Titanic: The Long Night [Review]

Stats: 
378 pages [ebook]
Published 27 Mar 2012 [First published 22 May 1998] by Open Road
ISBN: 1453248188
[Amazon::Barnes&Noble]
P.S. It's only $2.99 - and it's a pretty quick. light YA read even for such a heavy, sad event.

Synopsis:
Two teenagers discover true love aboard the doomed ocean liner
Elizabeth Farr never wanted to return to America. During her family’s vacation abroad, she has fallen in love with England, and is despondent when her father refuses to let her stay. Returning to New York means having her debut into society, and that means a swiftly arranged marriage. Elizabeth will never go to college, never learn to be a reporter—as she sees it, her life is over as soon as the Titanic reaches port. Of course, if she’s unlucky, her life will be over far sooner than that. As Elizabeth and her family settle into their first-class cabins, Katie Hanrahan, a young Irish girl with dreams of finding fortune in America, makes her way to a steerage berth. Both girls have plans for the future, but love and death are about to intervene. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Diane Hoh including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s personal collection.


My Thoughts:
When I was in middle school, we had to write short stories about Titanic one year, so I've always been really fascinated with the tragedy and different authors' takes on it. Diane Hoh did a wonderful job creating fictional characters and portraying them in the story. I might have enjoyed Katie's perspective the most though because of her Irish accent. I got really attached to each of the characters and it surprised me a little to find they were all fictional - especially because the last book I read about the Titanic was about a true survivor.

It doesn't take away from the events, however. Elizabeth Farr was a first class passenger who learned to not take life for granted (as well as her mother) and was really put in her place as far as being a first classer was concerned. She learned not to judge others by their looks or from gossip. Katie Hanrahan was a really down-to-earth kind of girl. You could easily attach to her character and grasp her personality and livelihood. She was very realistic. The main boys, Max and Paddy, were both charming and brave - everything you would want. I like that they were both sort of mischievous as well.

The part where the ship actually started sinking, broke in half, and finished sinking was a rather short part and Hoh concentrated more on the emotions of the survivors. It was really well done.

Thank you to Open Road and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book!



Previous Review:
The Infects by Sean Beaudoin {here}

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