The Killing Sea

I finished Richard Lewis's YA novel The Killing Sea in two days. Really one and a half. I purchased it for my son but couldn't wait for him to get through a trilogy he is currently reading and so I picked up The Killing Sea and read it myself. Am I glad I did! It's a wonderful read and a real page turner.

Two protagonists move through the story: Ruslan, a local Indonesian boy who works at a small beachside cafe in the town of Meulaboh; and Sarah, a teenager sailing with her family through the Indonesian islands over the Christmas holiday. The two meet briefly when Sarah's family anchors their sailboat near the cafe, looking for a mechanic to fix their engine. Ruslan (whose mechanic father ultimately fixes the engine) is captivated by show more Sarah's blue eyes. A budding artist, he returns home later that night and draws her in his sketchbook (against the teachings of a local cleric who deems any image-making to be a form of idolatry). Sarah barely registers Ruslan's existence before stalking off to the sailboat when her mother insists she don a headscarf out of respect for the local culture.

Lewis sensitively and deftly explores the notion of the spoiled American as we see Sarah undergo her own sea change after the tsunami rips her world apart. Both Ruslan and Sarah are left parentless: Ruslan, motherless since birth, cannot find his father after the tsunami; Sarah's parents both disappear beneath the rising waters as they flee their stranded sailboat. She learns the fate of one shortly after the waters recede, the other she cannot find before she must leave to search for a hospital for her younger brother who inhaled seawater and is having difficulty breathing.

Ruslan and Sarah's paths intersect again, post-tsunami, as they struggle to survive against violent rebels, wild animals, contaminated water, blocked roads and mounting hunger. The trials they endure give the two teenagers a strong bond of survivorship that transcends gender, race, and religion. In their journey they are helped by a savvy feline named Surf Cat, a motley group of rebels who are strangely familiar, an unlikely crew of fellow survivors, and a number of cast-off items that are put to inventive good use.

The Killing Sea is a story born of the 2004 tsunami, yes (Lewis volunteered as an aid relief worker in the aftermath, and a portion of the proceeds from his book will go to support local relief organizations), but it is not only about the tragedy. It is also about an unlikely friendship that transcends ethnic and religious boundaries. The Killing Sea is an enduring, timeless story--a story of hope and survival, of human triumph against enormous odds. show less

In his author’s note at the back of the book, Richard Lewis describes the tallest of the waves that struck Aceh in northern Indonesia on December 26, 2004:
“The waves roared ashore at twenty to thirty miles an hour with enough force to level buildings and destroy fields up to two and a half miles inland… The top [of the wave] was flat and wide, the wave a huge block of water rushing shoreward with such speed that it generated its own wind, spinning up a thick mist.”
Such monstrous waves are hard to imagine and, likewise, it is very hard to wrap one’s mind around the scale of the tragedy the receding water left in its wake. In this novel for readers 12 and up, Lewis zooms in on two teenagers who survive the disaster. He tells show more their stories with a directness and honesty that simultaneously made me flinch and drew me in.
Lewis lives in Bali and experienced the tsunami firsthand. He provided assistance to the people of Aceh during the aftermath of the killer waves and the novel includes many authentic details that could only be known to someone who was there. show less

The Killing Sea by Richard Lewis- I enjoyed this book very much because I personally felt that I was getting a lot from this fiction novel. I enjoyed the writing and language in the story because the book is about surviving a tsunami in Indonesia, but the part that I liked the most was that the novel told two different children's stories during the same time. Although they eventually meet up, I found myself reading the book every minute of the day to find out what happened next and trying to keep up with both. I also enjoyed that one of the characters wasn’t from Indonesia, she was a stereotypical spoiled American girl, providing a multi-dimensional view of the region before and after the tsunami. I also enjoyed that the book show more encouraged the reader to think of tough issues such as friendship, survival, hardships, death, etc. show less

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2006
Pages: 183
Source: I purchased
ISBN: 978-4169-1165-4

The Killing Sea is the story of Ruslan, Sarah and Peter who fight to survive the Tsunami that hit Indonesia December 26, 2004. Ruslan is a young boy who lives in the small harbor town of Meulaboh, Indonesia with his father. Sarah and Peter are Americans who have stopped in Aceh to have their sailboat motor fixed by Ruslan’s father. This is their first meeting. The next time they will meet will be under different and difficult circumstances. The tsunami has hit Indonesia. Sarah and Peter have found their dead mother’s body. Unable to find their father they decide to make their way back to Meulaboh to seek help. Ruslan had run to higher ground when the show more tsunami hit. He is trying to make his way into rebel territory to find his father when he finds Sarah and Peter. Peter has become very sick from swallowing contaminated water when caught in the tsunami. Ruslan is determined to help them find a hospital to help Peter. This means he is putting these strangers before his own need to find his father. I felt the terror and frustration at such a helpless loss of life. I cried as Sarah seemed to face one challenge after another. I got angry with the way the media was handling the situation. They seemed to be interested in the Americans who survived and not so much the native people who had lost so much. I gave this book a rating of 5 out of 5 show less

I enjoyed this, but felt that I would have liked to get to know the characters a little better before the wave hit. I felt it tended to drag a little towards the middle, but the ending was good.

A great middle school page-turner on a topic ot covered yet in much YA lit.

Book Review: The Killing Sea
Author: Richard Lewis
ISBN-13
ISBN-10
This book is about a girl named Sarah and her family. They are sailing around Indonesia When a tsunami hit ache a little Muslim province on the north side of Indonesia. Sarah and her brother survive the tsunami and go looking for medical help because her brother peter has sea water in his lungs. And is suffering from a coughing lung a disease that happens when you swallow to much sea water In the aftermath Sarah and Rulsan are brought together. Rulsan is searching for his father how a mechanic is and was on call in another town more inland.
This book is sad because Richard Lewis, the author uses lots of description about these poor people trying to put their lives back show more together. The book shows the reader how hard it was for the UN and other charitable organizations to get medical help into the remote town that got hit by the tsunami.
By Campbell Ferrie show less