I was walking through the Fiction Room and saw a book that I was unfamiliar with, but the cover just drew me to it. I did a little investigating online and decided that while We, The Drowned by Carsten Jensen was not the genre I usually read, it was to be my next book.
This novel was published in Europe first and has been hailed an instant classic there. We, the Drowned is a seafaring novel that takes us through a 100-year history of the port town of Marstal through the eyes of the Madsen family starting with the infamous Laurids, who is known as “single-handedly starting a war” to his son, Albert, who follows in his father’s footsteps by not only becoming a sailor but by sailing around the world in search of Laurids after he disappears.
It is also the tale of the women who are left behind constantly wondering if their husbands and/or sons will return home after sailing the storm ravaged seas from Newfoundland to Samoa to Tasmania to Russia, and if they do return, what stories they will have of their travels.
While reading I really could picture everything and everyone in the town of Marstel and very much enjoyed the stories about cannibals, shrunken heads, prophetic dreams, treasures, forbidden passions, tragedies and survivals. I felt like I was sailing around the world and worried at home with the various Marstallers. This is a perfect book if you are looking for a “stay-cation” for Spring Break.
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