Monday, April 18, 2011

Safe From The Sea by Peter Geye

Safe From The Sea by Peter Geye
256 pages
Published September 2010 by Unbridled Books
Source: the publisher

When Noah Torr's father, Olaf, calls and tells Noah that he could use some help, that he's sick, Noah immediately goes to him. For most of us this would be the obvious thing to do but for Noah it's not that easy. Noah and Olaf have been estranged for years and Noah and his wife, Natalie, have been struggling to conceive a baby for years. Even knowing that it could cost him his marriage, Noah makes the decision to go to Minnesota.

Noah grew up with a father who spent his life on ships on the Great Lakes. He was often gone, he was more often distant. When Noah arrives at his father's cabin and finds him terminally ill, he understands that it's time to learn why his father became the man who abandoned his family.

I thought perhaps if I waited some time after finishing this book to write this review, I could be more objective. I thought wrong. Weeks after finishing this book, the first word that pops into my mind to describe this book is "brilliant." Setting the book on the cold shores of Lake Superior, a setting he knows well, Geye deftly makes the atmosphere inside Olaf's cabin mirror the atmosphere outside of it. Before he arrives at his father's cabin, Noah visits a maritime museum, in particular the room featuring artifacts from a ship wreck his father survived. The sadness and grief associated with that wreck permeate the relationship between Olaf and Noah as well. Both of the men have carried the scars of that wreck for more than 30 years. Olaf knew that he would ever after only be known as one of only three men to survive the wreck. The survivor's guilt Olaf felt drove him to drink, leaving Noah to grow up without his father even when he wasn't on the lakes. One reviewer called the dialogue between Noah and Olaf "stagnant" and said that it "slowed the plot." I found it very realistic and felt that the conversation between the men was the plot of the story.

I rarely cry when reading a book; I can't remember the last book that brought me to tears. This one did...twice. That despite my knowing well before the book was done what was going to happen. The ending may have been a bit tidier than I would have preferred but it worked for me. My husband also read the book and was less satisfied with the ending but very much enjoyed the book as well.

Geye and Unbridled Books have put in my hands a book that I would highly recommend to readers of either sex and almost any age. A most impressive debut.

14 comments:

  1. I won this book on another blog a few months ago, and now that I have read your amazing review I am eager to read it again. I love books that make me cry, even though my husband thinks I'm weird, and think that this book sounds wonderful. Thanks for the very enthusiastic and wonderful review!

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  2. Wow! Lisa, you make this book sound like such a must-read that I am definitely adding it to my Kindle. Thanks! I'm really looking forward to reading this. It sounds like it will be a meaningful read.

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  3. I think this will be the first book that I officially buy for my Kindle!!!! Wonderful review!

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  4. After reading this review, I very much want to get the book. Off to kindle land...

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  5. I told you it was amazing! There's a reason why it won the Indie Lit Awards for Lit Fiction last year. I absolutely loved it and found it to be lovely in more ways than one.

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  6. You have me intrigued! I always enjoy a good cry now and then from a book. Definitely checking this one out.

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  7. I'm so glad you loved it! I agree that the ending was a bit too tidy, but it still worked. It's one of those books that feels a bit magical...there are so many things to love about it.

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  8. I love the sound of this one. Thanks for the great review.

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  9. I certainly wasn't expecting this one to be that good. I was thinking "shipwreak book - meh." And I started out not liking many of the characters, but by the end I had fallen in love with all of them!

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  10. Great review! I have this book, so I'm definitely going to have to read it soon. I'm due for a good cry, book-related of course. ;)

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  11. I usually avoid books that may make me cry, but this sounds so intriguing, I may break my own rule. Thanks for the review.

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  12. gawd, I lo e books that makemecry and I am so eager to read this. Do you think it would be a good bookbluc book?

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  13. Lol, Care--what were you typing on?! I think it would make an interesting book club selection provided your club is not set on reading only women ficion.

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  14. This caught my eye when Beth Fish spotlighted it. Add your review, softdrink's notes (and Care's funny thumb-typing) ... I'll be putting this on my wish list.

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