Skip to main content

438 Days (continued)

Chapter 13:  Rooster
Alveranga finally drifts to land in the Marshall Islands.  He shows incredible patience, staying with his boat until he is nearly ashore. He is fearful he will be eaten by cannibals.  He thinks that he will need to get a job to earn money to get back home. Rain.  Exhaustion.
Chapter 14:  Who is this wild man
Discovered by Emi and Russel Laikidrik. Russel is wary, but Emi senses A. needs help.
Food.  Alveranga eats everything he can.  Pancake dish. Shown himself in a mirror, Alveranga throws it down in disgust and breaks it--only tension between the Laikidriks and Alveranga. Police come to take him to a larger island for questioning and care.  Alveranga fears he's being arrested. He's terrified of getting back in a boat. He feels the boat trip is 24 hours; it is actually 15 minutes.  Agoraphobic.  Language difficulties.
Chapter 15:  Found but lost  & Chapter 16: Cockroaches
Confusion, lots of questions, trouble answering, identification questions.  Is he a fake?  Twitter fame. Reporters all over him.  (cockroaches)  He avoids camera, lending to his credibility.  Confirmation
Chapter 17:  Back in San Salvador  Chapter 18  Call of the Seat
Reunited with daughter.  Talks to Cordoba's mother. Cordoba's brothers not convinced he couldn't have done more for their brother.  Hint they think he might be cannibal. Anger/reconciliation with fishing friends (why didn't you rescue me?)

Overall:  Incredible story, extremely well-written.  No sensationalism at all; Alveranga's story seems all the more sensational because of Jonathan Franklin's straightforward prose.  Alfred Lansing's Endurance remains my favorite survival novel, but this is in the top five.  I will read 33 Men (also by Franklin) soon.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Tess of the D'Urbervilles, continued 2/3rds

"To all humankind, Tess was only a passing thought. Even to friends, she was only a frequently passing thought." Angel Clare is a good character. He's "enlightened," in so many ways, but when Tess's confesses her "crime," he reverts to ancestral form . . . Tess's "confession" comes earlier than I expected, right after Angel reveals that he has had a bad moment with a woman. Tess points out the similarity in their transgressions, though his is the only true transgression, expecting forgiveness. She doesn't get it. She returns to her mother . . . realizes she can't stay with her. Thoughts to suicide. Unhappiness that divorce is not possible. Departs. Tragic in that the two, if Angel could just see clearly, would indeed be a great couple, each adding to the other.  Nature as a definite force involved in the tragedy.  It's not neutral--when things go bad, the very skies mock Tess. Tess as unaware of the power of her bea...

Happy Valley Season 4

 Weakest.  Tommy is in prison.  His son, Ryan, is now 17.  Catherine the cop's sister, Clare, takes Ryan to visit Tommy in prison, without telling Catherine.  Not good.  Sisters have a break when Catherine finds out.   Plot two:  PE teacher, abusive to wife.  She is getting drugs from local Indian/Pakistani pharmacist. Husband finds out and has wife arrested!  Pharmacist worried . . . plots to kill husband.  Wife agrees, then changes her mind.  Pharmacist in a rage kills her. (All a bit of a stretch, as he is a mild mannered family man.) Tommy escapes from his court hearing, hides out, gets in touch with Ryan.  Plan is to go to Marabella, Spain together.  Tommy's "helpers" get worried about Tommy and decide to do him in.  Instead, he kills them . . . and is knifed himself.  He returns to Catherine's house, looks through a photo album showing Catherine took good care of Ryan, and decides not to kill her....

Napoleon 14 Amiens

"Ambassadors are essentially spies with titles."  Napoleon President of Italy . . . Peace treaty with England (Amiens) in March 1802, with Turkey in June 1802 . . . flawed peace treaty with England because there was no opening up of France for trade with England, infuriating the English who thought peace would mean trade. . . tourism, though--Brits come to Paris and admire Napoleon . . . British liberals enamored . . . Napoleon "consul for life" . . . lots of unsettled territories, Switzerland being the largest . . . Industrialization much greater in England than France . . . France in 1802 is about the same as England in 1780 as a manufacturing center . . . Napoleon is basically Anglophobic, complaining of any art work that celebrates English victories being shown in Louvre . . . peace unraveling . . . by 1803 . . .  War May 18, 1803! . . . Louisiana Territory sold, advantageous to both parties.  France gets money; USA gets land.  France avoids possible war with ...