s not necessary to read the entire series to enjoy Seduction, I do think it would be helpful to first read The Book of Lost Fragrances, just to understand Jac and her world a bit better.

Linda

First posted at Flights-a-Fancy 6/5/13.