A Brush With Death

It might seem strange that I'm starting off a new year with a book that could have so easily been a tragedy, but Marius Gabriel's The Ocean Liner is a book of new beginnings.  It's a beautiful story of a mix of fictional and historical figures to create a narrative that is beautiful and makes you really think about who you are and what your identity is.

With the SS Manhattan docked in Le Havre, France, in 1939, we begin our introductions to her cast of characters.  At the helm is Captain "Rescue" Randall, a real figure who managed to save a many lives over the course of his career.  While the story of the Manhattan in this book belongs to her sister ship and Captain,  SS Washington, Randall's cool thinking in the climax of the novel is critical to survival.  Already on board the Manhattan are cousins Rachel and Masha Morgenstern.  These two girls are in their early twenties and Jews escaping Germany.  Famous composer Igor Stravinsky boards with his companion Katherine Wolff.  Leaving behind the graves of his mother, wife, daughter and lover, he feels as if it were better that he die and join those he loves.  Arturo Toscanini, the conductor who redefined music, waits impatiently for his wife, Carla, ready to disembark if she does not arrive in time.  When she does, she tells him they will be separated as Toscanini has had many affairs with much younger women.  Also in Le Havre, Stravinsky is joined by Thomas Konig, a German member of the Hitler youth with a secret that could mean his death.  As these characters are waiting impatiently in Le Havre for the ship to leave, in Southampton, England, Mrs. Rose Kennedy is struggling to control her oldest daughter, the ill-fated Rosemary.  Rosemary has fallen in love with Cubby Hubbard, a musician, and he with her, but the Kennedy's know what Rosemary's life looks like as she struggles with learning disabilities, seizures, fits, and is unable to control herself.  Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy separate them.  Also in Southampton is Fanny Ward, an aging actress who has recently lost her daughter and is struggling to maintain her public image. 

Eventually the Manhattan leaves Le Havre, picks up her passengers from Southampton, and begins her journey across the Atlantic.  She doesn't realize that there is danger lurking in the ocean in the form of U-113, a German U-boat.  Second in command of the submarine is Rudi Hufnagel, who has an interesting connection to one of the Le Havre passengers.  As the Manhattan sets out to sea, she comes into the sights of U-113, despite being an American passenger ship.

It feels as if it takes a long time to get the the climax of this book, the confrontation between the Manhattan and U-113, but every minute of that book has you falling in love with her characters just a bit more.  From Rachel, disowned by her family for a romantic relationship, to Toscanini, struggling with loving his wife and being in love with nubile young women, even to Rudi, struggling with his Captain's hardcore belief in the Nazi ideals when he does not believe as firmly.  It makes for a lot of tension when everyone comes together.  Only one side is going to come out of this confrontation intact.

While I loved the character development and how this confrontation between ships makes each character reevaluate their lives, the end felt a bit fragmented and incomplete.  I wish the story had stopped when the survivors of the confrontation arrived in New York.  While it was nice to see how each of them went on to live their respective lives, it was small flashes when I wanted the whole story. 

The character I found myself most interested in during the story was Rosemary Kennedy (pictured to the left, from her debut in London, 1938).  I did not know a lot about her going into the book.  I knew she was JFK's sister, and that she'd had a lobotomy, but I hadn't spent any time really looking into the story.  When I did, after reading some of it in this book, I was heartbroken for the beautiful young woman that she had been.  In  today's world, there are probably a million things that could have helped her, but Rosemary was a victim of her time and her parent's ambition.  When she wasn't controllable, when she was a threat to the ambition of the Kennedy men, she was shut away and dealt with.  Rosemary is definitely someone that I want to learn more about, and will.

I would definitely recommend The Ocean Liner to anyone who likes historical fiction, or fiction in general.  There's not a great romance, and there's enough technical and war elements that I can see the book appealing to a great number of readers, male and female alike, of all ages.  The diverse cast of characters also presents the possibility of another reader connecting more with a different character.  For instance, an older reader like my grandmother may have identified more with Toscanini, Stravinsky, or even Fanny Ward, who are struggling with, to put it bluntly, being old.  (Well, maybe my Grandmother wouldn't have.  She had fire in her soul to the very end.)  Someone struggling with their religious or even sexual identity may like Thomas, Rachel, or even Masha better. 

Get out there and read a book!  Start your new year off with a bang!  Or some torpedoes.

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