Charlotte RoganRecensioni

I couldn't stop reading this book, had to know what happened to Grace Winter. She was such a piece of work I found myself on her side while hoping I never meet anyone like her. Great summer read.

An easy book to read -- the story rarely bogs down, the descriptions are efficient, the characters are interesting. This story could have gotten bogged down with extraneous information, but that does not happen. The reader gets enough back story, slowly revealed, to create a picture, but not too much so that the interest stays piqued and curiousity pulls the reader along.

The story is framed by the "present" court case which again, reveals enough but never too much.

This would make an excellent book club read, or a comparative read with [b:Life of Pi|4214|Life of Pi|Yann Martel|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320562005s/4214.jpg|1392700] because both books ask questions about life/death, religion or worldview, and how people deal with very challenging circumstances.

Here's what I wrote about this book in 2012: "Another lost-at-sea adventure, set during WWI and featuring and opportunistic and adaptable heroine. Earned postive critical reviews.". Here in 2023, however, I have no memory of reading it.

Book on CD narrated by Rebecca Gibbel
3.5***

In the summer of 1914, newly married Grace Winter and her husband Henry, set sail from London back to America. But after an explosion aboard ship, Grace is hurried aboard a lifeboat that is over capacity. As days go by with no sign of rescue it becomes clear that not all (if any) will survive. It comes down to a battle for leadership between the only able seaman aboard and a strong-willed matron skilled at persuasion.

Grace is not a completely reliable narrator. The majority of the story is told in flashback, as Grace is on trial for murder. At the suggestion of her attorneys, she recalls her experiences in the lifeboat, but she also reflects on how she met and married Henry.

Her observations about her fellow passengers are limited to a handful, mostly those of her class, save for the seaman, Mr Hardie. As their situation grows more dire, the survivors in the lifeboat are faced with decisions they never imagined having to make. There are times when I felt Grace was a weak woman content to let the wind blow her where it will. And other times when I felt she was manipulative and scheming. But then again, we have only Grace’s word for what happened. One thing is certain, though, Grace is a survivor.

Rebecca Gibbel does a fine job of narrating the audiobook. She sets a good pace and distinguishes the characters sufficiently to avoid confusion about who is speaking.½

The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan is a book that falls neatly into my wheelhouse, it is a tale of survival, it has a leading character who is not always to be believed, and it certainly takes the reader to the dark side. The story of a group of people adrift on the Atlantic Ocean with little food or water, deprived of all creature comforts and fearing for their lives strips them of their humanity and exposes their raw inner natures.

The book opens with Grace Winter on trial with two other women for an undisclosed crime after they had been rescued from a lifeboat. We learn Graces’ version of the time spent on the lifeboat as she puts together a diary at the request of her lawyers but ultimately the book raises more questions than it answers. Grace’s account is spine-chilling, tense, and frightening as she details how power and control were being sought and alliances formed among the 39 people on the lifeboat.. Exposure and deprivation only added to the unreliability of the story.

I was totally caught up in this story with it’s morally suspect characters, harsh environment and it’s dark mystery. Is Grace manipulative and selfish or is she yet another victim who is being blamed for being a woman who survives. The Lifeboat is an excellent story and one that makes you wonder how you would fair in the same situation.

2.5 stars. I was stuck trying to figure out what I thought of this book for a while. It's a perfect mix to make me cringe just thinking about it - who wants to consider the fate of shipwrecked people in a too-small lifeboat? There isn't a whole lot of action - this is much more of a character study from an unreliable narrator. When I read the words "psychological thriller" in reference to the book, it started to come together a little for me. This book is all about manipulation and the lengths to which people can and will go to survive. It left me with an icky taste in my mouth, and lots of food for thought.

Verano de 1914. El hundimiento del crucero de lujo Empress Alexandra deja a una mujer recién casada y ahora viuda luchando por su vida en medio del desconcierto. La salvación no es fácil, y en el bote salvavidas que la recoge, capitaneado por el señor Hardie junto con otros pasajeros, para que unos vivan otros deberán morir.

Put aside some time and make sure you won’t be disturbed when you pick this debut novel up. Yes, it’s that good, but not quite good enough to receive 5 thumbs from this reviewer, and I’ll explain why later in the review.

This book makes you think, and re-evaluate everything you think you would personally do when faced with a survival situation; will you become someone you don’t recognise or will you be able to stand firm in your moral and ethical beliefs? This novel was a page turner from the very first, it made me really think and wonder how I would react in this kind of dilemma, and do I know myself as well as I think I do.

Character development is so subtle in this book that it almost appears there is none at all. Given the changing nature of each of those featured within its pages, the Author does an outstanding job of making all them credible and believable. The reader learns a little of their background, and the events that brought them to the place the book is set in and, sometimes, this makes the course of action they choose to take just a little bit harder to understand. As I said it makes you question your own motives in certain circumstances, and certainly makes you gasp as you read the decisions these lifelike and 3 dimensional characters make. The only downside to the characters was actually the main protagonist; she is the narrator for the story, and an unreliable one at that. Whether this is a deliberate action on the part of the Author I’m not sure, but if it was I’m not convinced that this was the right way to bring the story across.

The story itself is very well written and carefully told. Not only does it have all the elements required of a captivating survival story, it is peppered with all the ingredients of a mystery novel; intrigue, lies, misdirection, motives and manipulation. This brings me to the reason I couldn’t give this novel a five thumbs rating – the ending. After all the ups and downs the Author takes the reader through in earlier pages, the ending came across as being rather flat and lacklustre in my opinion. I was expecting yet another twist, which led to a conclusion to the book that was just as unexpected as other incidents, but this was not the case and I felt cheated in some way about this.

I would highly recommend this book to lovers of all genres, as there is something in it for every reader.

Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2013/12/30/review-the-lifeboat-charlotte-rogan/


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

I don't know how I even finished this book. I don't believe it is an honest portrayal of how people would act given the circumstances.

Not a very exciting book. Sequel will be coming soon as it didn't tie all loose ends up

I found it really hard in this novel to understand the motives, thoughts and personalities of any of the characters, many of whom seemed strangely emotionally flat. Something life-changing would happen to them and they would barely react. Elements of suspense or intrigue would get introduced and then never mentioned again. There was also a disorienting feeling that the novel was supposed to be set in an earlier time. A lot of the characters' names were old-fashioned and especially the scenes of office life with female secretaries and barking male bosses put me in mind of a Mad Men-type milieu. Then the story would shift to something else with obvious markers of 21st-century life and jar me.

A frustrating read all round. Because the writer seems quite skilled, I have to assume the story was aimless and full of unresolved issues on purpose. Some kind of postmodern take on the pointlessness of life perhaps – would have preferred to know that going in instead of being sold a thriller by the marketing text.

This book wasn't bad.....but I didn't love it either. Much like the characters, I just wanted off the lifeboat!!! I thought it could have been set up better, especially the trial. All in all, just okay.

Put aside some time and make sure you won’t be disturbed when you pick this debut novel up. Yes, it’s that good, but not quite good enough to receive 5 thumbs from this reviewer, and I’ll explain why later in the review.

This book makes you think, and re-evaluate everything you think you would personally do when faced with a survival situation; will you become someone you don’t recognise or will you be able to stand firm in your moral and ethical beliefs? This novel was a page turner from the very first, it made me really think and wonder how I would react in this kind of dilemma, and do I know myself as well as I think I do.

Character development is so subtle in this book that it almost appears there is none at all. Given the changing nature of each of those featured within its pages, the Author does an outstanding job of making all them credible and believable. The reader learns a little of their background, and the events that brought them to the place the book is set in and, sometimes, this makes the course of action they choose to take just a little bit harder to understand. As I said it makes you question your own motives in certain circumstances, and certainly makes you gasp as you read the decisions these lifelike and 3 dimensional characters make. The only downside to the characters was actually the main protagonist; she is the narrator for the story, and an unreliable one at that. Whether this is a deliberate action on the part of the Author I’m not sure, but if it was I’m not convinced that this was the right way to bring the story across.

The story itself is very well written and carefully told. Not only does it have all the elements required of a captivating survival story, it is peppered with all the ingredients of a mystery novel; intrigue, lies, misdirection, motives and manipulation. This brings me to the reason I couldn’t give this novel a five thumbs rating – the ending. After all the ups and downs the Author takes the reader through in earlier pages, the ending came across as being rather flat and lacklustre in my opinion. I was expecting yet another twist, which led to a conclusion to the book that was just as unexpected as other incidents, but this was not the case and I felt cheated in some way about this.

I would highly recommend this book to lovers of all genres, as there is something in it for every reader.

Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2013/12/30/review-the-lifeboat-charlotte-rogan/


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Odd book that would have me flying thru some pages and skipping others....
Not suggested.

Not a novel to be enjoyed as it begins with the sinking of the Empress Alexandra and follows the days and weeks of a group of survivors in an overloaded lifeboat. Exposing the worst of human nature. I didn't like the main protagonist Grace. The book culminates in a court case looking at the acts of three of the women on board the lifeboat.
I have read other books on this topic which have felt more authentic.½

It is the summer of 1914 and you are Grace Winter. You have recently married Henry Winter. Your families do not know about the marriage since you traveled to London and married secretly. Because there is danger from the impending war you and Henry make a hasty retreat from London back to the United States on a ship called the Empress Alexandra. While you are on the ocean liner, there is an explosion that destroys the ship. You escape without Henry but with 38 others in Lifeboat 14. This is the start of a perilous twenty-one days adrift on the ocean. Your supplies dwindle and become scarce, personalities clash, and a power struggle ensues while all of you become weaker and you begin to lose faith in being rescued.

The story of the days in the lifeboat is not only about survival but about how people interact in life threatening situations. Grace is the narrator, and through her retelling of the experience, the reader can almost experience the fear, the hunger, and the thirst while feeling the boat rock back and forth on the waves. Kudos to Charlotte Rogan for a well done debut novel.

I liked it enough to finish. Not great but definitely entertaining enough. Easy read

This takes place aboard an overloaded lifeboat afloat in the Atlantic at the start of WWI - you have the perfect setting for a bit of drama: absence of the sort of modern communications that we would take for granted nowadays, and a tense interplay between the characters as they realise their survival may depend on sacrificing one or more of their fellow passengers.

The prologue makes it clear that the narrator Grace does survive the ordeal, however she is on trial as a result of events on the lifeboat as yet unknown, and as such there is no loss of tension. The writing throughout is elegant and expressive, and it is notable that the lifeboat scenario is just one of three major life challenges that Grace has to find a way through during the course of the novel, and the novel is as much an examination of the state of women's rights in the early 20th century as it is about the drama aboard a lifeboat.

This short book certainly held my attention throughout, and I liked the psychological examination of being trapped in a lifeboat after a shipwreck. Although I usually enjoy unreliable narrators and ambiguous endings, I thought there were a few too many unanswered questions at the end of this one for the story to be truly satisfying.

Quite an interesting book. I read it as an audiobook, to which its personal first-person narration is very well suited. I'd call it Life of Pi meets Titanic and that more or less covers it.

Very well written, good blend of mystery and atmosphere. It was true when it said you had to read it in one sitting.

Couldn't put it down. Read the last 90% of this book all in one sitting. Insightful, loved the language, and the people felt real and fully formed to me. Shades and shades of meaning. The ending left me a little lost which is, I suppose, fitting.

Reasonably well written, great idea, yet poor musings and elaboration. An ocean liner from belligerent Europe back to the US sinks in 1914 in mid-ocean. A lifeboat full of women and some lucky ailing men including one crew member and a priest, have to survive a 21 day ordeal. At some stage a storm is brewing and some volunteers have to be found to sacrifice themselves for the sake of all. And the ordeal continues. The women stage a coupe after two weeks, distrusting the crew member who took able charge from the start, but keeps some secrets of his own, and possibly cheats the rest out of spare fresh water and food (he is in charge of its distribution). A strong headed woman puts his life to the vote. A majority of women votes against the seaman and the main narrator Grace, who abstained from casting a vote, is ordered to chip the victim over board. She does so with the help of a woman who got knifed by the seaman when she tried to find out what little casket the man kept for himself. The man loses out. The casket is lost. After another week of drifting on the ocean, the survivors (12 women, two men) are picked up and the story continues in the court room where the leading woman and her hench woman plus Grace stand trial for murder. The 12 women support them. The two men lie and accuse them. The able lawyer of Grace makes a clever plea that Grace was never part of the plan. There is a shrink talking Grace into a sense of guilt. Grace is just annoyed by it and the fact that the all male court and jury has not a sense at all of the tense situation in the lifeboat. In the end the two women are convicted to life imprisonment and Grace is let off to marry her legal Councillor. Why only 3 stars? Because most of the time I had to force myself to plough on. Grace’s musings on the lifeboat are rather boring, most of the time. Rogan is a talent, definitely. Just not for me.

This was on the recommended shelf at my favorite local bookstore, and it was a nice read. Probably more of a library read than one that I recommend buying, but definitely worth reading.

We start out at Grace’s trial. We don’t know exactly what she is on trial for, but this tells us that she has clearly survived being on the titular lifeboat. We immediately jump back to when she and 39 others from the Empress Queen ship find themselves in a lifeboat just over a year after the Titanic sinks. Mostly women, but a few men and one child, this group is stuck together until that rescue ship comes along.

It’s coming, right?

Right?

The book is interesting because it tells the story from a narrator who can’t possibly know everything, and it touches on very interesting philosophical questions. Basically, it’s like one big thought experiment. There is a lot going on for a bunch of people stuck on a small lifeboat, but at the same time we don’t get resolution to everything. I can’t figure out if this is brilliant storytelling (because do we every really know the full truth?) or lazy storytelling (because the author created this world, she can tell us the full truth if she wants). I devoured the first half, then somehow was distracted, but finished in on a flight maybe two weeks later. I think it’s worth a read if you come across it, but it isn’t a must read.

A real downer. And yet a page turner. As the castaways die one by one, I keep hoping the rest will soon be rescued. Grace's trial for murder is an interesting twist.