Summary:
Robie, 15, lives with her family on the Midway atoll, a group of islands in the middle of the Pacific. Her parents are scientists; it’s an isolated life. Robie enjoys visiting her aunt in Hawaii—she gets back and forth on a cargo plane that brings supplies to Midway.
During a visit, her aunt is called to the mainland for a work emergency, leaving Robie to get home on her own. On her flight back to Midway the cargo plane hits nasty weather, and goes down. It’s just Robie, the pilot, and Max, a co-pilot she’s never met till this flight, on board. Robie is pulled aboard a raft by Max, who is injured and slipping in and out of consciousness. They have a bag of candy and very little water between them. When they finally reach an island that seems abandoned, Robie hopes they’ll be found quickly. But she’s not sure she was even on the flight manifest. Her parents must be looking for her... aren’t they?
In The Raft, S.A. Bodeen creates a hair-raising suspense story that will have readers agonizing over the same question as Robie—how long can they survive?
Summary taken from Goodreads.com
Length: 231 pages
Source: NetGalley ARC
Publication Date: August 21st 2012
So there I was on March 3rd, sitting on my couch all stuffed up with a box of kleenex at my side thinking I should really get started on my RCC Challenge, but what book was I going to read? This one of course!
I've been wanting to give this author a try for ages so when I saw that the good people over at NetGalley had this one by her listed I had to request it! Luckily I got approved and spent an hour and a half occupying my time with Robie, on a life raft floating in the middle of the ocean after her plain went down on her way back home to Midway.
I love, love, love survivalist fiction. It was one of my favourite genres when I was but a wee little bookworm, and though I don't often read books in the genre it still has a special place in my heart. I really enjoyed reading the hair raising tale of a 15 year old girl who's trying to survive on a life raft.
I found the story to be well written with a big twist about 3/4 of the way through (though I kind of saw it ahead of time). It was fast paced, and really makes you wonder what it would be like if you were left adrift in the middle of the ocean with no food, water or protection from the elements with a co-pilot named Max, whose story will become clear later on in the book.
Somehow, Robie finds it inside herself that she CANNOT under any circumstances give up despite being starved, lonely and emotionally fatigued. I love the way that the author wrote the book. She managed to make Robie seem very real and for me it felt as if I was really there inside the raft with her while she was trying to stay alive.
S.A. Bodeen wrote a dramatic tale of survival and in my opinion she made a successful book out of it. Robie came accross as very real, her character wasn't forced and I found no real flaws with her. The only problem I had with this book was that it seemed as though the beginning was a little rushed and not as well thought out. I wish we had gotten to know more about Robie than we did. But like I said it was a successful book and I highly recommend reading it to fans of YA and pretty much everyone else.
To pre-order this book from Amazon CLICK HERE
To visit the author's website CLICK HERE
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my free and honest review.
★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Ooh this one looks good!I want to request it too but don't think they will approve, I have tons of books to review! *Sigh*
ReplyDeleteWhy wouldn't they approve?!
DeleteI thought they wouldn't because I have tons of pending reviews, but they did! Got it, hope to start reading soon.
DeleteI have like 160 pending reviews (when I first got netgalley I went click happy) So I checked their policies and the readers don't have to review the books it's an option to do it and we aren't obligated to read the ones we've gotten approved for if we can't/don't want to.
Delete