The Locale: Lori's
Erik Larson
The Book: On May 1, 1915, with WWI entering its tenth month, a luxury ocean liner as richly appointed as an English country house sailed out of New York, bound for Liverpool, carrying a record number of children and infants. The passengers were surprisingly at ease, even though Germany had declared the seas around Britain to be a war zone. For months, German U-boats had brought terror to the North Atlantic. But the Lusitania was one of the era’s great transatlantic “Greyhounds”—the fastest liner then in service—and her captain, William Thomas Turner, placed tremendous faith in the gentlemanly strictures of warfare that for a century had kept civilian ships safe from attack.
Germany, however, was determined to change the rules of the game, and Walther Schwieger, the captain of Unterseeboot-20, was happy to oblige. Meanwhile, an ultra-secret British intelligence unit tracked Schwieger’s U-boat, but told no one. As U-20 and the Lusitania made their way toward Liverpool, an array of forces both grand and achingly small—hubris, a chance fog, a closely guarded secret, and more—all converged to produce one of the great disasters of history.
It is a story that many of us think we know but don’t, and Erik Larson tells it thrillingly, switching between hunter and hunted while painting a larger portrait of America at the height of the Progressive Era. Full of glamour and suspense, Dead Wake brings to life a cast of evocative characters, from famed Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat to pioneering female architect Theodate Pope to President Woodrow Wilson, a man lost to grief, dreading the widening war but also captivated by the prospect of new love.
Gripping and important, Dead Wake captures the sheer drama and emotional power of a disaster whose intimate details and true meaning have long been obscured by history. http://eriklarsonbooks.com/the-books/dead-wake/
Susan's Summary: As usual, Lori provided lots of yummy treats, including Root Beer Floats for dessert. Our discussion was lively, and a bit heated when discussing a recent local event, a summer book banning at one of the high schools.
This was the first book we have read that focuses on WWI, and for that reason, it was interesting. The group, however, was mixed on the writing of the author. Some, myself included, felt the book went into too much detail, minutiae. Others felt that it was the details that drew them in and kept their interest in the book.
We are definitely looking forward to the movie version of the other Larson book we have read, The Devil in the White City, starring Leonardo DeCaprio as the serial killer. Super creepy.
The Vote: Jessica, to keep with an October, Halloween, creepy theme, presented...
- The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley WINS!!
- Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
- The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens
Next to Present: Kristine
Then:
- Tassy
- Brandy
- Carmen
- Susan
- Brenda
- Lori
- Gina
- Sarah
