Mundie Moms

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Review: Distant Waves


Distant Waves

By: Suzanne Weyn

Publisher: Scholastic, 2009

2.5 out of 5 stars


Summary from author’s website:

Science, spiritualism, history, and romance intertwine in Suzanne Weyn's newest novel. Four sisters and their mother make their way from a spiritualist town in New York to London, becoming acquainted with journalist W. T. Stead, scientist Nikola Tesla, and industrialist John Jacob Astor. When they all find themselves on the Titanic, one of Tesla's inventions dooms them...and one could save them.

Copyright © 2009 by Suzanne Weyn

My Thoughts:

This book drew me in because of its historical content. The Titanic has always been fascinating to me so I had high hopes for this novel. However, I was pretty disappointed and the book did not live up to my expectations. Suzanne Weyn has a wonderful writing style, but I found her plot to be too rush and too full. For example, she not only focuses on the historical aspects of the Titanic and its fateful journey, but she spends a vast amount of time discussing the spiritualism movement and technological innovations of the time period. All of these elements serve to strengthen her setting, but towards the middle of the book it just becomes too much. I was distracted by the amount of detail and couldn’t focus on the characters.

I didn’t feel that I truly connected with any of the characters in the novel. It was difficult to keep track of them all. Mimi is the older mulatto sister who has just learned of her mixed parentage and is seeking a home in a place where race doesn’t drive decisions. Jane, the narrator, is a strong intelligent female character. I did truly enjoy getting to know her voice and watching her relationship with a handsome young scientist, Thad, develop. However, that was the end of my enjoyment. Emma and Amelie are the creepy twins. Amelie has not spoken since she was a young child, but she speaks through her sister, Emma. It is almost as if they are the same character, but in two separate bodies. Finally, there is young Blythe who is more concerned with the trivial things in life and doesn’t really contribute anything meaningful to the story.

I was also frustrated that this was marketed as a book about the Titanic when that truly wasn’t the focus of the story. Yes, all the sisters end up on the ship, but most of the book centers on their lives in Spirit Vale watching as their mother makes her living from her career as a medium and on the scientific innovations of Tesla. The Titanic does not even make an appearance in the story until around page 200!

I feel this story and its characters had a lot of potential, but unfortunately it did not deliver a pleasurable reading experience for me. I was more overwhelmed than entertained.

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