"Question 7" is a kind of memoir, but Flanagan accomplishes something much deeper than that implies. This is a profound and moving reflection on memory, history, family, loss, love, and time. It took me to a place and time that was almost wholly new to me, but in a way that felt intimate and familiar.
I had never read "Peter Pan" before. Like a lot of us, I knew it as an old black-and-white television special from early childhood, and a Disney cartoon. Neither of these come close to the funny, knowing, wise, and surprising story Barrie tells. He really gets childhood and children and the way they view the world they live in, the different world that adults live in, and what it means to grow up. I laughed out loud many times and got teary at the end.
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A mischievous boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang, the Lost Boys, interacting with mermaids, Native Americans, fairies, pirates, and occasionally ordinary children from the world outside of Neverland. In addition to two distinct works by Barrie, the character has been featured in a variety of media and merchandise, both adapting and expanding on Barrie's works.
Despite the generic title and cover, this is a vivid and gripping account of one of the worst shipwrecks of refugees in the Aegean Sea. Carstensen follows a few people from the desperate circumstances leading to their border crossing, why and how the wreck happened, the harrowing and dramatic attempt at rescue, and the unbelievable stress and demands put on a small Greek island. Much of the book is a minute-by-minute account of a few days in which terrible and heroic events took place.
Five Days at MemorialmeetsInto the Raging Seain this “vivid snapshot of a broken asylum system” (Kirkus Reviews)—the gripping true story of a devastating shipwreck during the biggest refugee crisis since World War II.
On October 28, 2015, a boat meant for only a few dozen passengers capsized off the coast of the Greek island of Lesvos. Hundreds of refugees, forced in desperation onto the overloaded boat manned by armed smugglers, were tossed into a roiling sea. The resulting loss of life, the largest in a single day during the crisis in the Aegean, shocked the world.
We no longer know what's real on a screen. So-called reality television is a powerful mirror with which to consider the distinction between suspended disbelief and truth. A funny, microscopic consideration of what it means to record everything and watch other people pretend they don't know they are on camera.
The paperback has a new title: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=the+endless+gaze+tisdale&ia=web (The publishers thought my good title was too obscure. Not so for fans of the show!)
