"Upside down, in the biggest transatlantic liner ever built, 81,000 tons of metal hanging between heaven and the bottom of the sea."-Chapter 5 of "The Poseidon Adventure."
During a 1937 North Atlantic crossing aboard the Queen Mary author Paul Gallico had quite the scare when, out of nowhere, a large wave struck the liner, causing her to keel over - almost on her side. Thirty years later this event would serve as the inspiration for his 1969 best-seller, The Poseidon Adventure.
The novel was re-released this past spring - in anticipation of the 2006 movie re-make of the story - and I recently gave it a second read in anticipation of that film's release on DVD this week.
The story concerns the efforts of a small group of passengers attempting to escape a cruise ship after it is capsized by a massive wave. Gallico tells his story with a strong sense of suspense and a richly detailed group of diverse characters.
And those characters are the most fascinating aspect of the novel. Gallico does a masterful of job of building them into people of depth and dimension. With the sea disaster as the underlying premise, he strips them to their very cores, peeling away layer after layer until they are stripped of their security and their dignity. In their fight to survive they find their belief systems tested as never before.
In so far as the actual escape is concerned, the reader gets a strong sense of the imminent danger and claustrophobia encountered by the survivors. Throughout the book one never forgets how close they are to impending doom. Gallico is almost unrelenting in his sense of urgency.
Overall, The Poseidon Adventure makes an excellent and fast read. It is a story of courage and strength of character, of failure and loss, of intense drama and great suspense. It will leave you as stunned and as exhausted as the survivors.
The book was re-released in two paperback versions this past spring and is still available in most bookstores. I highly recommend you add it to your summer reading list!
