Tilt by Emma Pattee

 

Title:  Tilt

Author:  Emma Pattee

Narrated by:  Ariel Blake

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 6 hours and 54 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio.  Thank-you!

Do you like to read disaster novels or watch disaster movies?  If so, do you have a favorite?

Annie is nine months pregnant and has just started her maternity leave.  She decides she needs to get everything set for her baby and travels to Ikea to purchase a crib.  While there, a massive earthquake hits Portland.  Unable to reach her husband and with the city in full chaos, Annie starts her journey to find her husband and to return home.

My thoughts on this audiobook:

·       Annie experiences both the best and worst of humanity during her voyage.

·       The novel flashes back through time to give Annie’s backstory as well as her romance and relationship problems with her husband.

·       As the story continued, I became invested in Annie’s story, and I really wanted her to make it home.

·       I am not sure about the ending of this novel.  There were a lot of loose ends not tied up, but I do keep thinking about this story.

·       Ariel Blake, the narrator of this audiobook, had a great performance and the audiobook kept me invested on some long drives.  The only thing I didn’t like was the cringey baby music as the beginning and end of the audiobook.

·       NPR Book of the Day had a great segment on this novel.

·       Emma Pattee is a debut author. With such a great first novel, I’m interested to see what she writes next.

·       Annie’s thoughts were raw and honest.  They were funny at times, but also sad.  She is unlikeable at times, but also very relatable.  She is all of us.

·       This novel was a good depiction of motherhood and survival.

Overall, Tilt by Emma Pattee was an interesting disaster and survival story and a perfect audiobook to keep your attention on long drives. 

Red Sky in Mourning (Adrift): A True Story of Love, Loss, and Survival at Sea by Tami Oldham Ashcraft with Susea McGearhart

Red Sky in Mourning is the August Book Club pick for the Rogue (aka FLICKS) Book Club.   It was made into a movie called Adrift earlier this summer.  This book is a memoir about American Tami Oldham and her British fiancé Richard Sharp’s tragic last voyage together.  They had been paid to sail a yacht from Tahiti to San Diego, but along the way they hit a hurricane.  Richard sends Tami below and then she hears a scream and is knocked out.  When she awakens she discovers Richard is gone and she has no mast on the boat and no radio.  Using her navigational skills and knowledge of currents, will she be able to find her way to Hawaii, which is more than 1,000 miles away?

Red Sky in Mourning was an interesting story, although sad.  The story is told during Tami’s solitary journey where she hears a voice guiding her and flashes back to tell Tami and Richard’s love story.  I thought it was interesting that the book told about the aftermath including what to do with saltwater hair that hasn’t been brushed in over a month and meeting Richard’s family.  I was sad that the family didn’t really bond with Tami or realize the sentimental value of Richard’s boat to her. 

Our book club got into a discussion about the movie and how it differs from the book.  In the movie Richard is apparently alive and the source of the mysterious “voice” helping Tami out and it’s a surprise at the end that he is not alive.  I have yet to see the movie so maybe it works, but I think that takes away from the true horror that Tami faced when she awoke injured and alone.

Overall, Red Sky in Mourning was an interesting memoir of survival.

What is your favorite story of survival?

Book Source:  The Kewaunee Public Library