Review for Wreckage by Emily Bleeker

Wreckage by Emily Bleeker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this book a few years ago when I stayed with my mom while she was in the hospital… long before I started writing book reviews. I decided to reread it when I ran across it in my Kindle Library, to reacquaint myself with the details, so I could write this review. As I remembered it, it wasn’t that good. Boy, am I glad I reread it with a clearer head; not with the 8 days of deprived sleep/food-brain I had while keeping vigil next to my recovering mom.

Plot: The story alternates between the Present Day, as the survivors of the initial plane crash are being interviewed after being rescued, and the two years of their ordeal on an island near Guam after drifting at sea for three days. A secret is alluded to early on, when the present-day interviews are being conducted, and there are lies being kept… but for what purpose, exactly, you don’t find out until much later, and it’s not just an info dump, which I liked.

Characters: I remembered my impression of this book’s characters being along the lines of ho-hum, and they could’ve been through worse. Re-reading it proved that reading while semi-delusional… is maybe not a good idea. Lillian (Lily) and Dave, the two main characters, spent two years on an island; alone for a good portion of that time. Both had spouses/family at home, but were naturally… presumed dead. The developing character arcs of these two, developed and grew, although I do see why I’d originally felt the way I did; it was the constant changing of timelines with the alternating chapters and characters, that had made it slightly difficult to see the arcs and to be fully engaged. So, in sum- don’t read this when you’re sleep deprived and stressed out. You gotta have your wits about you to keep up.

The Writing: The writing itself is easily digested and moves along seamlessly. However, the chapters go from Lily’s 1st person POV to Dave’s 1st person POV, to Lily’s Present Day 3rd person POV, to Dave’s Present Day 3rd person POV. It didn’t bother me either time I read it, but it is a factor my mom hates in stuff she reads… so there’s that. And like I said above about the character Arcs, I can understand why this might be a deterrent for some people.

In case you wanted to know: There are some graphic, well-illustrated violent scenes in the book… an almost rape, a self-defense murder, and a fairly descriptive body disposal. There is some other “natural course of events” types of scenes, but I don’t want to spoil the book. Let’s just say that there are parts of the book that made me cry with wads of empathy for the struggle the characters endured, which as a whole story… it was all plausible.

Overall: I’m glad I reread “Wreckage”. This was a beautiful story of survival, love, and sacrifice; woven together by just a small twist of fate that started with disaster.

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