Audiobook Review – Safe from the Sea by Peter Geye, Narrated by David Aaron Baker (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Length: 7 hours and 53 minutes
Publisher:‎ Recorded Books
Release Date: May 12, 2011
ASIN: ‎ B0050J3I9Q
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Borrowed Audiobook from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars

“In his “finely crafted first novel” (Booklist), Peter Geye evokes the savage beauty of Lake Superior’s north shore and the bittersweet reunion of a dying father and his hurting son after decades of estrangement. When Noah Torr returns to his family’s Minnesota cabin to reconnect with his father, he learns for the first time what really happened 35 years ago—and how it changed his father forever.”

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this on audiobook from the library.

Thoughts: I enjoyed a lot of this book. Learning about the Duluth taconite ships was fun. Hearing about the wreck of the ship (the Ragnarök) was interesting. This doesn’t seem to be a real ship as far as I could tell. It would have been wonderful to have an afterward talking about how the Rag relates to real ships that move taconite out of Duluth’s harbors. The book moves slowly but is beautifully written.

I had hoped that more of this book was going to be about Lake Superior and the taconite shipping industry. However, it is mostly about an old man, Olaf, who survived a horrible shipwreck. Rather than being happy he lived, Olaf is filled with guilt and pisses the rest of his life away drinking and estranged from his family. Until he finally calls his son to help him get his cabin ready for the winter. Olaf wants to tell his son, Noah, that he’s dying and pour all of his regrets out to Noah while retelling the story of the shipwreck.

This is a sad and slow moving book but is beautifully written. If sad memoirs are your thing you might enjoy this. I couldn’t help thinking that Olaf was a jerk throughout. He lived, he should have made the most of it or gotten some help when he was struggling rather than take it out on his family. I know things were different back them. However, it is sad how many times I have seen this happen in real life. Not the being in a shipwreck part, but the being a jerk to your family part and then regretting your life choices when you find out you are dying.

I have a lot more sympathy for Noah, who dropped everything in his life to come and help out his estranged dad. He did a lot more than he had to and is an incredibly decent person for doing so. I also enjoyed his wife Natalie, who was initially frustrated with the situation but quickly turned around when she realized how important this was to Noah. Noah and Natalie were an amazing couple and I hope that Olaf truly appreciated them.

I did enjoy hearing about Duluth and the history there. I am up in Duluth quite a bit and really love the North Shore in Minnesota in general, so the setting was very fun for me. The whole ending about the lake and the body (and we’ll leave it at that) was incredibly unrealistic.

I listened to this on audiobook and the narration is slow but well done. My husband and I listened to this, ironically, on a drive up to Duluth and ended up speeding it up a bit. I thought the narrator did an excellent job with character voices though.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this. It is a beautifully written book that is more about an old man’s regrets in life than Lake Superior and shipwrecks. The backdrop and history discussed around Duluth and taconite shipping were intriguing. I also thought Olaf’s description of the Ranarok sinking was amazing…the conditions on the lake and vicious they were…just wow. I probably won’t pick up more books by Baker, I am interested in the history of Minnesota but not so much this type of sad regretful story. If that’s your thing though, his writing style is very beautiful.

If you are really interested in shipwrecks and ever happen to in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the Great Lake Shipwreck Museum is up there. We went to it last year and it’s really in the middle of nowhere, but an awesome visit if you are interested in Great Lakes shipwrecks.