The Killing Sea by Richard Lewis

February 4th, 2008 at 9:21am |

Audience: Middle School

Rating: B+

Synopsis:

This is a fictionalized story of two different people trying to survive in the aftermath of the tsunami that struck Southeast Asia on 12/26/2004. Both Ruslan, a teenager from Aceh, and Sarah an American teen are stranded without their parents after the giant wave strikes. Written by an aide worker who helped with the relief efforts, this is a realistic portrayal of what it was like to survive this disaster.

Chatter:

(Spoiler Alerts! ) When the tsunami struck in Southeast Asia, I remember obsessively watching the news footage on TV. This book provides an entirely different perspective on the same event that received so much coverage. In fact, in the book, the reporters were the bad guys. How terrifying was the scene where Sarah’s begging for help for Peter, and the reporters are fighting about which of them gets the exclusive rights to interview her? They were so much more interesting in filming Peter’s pain than getting him relief.

The destruction that Lewis describes in Aceh is heartbreakingly real. Some of the scenes were haunting, I can’t imagine how any country would recover from a tragedy of that magnitude, yet the characters in the book are doing the best they can with the limited resources they have.

The ending of the book was perfect, I thought. I would have loved to know if Sarah found her father, but I doubt that she would (how could he have survived with a broken leg? Especially when her healthy mother didn’t…) The fact that he isn’t found allows the reader to draw his/her own conclusion and leaves the reader (and Sarah) with some hope that he will be found. Sarah’s had to shoulder so much responsibility since the tsunami, I would be curious to read how she reacts once some of that burden has been lifted.