Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. A beautiful story from famed author Mitch Albom – The Stranger in the Lifeboat. A wonderful story about trust and faith when nine people are shipwrecked on a lifeboat, they discover a lone man floating in the waves and pull him into their boat. The man claims he’s the Lord, but do they believe him?
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Blurb:
#1 New York Times Bestseller
What would happen if we called on God for help and God actually appeared? In Mitch Albom’s profound new novel of hope and faith, a group of shipwrecked passengers pull a strange man from the sea. He claims to be “the Lord.” And he says he can only save them if they all believe in him.
Adrift in a raft after a deadly ship explosion, ten people struggle for survival at sea. Three days pass. Short on water, food and hope, they spot a man floating in the waves. They pull him in.
“Thank the Lord we found you,” a passenger says.
“I am the Lord,” the man whispers.
So begins Mitch Albom’s most beguiling novel yet.
Albom has written of heaven in the celebrated number one bestsellers The Five People You Meet in Heaven and The First Phone Call from Heaven. Now, for the first time in his fiction, he ponders what we would do if, after crying out for divine help, God actually appeared before us?
In The Stranger in the Lifeboat, Albom keeps us guessing until the end: Is this strange man really who he claims to be? What actually happened to cause the explosion? Are the survivors in heaven, or are they in hell? The story is narrated by Benji, one of the passengers, who recounts the events in a notebook that is discovered—a year later—when the empty life raft washes up on the island of Montserrat. It falls to the island’s chief inspector, Jarty LeFleur, a man battling his own demons, to solve the mystery of what really happened.
A fast-paced, compelling novel that makes you ponder your deepest beliefs, The Stranger in the Lifeboat suggests that answers to our prayers may be found where we least expect them.
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My 4 1/2 Star Review:
It begins with nine people in a lifeboat. They survived the explosion on Jason Lambert’s luxury yacht. Survivors are a mix of the wealthy and famous who attended the private yacht party and staff crew. After the third day surviving on a lifeboat, they notice a man struggling in the waves and reel him into their boat. He calls himself The Lord.
The story is written in parts and subheaded under three recurring categories through the book – land, sea, and news. Cleverly written, chapter of ‘the sea’ take us into the action with the survivors, and their struggles of survival on the lifeboat. The ‘land’ chapters go into the investigation of the exploded ship after the lifeboat is found washed up on shore a year later. Empty. And the ‘news’ chapters are commentation on how the incident was reported on the missing people.
The stranger in the lifeboat they picked up from the ocean creates great mystery for the passengers. Some are believers, others are skeptics wondering, if this man was The Lord, why didn’t he help them? A test of faith. Despite a tiny few mysterious moments experienced in the man’s presence, the stranded are miffed whether those moments were miracles or Mother Nature taking its course. There are many subliminal messages in this book and tests relating to belief, compassion, life, death, despair, faith, and of course, skepticism. The story is narrated by one of the yacht’s crew, Benji at sea, writing in a notebook to his beloved Annabelle. Benji kept notes of the survival journey. Inspector Jarty LeFleur narrates the ‘land’ chapters. And is left investigating what exactly happened on that lifeboat that washed up to shore a year later.
The story makes us question our own beliefs because of the Stranger and the situation, and the ending is left for each individual reader to imagine. A great storyline and characters.
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