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Watch That Ends The Night, The: Voices From The Titanic (2011)

by Allan Wolf(Favorite Author)

4.12 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1455829366 (ISBN13: 9781455829361)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Candlewick on Brilliance Audio

review 1: The Watch That Ends the Night by Allan Wolf is a twenty-four viewpoint novel that follows the Titanic from construction completion to a couple of weeks following the ship’s horrific demise on April 15th, 1912. Wolf writes the novel in a poetic, fictional format based on passengers that were aboard the ship during its maiden voyage. Each Individual having a unique story and opinion that envelops the reader into the journey, whether going home to America or looking for a fresh start in the land of opportunity. This book is slow at first, but when the Titanic encounters the iceberg, the tone of the book changes entirely. The end of Wolf’s novel leaves a sense of wanting to know more about the lives of the survivors and the families of those who did not survive as well as ... morea feeling of sorrow due to the deaths of characters that a connection had been established with.The creativity, care, and attention to detail that Wolf put into this book is absolutely incredible. The writing style of Wolf does not take away from the book, but creates a larger picture due to the broad spectrum of viewpoints as well as the complexity of each passenger. Many emotions are created throughout this novel because of the events that each character partake in during their stay on the Titanic. Each passenger can also be looked up to learn about their life, impact on society, or backstory, giving the book another element of realism that’s almost eerie. It is clear that Wolf did a large amount of research before writing this novel. This novel promotes thankfulness, as well as an insight of what it was like to be on the doomed ship called Titanic.
review 2: This is quite a different approach to writing about the Titanic disaster, and I would know considering the amount of books I have read on the subject, which is why I picked up this read to begin with. The story of the most infamous shipwreck in history told through short poems from a variety of characters ranging from Captain E.J. Smith himself to Bruce Ismay, third class passengers, titan-of-industry John Jacob Astor, the Unsinkable Molly Brown, a ship rat, a baker, a stoker, an undertaker from Halifax, and even the iceberg itself.I liked the little personal touches Wolf added for each character. Shipbuilder Thomas Andrews and his beekeeping back home. Violinist Jock Hume trying to decide which of the two instruments he’d brought on board suited him more, stoker Thomas Hart trying to make certain his stolen identity remained a secret.What I didn’t like was the point of view of the iceberg. It is written as if the berg intentionally sought out the ship in order to wreck it, as if the ship is destined to hit ice and sink. This approach takes all responsibility off the shoulders of the captain and makes it seem as if no one is to blame for the disaster that killed over 1,500 people. A captain is always responsible for his ship. It is fact that E.J. Smith ignored numerous ice warnings from other ships in the area. Why make an inanimate object responsible for a disaster that was avoidable? This approach did not sit well with me.And another thing that didn’t sit well was the book’s length. It just went on and on and on. Seriously, the Titanic sank in less time than it takes to read this tome. I found myself getting really tired of reading and felt that some perspectives could have been cut or lessened as they didn’t add much to the overall story. In fact, truth be told, I still haven’t finished this book. I’m going to some day. I am just a little tired of reading it at this point. That is not to say that the book is good, or that the storytelling isn’t fresh. It’s merely a bit too lengthy to hold my attention for so long. less

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