A Novel Of The Titanic (Distant Waves) (edition 2009)

Maine Student Book Award Nominee 2010-2011

I was okay with this book until the "romance" part of it. Then I just laughed a lot and couldn't take the book seriously any more. Although I suppose, for a middle school audience, the romance was appropriate. ( )

The best book I have read in a long time. Although it is written as a fictitious book, many of the facts are real...and very interesting. I couldn't believe how quickly I was taken in by the characters and how often I had to research a fact to find out more information. I will definitely be recommending this book to my students! ( )

I enjoyed this one very much. It had the perfect mix of suspense, mystery, paranormal, drama, and science fiction. I liked how the author took true events and people and twisted them and made an interesting story. I didn't see the end coming, but I did like how she wrapped it up. I enjoyed the historical aspects of the novel, and I knew it was fiction, so it didn't bother me that she made her own story out of bits of the truth. I would like to read more by her. ( )

Summary
Opinion ( )

I went into this expecting a novel about the Titanic since that's what the cover says. It's mostly a book about the supernatural and spirit worlds. The Titanic actually plays a very small role in the book. A few parts felt awkwardly written, as if trying to shovel historical information onto the reader (I love historical fiction, but this book seems to try to shove in your face the fact that it's trying to justify itself as being slightly historical). Anyway, this story follows five sisters and their mother as they grow up in a place called Spirit Vale. Their mother is a spiritual medium, two of the sisters seem like they are preparing to follow in her path, two of the sisters are less enthused about the spirit world, and want to one day leave Spirit Vale. The final sister, the main character Jane, does a nice job of straddling the line between being logical/ scientific and having some belief in the unexplained. I did enjoy her character and the journey she went on, but I think what turned me off to this book was the fact that it wasn't what I went in expecting. ( )