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A review by bethreadsandnaps
The Last Cruise by Kate Christensen
2.0
I’ve been on three cruises. My first cruise started with a fire in the engine room a few hours after departure, and we had to turn around, which put a damper on the whole cruise experience, but nothing like this one.
I was a bit befuddled by what this novel was trying to be. A retiring cruise ship leaves Long Beach for one last nostalgic cruise to Hawaii, and everything goes completely wrong at the same time almost halfway through the novel: fire, no power, no water, worker strike, norovirus. Is it supposed to be a character study? A satire on cruises? A history lesson? Worker uprising tale? A survival story? Unfortunately, it doesn’t find its footing (or sea legs) and becomes not much of anything.
There are three main characters: a housewife Christine from a farm in Maine and her friend who got her to come on the cruise, a violinist Miriam who is part of a string quartet, and chef Mick.
I feel the author had too many threads going and should have selected just a few. Also, I was disappointed that the setting wasn’t explored more. A cruise ship can have a claustrophobic, almost gothic, setting, and little was done to create that atmosphere.
I was a bit befuddled by what this novel was trying to be. A retiring cruise ship leaves Long Beach for one last nostalgic cruise to Hawaii, and everything goes completely wrong at the same time almost halfway through the novel: fire, no power, no water, worker strike, norovirus. Is it supposed to be a character study? A satire on cruises? A history lesson? Worker uprising tale? A survival story? Unfortunately, it doesn’t find its footing (or sea legs) and becomes not much of anything.
There are three main characters: a housewife Christine from a farm in Maine and her friend who got her to come on the cruise, a violinist Miriam who is part of a string quartet, and chef Mick.
I feel the author had too many threads going and should have selected just a few. Also, I was disappointed that the setting wasn’t explored more. A cruise ship can have a claustrophobic, almost gothic, setting, and little was done to create that atmosphere.