Ship of Dreams by Reilly Ryan

[reviews_and_ramblings]

I have to confess that I have never seen Titanic before. Why should I witness to a story that is domed since the beginning? And then, truth be told, I cordially hate both Leonard Di Caprio than Kate Winslet. And so when I realized that this book, Ship of Dreams, was about a story on the infamous Titanic, and that the two main characters resemble so much the characters of Di Caprio and Winslet (even if Winslet in this case wears trousers...), I hesitated. But I'm glad that my hesitation lasted only a moment, since the book is very easy to read, and flows smooth, without any "iceberg" on the way, if not the famous one.

James is a young man who tries to gain his day one per one. He is a gambler, a liar, probably also a thief. But he is not a real evil character, he is more like so many men of that period, that if lucky managed to build a good life for themself, and if not, well, they didn't remain in the history books. James is not a real criminal, he hasn't real malice inside.

Will is the only son of a widow who has only him to whom lean on. Probably Will knows who he really is, who he really likes, but it's not an option for him: he needs to marry a good woman, someone that can help him to take care of his mother, someone with whom he can walk among the good society. His late father and now his mother have great expectations for him, and he needs to be up to them. But when he meets James, he is even more sure that he is living a lie.

Will and James's relationship is easy and simple from the start. They recognize each other as twin souls, even if from the opposite side of society, they are similar; there is no need of words, they are like two magnets. But strange is, there are no words at all between them: they don't talk of the future, they don't analyze the consequences of their acts, they don't think of possible ways to be together... it's almost like they know that there will be no future for them, that their story is domed, and not only for the obvious reason. The ship is like a small world outside the time, and the people in it behave as if their life is only the one they are living on that ship. I have this feeling not only for the two main characters, but also for the other supporting characters in the story, in more chances than one, there is someone who is asked about the future, and he/she didn't answer in a right and clear way, but remains vague.

There is a suffused sadness during all the story, but in spite of this, the book is not tragic; even when they reach the climax, the moment when they are forced to take a life change (or ending) decision, the characters, and the story with them, continue to have this quite and sad behavior. Yes, all in all, this is not at all an happy story, but I like the feeling, it gives peace and hope at the same time.

Side note for who likes the historical accuracy: of 329 First Class passengers, 199 survived, 60% of them (all the story is setted in First Class, no hint to Second or Third class whatsoever).

http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/ship-of-dreams

Amazon Kindle: Ship of Dreams

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Comments

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

Well, I need to be different from the others, needn't I? And then, I had to find something funny in a so doomed story ;-) Elisa