***Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons!***

 

I loved this book. I really, really loved this book. Anyone can tell you that I am a sucker for a story about the Titanic. I am one of those people that went and saw the movie fifteen times and cried just as much the last time as the first time, who still cries at the thought of the movie. And I have read pretty much every book written on the topic and watched every documentary I can get my hands on. Titanic holds a very dear place to my heart. That is what drew me to this book in the first place and I was not disappointed.

 

Annie was a very good character. She was charming, humble, smart, if a bit naive. I felt like I was seeing the Titanic from a fresh view, one that hasn’t been explored often. Her character also did a lot of changing and growing over the course of the book. She went from being a naive girl running away from home to a woman set on discovering the truth of her past trauma and confronting it without blinking. That was a wonderful transformation.

 

The story is told from Annie’s viewpoint in both 1912 and 1916, from both the Titanic and Britannic, in alternating chapters. The two storylines were seamless next to one another. You covered the journey of the two ships almost simultaneously. Annie boards Titanic in one chapter, Britannic in the next. Disaster strikes in one chapter and then again in the next. I liked that method of telling the story. For someone like me who already knows the fate of both ships intimately it left me on the edge of my seat. I knew what was coming, but I also knew the story would be different since we were adding the paranormal aspect.

 

The horror part of this book was creepy without being too scary. It didn’t really have any traditional jump scares. It was much more psychological. Your brain starts putting the pieces together and you delve deeper into horror and dread. And I loved speculating on what was going on. Was it something in the sea, like mermaids or sirens? Was it a ghost? Was it someone on the ship who was possessed? I enjoyed watching the pieces fall into place with ever greater dread as we went deeper into the mystery.

 

I am trying really hard to avoid spoilers, so I should probably leave it at this before I sink into a spoiler-laden fangirling over this book. Read it. It’s fabulous!

I just finished Titanic: Voices from the Disaster and found it very interesting and informative even though I have read other accounts of the event, including A Night to Remember. I even went to the Broadway musical version of the story which was pretty cool. The best thing about this book is, I think, the fact that it interweaves quotations from survivors along with the basic facts. The many illustrations, particularly the photographs of the ship and passengers, add to the book's appeal. I think it's an example of a book that may be classified as YA but is really of interest to readers of all ages.

This is an excellent resource for young adults to learn about the sinking of the Titanic. It is very complete while being succinct. The text covers the entire voyage from the day it left dry dock, through the short journey up the coast to when it set off across the Atlantic, the disaster and the aftermath, including impact on the world immediately after that and finally a little about the discovery of the wreck. I found just the right amount of information, not too much, not too little. The couple of questions I had left were really not appropriate for a book aimed at young people or were ones for which there are probably no certain answers. There are several tables of data at the end for anyone wanting to learn more intricate details and I found myself referring back to them as I read the text.

Illustrating the stories were amazing photographs taken by a young priest who was told to disembark in Ireland by the church even though a rich couple had offered to pay his way to the US. It was disturbing to think about the fact that most of the people in the photos only had days to live. Other photos that have been alleged to be from the Titanic are clarified to be from its sister ship the Olympic. Drawings from newspapers and diagrams round out the illustrations. My only complaint is that the ship's diagram points out all sorts of sections but practically none of the areas mentioned in the accounts. For example, I wanted to know which decks were which such as the Promenade and the third class deck. I wanted to be able to picture exactly where people were, where each lifeboat was, etc., but it's just nitpicking considering the wealth of information in 280 pages.

But the true beauty of the book is that the story is told from the perspectives of some of the survivors gleaned from interviews after they returned to port and during the inquiries. They paint full pictures of real people, the true heroism of most of the passengers along with the very few less than admirable acts. I've seen the movie and read bits here and there but this painted a real picture for me of what happened and what it must have been like (as far as anyone who wasn't there could imagine). I was really impressed with how nonjudgmental the text tried to be, even when talking about the company owner's rush to save himself at the expense of others and the attitudes of the haughty first class passengers in a near-empty boat when asked if they considered going back for survivors. The author let the interviews speak for themselves.

Finally, the book directs readers to a number of appropriate and specific online resources to find more information and encourages readers to become researchers themselves. Even though the book is geared towards young adults and greatly interested my teen, it was exactly right for my own level of interest in the subject as well.

Read the full reivew and exclusive author guest post at http://fireandicephoto.blogspot.com/2012/03/book-preview-adn-author-guest-post.html

I have always been interested by the dramatic story of the sinking of the Titanic. And as a history buff,this book appealed to me on so many levels. I love that Deborah Hopkinson used real photos of the ship and it's passengers as well as first hand accounts. The narrative came alive for me in a way that it never has before thanks to a visually and historically rich account of that fateful night. There are so many new facts I had never heard, including he location of rescue ships in the area and the miscommunication or ignoring of warning messages from other ships nearby. Once again the tragedy of that event becomes crystal clear, but the author adds so many layers of new information that I found myself immersed from page one.

Titanic: Voices From the Disaster is an excellent non-fiction gem for both teens and adults alike. Teens will find it easy to read and interesting, chock full of well researched primary resources. I was so impressed by the amount of end notes and extras included. Deborah Hopkinson and Scholastic have given us a wonderful gift to commemorate 100 years since the Titanic's sinking.