The Lifeboat

A Novel

By: Charlotte Rogan

Narrated by: Rebecca Gibel

Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

Grace Winter, 22, is both a newlywed and a widow. She is also on trial for her life.

In the summer of 1914, the elegant ocean liner carrying her and her husband, Henry, across the Atlantic suffers a mysterious explosion. Setting aside his own safety, Henry secures Grace a place in a lifeboat, which the survivors quickly realize is over capacity. For any to live, some must die.

As the castaways battle the elements, and each other, Grace recollects the unorthodox way she and Henry met, and the new life of privilege she thought she'd found. Will she pay any price to keep it?

The Lifeboat is a pause-resistant novel of hard choices and survival, narrated by a woman as unforgettable and complex as the events she describes.

©2012 Charlotte Rogan (P)2012 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

" The Lifeboat traps the reader in a story that is exciting at the literal level and brutally moving at the existential: I read it in one go." (Emma Donoghue, author of Room)

"What a splendid book.... I can't imagine any reader who looks at the opening pages wanting to put the book down.... It's so refreshing to read a book that is ambitious and yet not tricksy, where the author seems to be in command of her material and really on top of her game. It's beautifully controlled and totally believable." (Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall)

" The Lifeboat is a spellbinding and beautifully written novel, one that will keep readers turning pages late into the night. This is storytelling at its best, and I was completely absorbed from beginning to end." (Tim O'Brien, author of The Things They Carried, In the Lake of the Woods, July, July)

Just Watch Titanic

Very slow and boring. Just watch the movie again and imagine the people in the lifeboats and what they do after the boat sinks and there you go.

excellent story

This is not my normal reading material but it was on my book club list so I took a chance. I absolutely despised the characters, finding them cruel with little or no moral compass. In trying to excuse their behavior in light of their situation, I despised them even more. Amazingly good read if you are willing to accept that these people are not likeable. Then again, a book that can hold your interest even when the characters are awful is probably a wonderful read.

Personalities

If you could sum up The Lifeboat in three words, what would they be?

Human nature examination.

What did you like best about this story?

The development of Grace, the protagonist and the eventual unveiling of her character. There is a lot to read between the lines.

What does Rebecca Gibel bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

A perceived innocence and naivete of Grace initially, then as the story continues, a deeper understanding of Grace's motivations and life plans.

Who was the most memorable character of The Lifeboat and why?

Mrs. Grant, a force to be dealt with, but Grace certainly leaves a lasting impression.

Any additional comments?

Very interesting read. It was a bit difficult in the beginning, you feel a little claustrophobic stuck in the boat with its passengers. However as the story moves along, there is much more to learn about the occupants and there are passages where you leave the boat with Grace, the lead character, learning about her history, her family, her losses, her desires, her accomplishments, and ultimately her determination and survival.

Narrator is Disconnected from Story

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend this BOOK to a friend, but not this audiobook. The narrator's voice was a little odd. I thought maybe it was just me, but I was listening to the book while cleaning my apartment and, when my roommate came home, he immediately started complaining about the voice. I guess it wasn't just me after all.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Overall, her voice just didn't connect with the story. I'm not sure if it was her tone or inflection, but she sounded like she should have been reading something much more modern, not a book set in the early 20th century. From the sound of her voice, I would want to share a cocktail, gossip about boys, and go dancing with Rebecca Gibel... but I just couldn't accept her narration of this book.

Lord of the Flies on the Water

In the very first few minutes of this Charlotte Rogan’s The Lifeboat the passengers in lifeboat 14 make their way through the debris of their ship. Trying to stay afloat they don’t rescue a child floating on some wreckage next to his dead mom and actually beat away swimmers attempting to board their boat. It is one moral dilemma after another from there on out. Soon they come to realize the boat is overloaded. As hours and days drag on their humanity is tested. All of this is described through the perspective of Grace Winter a newlywed whose husband did not make the lifeboat. The story is told through a journal of sorts she is preparing for her legal defense. The gripping scene in the lifeboat is periodically interrupted with this legal drama as we are filled in on how the eventual rescue led to her arrest. We are also given some backstory on Grace and her courtship to frame the harrowing lifeboat experience.

The lifeboat passages are by far the most compelling, but the legal ramifications of Grace’s experience eventually take hold. Grace is scarily relatable, she’s imperfect in so many ways but I never found myself judging her decisions. My chief complaint with the novel is the author hints at a lot, but then leaves it unresolved. Also, Rogan gives a lot away for free, ie, we know Grace is alive from the beginning of the story. Overall though, by focusing not only on the lifeboat but also on the consequences we are delivered a more rounded and realistic story. I listened to the entire novel in one sitting, captivated by the premise and eager to see how the story would unfold.

Rebecca Glibel narrates. She sounds strangely modern which is somewhat disjointed for the piece but otherwise delivers a strong performance.

A Boat Full of Sharks

Never has a more morally bankrupt bunch of self-serving shipwrecks--none of whom obviously ever heard the phrase "there is no "i" in teamwork--sailed together over the ocean blue. (This group wouldn't have made it across the English Channel in a motor boat.) A leaky lifeboat-load of bogus aristocrats, genteel sociopaths, crooked crewmen, and a deacon, plops into the ocean over the side of a sinking ship, and "may or may not" be carrying jewels, disguised husbands, and other secrets...a very promising and intriguing concept...that sprung a few little leaks of its own in the realization. And that's too bad because I liked the book; it was a good debut novel--it was just a little loose.

Too many "may or may not's", too many unsupported possibilities, even for a book that is intended to be ambiguous, got in the way. The characters (a fun array-but almost straight out of central casting leftovers from Titanic) were mostly vague and undimensional, possible with a first person narrative, but because they were not given any background or situational development for the logical follow through of what was loosely implied, there was too much sloppy conjecture instead of viable conclusions. (The Life of Pi brilliantly succeeds with this notion by having the reader choose a conclusion from possibilities that were solidly built upon throughout the book.) For instance: just when the author finally seems to be hinting at a profile of the main character, a conniving black widow? or demure damsel in distress?, she instead creates more obfuscation--and that overall style too often created more holes in what could have been an intelligent thought provoking mystery. As far as the narrator, she seems to read every line overly intense or with anger...seemed to be as confused about what "may or may not" have really been going on as I was, but she gave it a good try (and had great diction).

Still, I would recommend this one; I just wish the author would go back to the drawing board and relaunch this Lifeboat.

Enjoyable

Where does The Lifeboat rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It was very intriguing . It kept me wanting to learn more.

Any additional comments?

Highly recommend

danger on the water

If you could sum up The Lifeboat in three words, what would they be?

suspenseful, interesting, a good read

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Lifeboat?

when mr. hardy was murdered

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

could have given a more lively, dramatic performance. they definitely could have chosen a more talented narrator

Time setting didn't work

What would have made The Lifeboat better?

The men and women from the early 20th century didn't seem realistic. They were too proper, too guarded with their feelings. I'm sure that people from that time WERE more guarded and proper, but they seemed to be more stereotypes than actual characters.

The power struggle between men and women was an interesting theme, and setting this in a time before women could vote was a good tie-in. But when the characters were interacting with each other in their socially acceptable ways, it just didn't seem believable. A little too Merchant & Ivory for me.

A survival story involving a lifeboat.

This is a novel about Grace Winter, a 22-year-old in England whose middle-class family fell upon hard times. While her sister set out to be a governess, the only job left open then for unmarried women who had to make their own way, Grace determined that she would find a husband. She followed the ongoing engagement of a young banker and was successful in luring him away from his girl friend. They are married, and now are returning to New York to meet his family. His familiy does not know that he has married someone else. They embark on a luxury liner in 1914, just as WW I is beginning, and something goes wrong and the liner explodes. The situation is like the Titanic in that there aren’t enough lifeboats for all the passengers, and there isn’t time to deploy all the lifeboats that are on board before the ship sinks. So we follow Grace in her over-burdened lifeboat for two weeks. The people on board become more and more unhinged as it becomes clearer that there are too many on board with no food or water left. Factions form, and mutiny occurs. Grace survives, and is now on trial for her life. It’s quite a good book actually. It’s a debut novel.