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The Titanic Survivors' Book Club
A remarkable tale about the life-changing power of books, following the Titanic librarian whose survival upends the course of his life.
For weeks after the sinking of the Titanic, Yorick spots his own name among the list of those lost at sea. As an apprentice librarian for the White Star Line, his job was to curate the ship’s second-class library. But just as he was about to board to tend to his library throughout the passage, a superior takes his place, leaving Yorick stranded at the dock.
The Titanic was not Yorick’s first brush with death, but as with every near-miss he manages to escape into the world of books. After he learns of the ship’s sinking, he takes this twist of fate as a sign to follow his lifelong dream of owning a bookshop in Paris. It’s at his shop that he receives an invitation to a secret society of survivors where he encounters other ticket-holders who didn’t board the ship. Haunted by their good fortune, they decide to transform their group into a book society, where they can grapple with their own anxieties through the guise of discussing contentious works such as The Awakening or The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Of the ragtag group of survivors, Yorick finds himself particularly drawn to the wealthy candy heiress Zinnia and the mysterious and alluring Haze. Yorick feels like an outsider looking in, falling hopelessly for Haze as Haze courts Zinnia; a tangled triangle of love and friendship forms between them. Yet with the Great War looming, their close-knit group is shattered, only brought back together once the death of a fellow book club member leaves them wondering what fate has in store for each of them.
Elegant and elegiac, The Titanic Survivors' Book Club is a dazzling ode to love, chance, and the transformativepower of books to bring people together.
For weeks after the sinking of the Titanic, Yorick spots his own name among the list of those lost at sea. As an apprentice librarian for the White Star Line, his job was to curate the ship’s second-class library. But just as he was about to board to tend to his library throughout the passage, a superior takes his place, leaving Yorick stranded at the dock.
The Titanic was not Yorick’s first brush with death, but as with every near-miss he manages to escape into the world of books. After he learns of the ship’s sinking, he takes this twist of fate as a sign to follow his lifelong dream of owning a bookshop in Paris. It’s at his shop that he receives an invitation to a secret society of survivors where he encounters other ticket-holders who didn’t board the ship. Haunted by their good fortune, they decide to transform their group into a book society, where they can grapple with their own anxieties through the guise of discussing contentious works such as The Awakening or The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Of the ragtag group of survivors, Yorick finds himself particularly drawn to the wealthy candy heiress Zinnia and the mysterious and alluring Haze. Yorick feels like an outsider looking in, falling hopelessly for Haze as Haze courts Zinnia; a tangled triangle of love and friendship forms between them. Yet with the Great War looming, their close-knit group is shattered, only brought back together once the death of a fellow book club member leaves them wondering what fate has in store for each of them.
Elegant and elegiac, The Titanic Survivors' Book Club is a dazzling ode to love, chance, and the transformativepower of books to bring people together.
11 pages, Audiobook
First published April 2, 2024
416 people are currently reading
8205 people want to read
About the author
Timothy Schaffert
20 books184 followersAuthor of five novels: The Swan Gondola, The Coffins of Little Hope, Devils in the Sugar Shop, The Singing and Dancing Daughters of God, and The Phantom Limbs of the Rollow Sisters. Director of the (downtown) omaha lit fest. Contributing editor, Fairy Tale Review. Assistant Professor in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln creative writing program.
"The Singing and Dancing Daughters of God" is part of the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers program, and was the 2007 Omaha Reads one-book-one-city selection. "Devils in the Sugar Shop" was a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice and a Book Sense pick.
"The Singing and Dancing Daughters of God" is part of the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers program, and was the 2007 Omaha Reads one-book-one-city selection. "Devils in the Sugar Shop" was a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice and a Book Sense pick.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 524 reviews
April 10, 2024
I went in thinking that this was about the people who survived the sinking but really it's about the people who almost went on the boat but didn't, which was a little disappointing at first because the Titanic is one of my hyper fixations, but I quickly realized the book was just as good even without it. It's a book about the life-changing power of books, following the Titanic librarian whose survival upends the course of his life.
The prose in this book is so good.
The prose in this book is so good.
July 10, 2025
2.5 stars, rounded down to 2. I was disappointed when I read the author’s previous book, “The Perfume Thief,” but I kept coming across this book and was intrigued, not recognizing the author’s name. Even after I did I still felt drawn to read this, both as a reader and a librarian.
Sadly, the book never fulfilled whatever promises I thought it made, and I come away disappointed. For example, without giving anything away, there’s a “Cyrano de Bergerac” subplot that felt more than a little ridiculous. But more importantly, the love triangle never felt very compelling, and I wanted much more of the Titanic Survivors Book Club than we actually got. And more about the love of books and their transformative powers. Others will undoubtedly feel that those elements are there and in more sufficient quantity, but I was left unsatisfied. On to the next book, and there will not be a third book by this author in my future.
Sadly, the book never fulfilled whatever promises I thought it made, and I come away disappointed. For example, without giving anything away, there’s a “Cyrano de Bergerac” subplot that felt more than a little ridiculous. But more importantly, the love triangle never felt very compelling, and I wanted much more of the Titanic Survivors Book Club than we actually got. And more about the love of books and their transformative powers. Others will undoubtedly feel that those elements are there and in more sufficient quantity, but I was left unsatisfied. On to the next book, and there will not be a third book by this author in my future.
December 2, 2023
A love triangle. Three Titanic survivors. A book about books.
This novel is not about The Titanic. It’s not about actual survivors. And it’s not about the book club. This story is about three people who come into each other’s lives as survivors of the Titanic--because they never boarded or already disembarked--and form a bond with each other, become friends, and, almost obsessively, start to control one another’s lives with intrigues. It made me somehow think of the love triangle in The Talented Mr. Ripley. Haze felt a little like Tom Ripley, a charming and inscrutable person.
Yorick, Haze, and Zinnia all have different reasons for not being on the Titanic when it struck an iceberg. Yorick, probably sidelined as a librarian because of his stack of secret books, Zinnia considered a second-class citizen due to her Japanese heritage and therefore not allowed to be in first class, and Haze traveling with a benefactor and cutting his trip short when he finds out his benefactor booked one room on the Titanic with only one bed.
The Titanic Survivors’ Book Club is about yearning and aching and love. It’s about the sometimes mysterious choices people make. I adored the book’s theme, even though I didn’t know all the books mentioned. What I loved most is the conception that books are able to reach into your past and heal old wounds.
But while I sometimes read breathlessly and found Haze’s pushing and pulling fascinating, an unrest started to simmer in my stomach. Everything remained on the surface, and I think lots of people will love this story, but people like me, who need to feel the main characters’ pain in their chests, ache for something deeper. I could have done with fewer books and their meaning, fewer letters, and more character depth. The book also could have benefited from more pages. Now it’s only 300, including illustrations.
Thank you so much, Doubleday Books and NetGalley, for the ARC!
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This novel is not about The Titanic. It’s not about actual survivors. And it’s not about the book club. This story is about three people who come into each other’s lives as survivors of the Titanic--because they never boarded or already disembarked--and form a bond with each other, become friends, and, almost obsessively, start to control one another’s lives with intrigues. It made me somehow think of the love triangle in The Talented Mr. Ripley. Haze felt a little like Tom Ripley, a charming and inscrutable person.
Yorick, Haze, and Zinnia all have different reasons for not being on the Titanic when it struck an iceberg. Yorick, probably sidelined as a librarian because of his stack of secret books, Zinnia considered a second-class citizen due to her Japanese heritage and therefore not allowed to be in first class, and Haze traveling with a benefactor and cutting his trip short when he finds out his benefactor booked one room on the Titanic with only one bed.
The Titanic Survivors’ Book Club is about yearning and aching and love. It’s about the sometimes mysterious choices people make. I adored the book’s theme, even though I didn’t know all the books mentioned. What I loved most is the conception that books are able to reach into your past and heal old wounds.
But while I sometimes read breathlessly and found Haze’s pushing and pulling fascinating, an unrest started to simmer in my stomach. Everything remained on the surface, and I think lots of people will love this story, but people like me, who need to feel the main characters’ pain in their chests, ache for something deeper. I could have done with fewer books and their meaning, fewer letters, and more character depth. The book also could have benefited from more pages. Now it’s only 300, including illustrations.
Thank you so much, Doubleday Books and NetGalley, for the ARC!
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April 16, 2024
The premise of this book had so much promise and the first maybe 10 chapters were delightful with a cast of characters that SHOULD have made for an intriguing read. There is Yorick the main character, bookshop owner, and former White Star Line librarian assigned to Titanic. Zinnia, the exotic candy heiress… Haze, the devastatingly handsome bohemian photographer…“Penny Dreadful” the mystery book author and her husband “Mr Dreadful/Mr Sugar Cubes”… Delphine Blancher the aging famous Parisian actress… Rev Henry Dew, the fallen American evangelist… The Orphan, known only as such… Jules Benoit, the prize winning doctor… Remy Leroy the dapper professional gambler… Old Madam Petit of the Vineyards and her “young companion”… and bringing them all together The Toymaker, a man with a warehouse of unusable Titanic themed toys. All meet sporadically to talk about books, banned books, that went down with the ship. How can this not be an interesting story?? Sadly it is not. Very quickly all those quirky characters become nothing more than scenery, like cardboard cut-outs that lend atmosphere to a scene but nothing more. This book is really about a love triangle between Yorick (gay), Zinnia (straight), and Haze (bi). This very tedious threesome is the stuff that adolescent girls write of in their secret diaries. And as if these three weren't tiresome enough enter a charlatan psychic late in the book that really made me hope the end was near.
To be clear, from the start I knew that this book was not about actual survivors of the sinking and I was not expecting it to be about Titanic so that was not an issue for me like I’m afraid it may be for some readers due to the title. So much potential but a big letdown for me.
To be clear, from the start I knew that this book was not about actual survivors of the sinking and I was not expecting it to be about Titanic so that was not an issue for me like I’m afraid it may be for some readers due to the title. So much potential but a big letdown for me.
April 7, 2024
Alas, a book about books and the Titanic which is not actually about books or the Titanic.
This was a great premise for a novel and I was really looking forward to reading it. Unfortunately it’s not exactly what it appears to be.
This book is mostly about a doomed love triangle, which is well written and reasonably well imagined, but it’s also boring if you’re not a fan of tragic romance and if you were expecting the book to be more about…well…what it claims to be about.
And it’s a shame the story didn’t focus more on those things, because the bits that ARE there about the characters’ connection to the Titanic and about the bookshop are quite good. I wanted more of this, especially about the protagonist’s love of and relationship with books. It’s the best part of the novel, and it’s sadly underutilized.
Nothing about this book is poorly done, and if you like romance, especially of the star-crossed variety, then you’ll likely enjoy this more than I did. I just wish publishers would be more honest in their plot summaries, because this one isn’t what it purports to be, and that’s going to make a huge difference in who the intended audience is.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
This was a great premise for a novel and I was really looking forward to reading it. Unfortunately it’s not exactly what it appears to be.
This book is mostly about a doomed love triangle, which is well written and reasonably well imagined, but it’s also boring if you’re not a fan of tragic romance and if you were expecting the book to be more about…well…what it claims to be about.
And it’s a shame the story didn’t focus more on those things, because the bits that ARE there about the characters’ connection to the Titanic and about the bookshop are quite good. I wanted more of this, especially about the protagonist’s love of and relationship with books. It’s the best part of the novel, and it’s sadly underutilized.
Nothing about this book is poorly done, and if you like romance, especially of the star-crossed variety, then you’ll likely enjoy this more than I did. I just wish publishers would be more honest in their plot summaries, because this one isn’t what it purports to be, and that’s going to make a huge difference in who the intended audience is.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
April 24, 2024
Somehow not about Titanic Survivors, nor about a book club.
June 11, 2024
Well, this book isn't about the Titanic, it isn't about surviving, and it isn't about books. How sad to witness such a unique premise devolve into yet another run-of-the-mill love triangle! If you're interested in love triangles, you might find something useful here, although I doubt there is much to set this one apart from the crowd of romances. The characters are mildly interesting, the pace at some points isn't egregiously slow, and prose is only distractingly over-written in a few places. So it's okay. Mediocre, sure, but definitely okay. I was perhaps most disappointed by the historical setting, which seems to fall flat, at least to me, as the characters feel quite modern. The whole book seems a little out of focus: the Titanic elements are good, but shoved into the background; the love of books is alluded to but not allowed to shine (which was just a constant reminder to me, the reader, that I could be reading something else); and the supporting characters in the book club scenes are so much more interesting than any of the three leads. If you got something out of this, good for you. I found I didn't care enough about the characters even to make it to the end.
September 19, 2024
SO much potential ....
“Books find you, in a sense. It can seem like a book is reading your mind, as if the questions in your head shapes the words on the page.”
"Once upon a time, people could escape on a ship, with a book, instead of being dragged back to shore with all the awful news of the day."
“Books find you, in a sense. It can seem like a book is reading your mind, as if the questions in your head shapes the words on the page.”
"Once upon a time, people could escape on a ship, with a book, instead of being dragged back to shore with all the awful news of the day."
April 12, 2024
“Every book you fall in love with keeps a little piece of you.”
The group of survivors in this gorgeous, captivating story aren’t technically survivors of the Titanic at all. What they each have in common is that they’d intended to be on the ill-fated ship when she set sail, but for reasons—the Fates, good fortune, chance, prejudice, jealousy, benevolent gods and divine intervention, what have you—they were not onboard when the greatest ship of its time met a tragic end. As such, this is not a story about the Titanic so much as it’s a story of people bonding over their own version of survivors' guilt and cheating death. And they do so with a notable collection of books to guide the way.
Yorick is, for lack of a better description, a walking library. His love of books is so rich and lush that he bought a bookshop in Paris without a single thought to how to make a living at running it. He does, however, know how to acquire more books, to the point of overflowing shelves, which makes him a thoroughly relatable narrator. It’s the connections Yorick makes, through books to people, that turns his life around. And a bit inside out as well.
There is a romantic subplot in this novel that involves Yorick, Zinnia (the wealthy heiress of a candy making empire), and Haze (a photographer who takes shelter wherever he can find it). The love triangle between these three characters acts as a foil to Yorick’s heart as he longs for Haze yet understands that is a “love that dare not speak its name”. Instead, Yorick plays Cyrano to Haze's Christian and Zinnia's Roxane. There is a point where Zinnia loves both men, and Haze gives his love to each of them in his own way. It is a tangled web woven to ensnarl their hearts and minds, test their bonds, and to complicate feelings as the years pass and World War I begins to overshadow their shared history. And yes, there comes a point where desperate grief calls for desperate measures.
“You’ll never fathom the exact passion you feel for the books you adore.”
The Titanic Survivors Book Club isn’t a romance novel despite its matters of the heart. It’s a book that loves books. Deeply and without reservation. This novel romances its readers with lyricism and a lushness of prose. It reached for the way I love language and just the right turn of phrase, and made me want to wallow in its pages and hang tight to Yorick’s voice. There will surely be other books to come along that will tempt and enchant me as much. For now I’m going to bask in Timothy Schaffert’s prose.
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June 2, 2024Saved me from a reading slump! Really enjoyed this one. Lyrically written. Great read for Pride month!
May 28, 2024
I feel bamboozled. This book was not about the titanic. It was not about survivors. And it was not about a book club.
August 25, 2025
WAR IS OVER
j'ai pas aimé du début à la fin
j'ai pas aimé du début à la fin
June 18, 2024
I'm not sure why I didn't abandon ship on this one. (No more Titanic puns, I promise.)
The first part, the set-up, was intriguing and promising: a group of people who should have been on the Titanic, but didn't board for various reasons, meet and form a book club in Paris. Yorick (yes, "alas, poor ..."), who would have been the librarian for the Titanic's second-class passengers and who now owns a bookshop, begins to assign readings for the group. These are chosen from books that had been banned or otherwise vilified in their time -- many of which he had clandestinely stocked in the library he was to oversee on the Titanic. They went down with the ship, obviously; perhaps you could stretch it to say they suffered a second tragic fate - but like so much else in this novel, the metaphor collapses almost as soon as it's raised.
From the beginnings of this group, three people emerge as central characters: Yorick; a rich (part-Japanese, part-French) candy heiress named Zinnia; and Haze - a photographer who has had a hard-scrabble life, making his way through the world based on his charm and good looks, and who, we learn, has never learned to read.
There develops an entirely predictable but in other ways completely inexplicable love triangle: Yorick loves Haze; Haze loves Zinnia; Zinnia loves Yorick. The early formation of this polycule -- for that is, in fact, what they are -- encompasses an epistolary relationship between Haze and Zinnia, facilitated by Yorick in the role of Cyrano de Bergerac.
At this point, the love triangle takes over and the book club and the rest of the characters become secondary, almost unmentioned. The plot becomes consumed by the three characters' shifting relationships with each other. Some other stuff happens and then WWI breaks out. Some more stuff happens, briefly, again to do with shifting relationships among the three. And then it ends.
There are so many interesting possibilities that could have been explored and, most importantly, connected to the plot and the characters in a more meaningful, fully-fleshed out way, but this novel never comes together. Here are just three themes that I wanted to hear and see more about:
1) survivors' guilt and how it shapes these people's lives - there is remarkably little on this and it's in the bloody title! C'mon!
2) banned books and how their themes are mirrored in these people's lives and in the unfolding plot - I could see almost no connection between what they were reading and how the themes they were discussing (they barely discussed the books at all, beyond Yorick lecturing about them) were manifesting. Again, it's in the bloody title!
3) unconventional sexualities, and especially, a deeper exploration of polyamory
I think Schaffert got a bit bogged down in trying to make the novel historically true to the time, but in fact he introduced things that were decidedly not true to the times, and these inconsistencies were jarring. For example, not a word is said about the racism that Zinnia must have experienced, and the attitudes he portrays toward homosexuality are uneven, to say the least -- it's a subject of shame and societal approbation, but also completely and nonchalantly accepted by the core group of characters and their immediate circle beyond. Weird.
Well, between the 10-hour audiobook and writing this review, that's enough thought expended on this one. Disappointing.
The first part, the set-up, was intriguing and promising: a group of people who should have been on the Titanic, but didn't board for various reasons, meet and form a book club in Paris. Yorick (yes, "alas, poor ..."), who would have been the librarian for the Titanic's second-class passengers and who now owns a bookshop, begins to assign readings for the group. These are chosen from books that had been banned or otherwise vilified in their time -- many of which he had clandestinely stocked in the library he was to oversee on the Titanic. They went down with the ship, obviously; perhaps you could stretch it to say they suffered a second tragic fate - but like so much else in this novel, the metaphor collapses almost as soon as it's raised.
From the beginnings of this group, three people emerge as central characters: Yorick; a rich (part-Japanese, part-French) candy heiress named Zinnia; and Haze - a photographer who has had a hard-scrabble life, making his way through the world based on his charm and good looks, and who, we learn, has never learned to read.
There develops an entirely predictable but in other ways completely inexplicable love triangle: Yorick loves Haze; Haze loves Zinnia; Zinnia loves Yorick. The early formation of this polycule -- for that is, in fact, what they are -- encompasses an epistolary relationship between Haze and Zinnia, facilitated by Yorick in the role of Cyrano de Bergerac.
At this point, the love triangle takes over and the book club and the rest of the characters become secondary, almost unmentioned. The plot becomes consumed by the three characters' shifting relationships with each other. Some other stuff happens and then WWI breaks out. Some more stuff happens, briefly, again to do with shifting relationships among the three. And then it ends.
There are so many interesting possibilities that could have been explored and, most importantly, connected to the plot and the characters in a more meaningful, fully-fleshed out way, but this novel never comes together. Here are just three themes that I wanted to hear and see more about:
1) survivors' guilt and how it shapes these people's lives - there is remarkably little on this and it's in the bloody title! C'mon!
2) banned books and how their themes are mirrored in these people's lives and in the unfolding plot - I could see almost no connection between what they were reading and how the themes they were discussing (they barely discussed the books at all, beyond Yorick lecturing about them) were manifesting. Again, it's in the bloody title!
3) unconventional sexualities, and especially, a deeper exploration of polyamory
I think Schaffert got a bit bogged down in trying to make the novel historically true to the time, but in fact he introduced things that were decidedly not true to the times, and these inconsistencies were jarring. For example, not a word is said about the racism that Zinnia must have experienced, and the attitudes he portrays toward homosexuality are uneven, to say the least -- it's a subject of shame and societal approbation, but also completely and nonchalantly accepted by the core group of characters and their immediate circle beyond. Weird.
Well, between the 10-hour audiobook and writing this review, that's enough thought expended on this one. Disappointing.
March 26, 2025
Honestly can’t believe I didn’t dnf this. So boring, didn’t like any of the characters, etc. etc.
August 16, 2024
*1.5 stars. And, NO, I'm not rounding up.*
I HATE books that dupe you. Call a spade a spade. Don't disguise a book by enticing me with something else just to get me to pick it up and read it. I was SO excited for this book. Anything Titanic ✔️ I'm a librarian and an even longer book-clubber, so anything with a book club ✔️ Sucker for a beautiful cover✔️ And I loved the premise of this: fate-intervened survivors finding each other and then talking about books?? Absolutely.
This is hardly what I ended up getting from this book. It started off beautifully. I loved the writing style, truly touching phrases about the power of books/words/characters. And then it's like the author got side-tracked by a whole other story and then was like, "Oh yeah, I was writing about a book club. I better get the reader back to that, whoops."
It had SUCH potential. Ugh.
Then I remembered my same book club chose another one of his books years ago, The Swan Gondola, and I didn't like that either. I won't be giving this author a third go.
I HATE books that dupe you. Call a spade a spade. Don't disguise a book by enticing me with something else just to get me to pick it up and read it. I was SO excited for this book. Anything Titanic ✔️ I'm a librarian and an even longer book-clubber, so anything with a book club ✔️ Sucker for a beautiful cover✔️ And I loved the premise of this: fate-intervened survivors finding each other and then talking about books?? Absolutely.
This is hardly what I ended up getting from this book. It started off beautifully. I loved the writing style, truly touching phrases about the power of books/words/characters. And then it's like the author got side-tracked by a whole other story and then was like, "Oh yeah, I was writing about a book club. I better get the reader back to that, whoops."
It had SUCH potential. Ugh.
Then I remembered my same book club chose another one of his books years ago, The Swan Gondola, and I didn't like that either. I won't be giving this author a third go.
July 7, 2024
3.5 rounded up
I don't usually write reviews, but needed to say that this book had a lot to offer if you went into it knowing that it wasn't going to be just a "titanic novel " or a "book about books." Schaffert's prose is precise and beautiful and although I was surprised at times to see where the story went, I was glad I gave it a chance.
I'm trying to be influenced less by goodreads average review numbers as I am finding myself not picking up books purely based on a number calculated by wildly differing opinions.
This book definitely helped me realize I have to spend more time choosing books based on my gut.
I don't usually write reviews, but needed to say that this book had a lot to offer if you went into it knowing that it wasn't going to be just a "titanic novel " or a "book about books." Schaffert's prose is precise and beautiful and although I was surprised at times to see where the story went, I was glad I gave it a chance.
I'm trying to be influenced less by goodreads average review numbers as I am finding myself not picking up books purely based on a number calculated by wildly differing opinions.
This book definitely helped me realize I have to spend more time choosing books based on my gut.
September 3, 2024
Unfortunately, I felt that this book fell very flat. With such a great premise and historical setting, I expected more from the plot. The book focused more on the love triangle, which felt very shallow, than the book club itself. I felt a little misled by the title. If anything it should be titled “My Name is Yorick and Let Me Tell You Every Three Pages that I’m Gay”. The book club only meets 4-5 times throughout the book and feels that it was put on the back burner, despite that being the main pull to the book. I was disappointed and won’t be reading anything else by this author. 1.5/5 stars.
Read
May 4, 2024DNF at 20%
May 22, 2024
3.0 Stars.
Although the book didn’t exactly deliver what I expected of it, I still had a good time reading it – the premise and the characters were quite engaging and I could really immerse myself in the setting, too.
What really fell flat (as should honestly be obvious to authors and readers all over the world by now) was the love-triangle, of course. I felt the chemistry between all three characters, but somewhat only when they were united – so truthfully, I’d have found a polyamorous relationship between the three of them more believable than what actually played out.
Although the book didn’t exactly deliver what I expected of it, I still had a good time reading it – the premise and the characters were quite engaging and I could really immerse myself in the setting, too.
What really fell flat (as should honestly be obvious to authors and readers all over the world by now) was the love-triangle, of course. I felt the chemistry between all three characters, but somewhat only when they were united – so truthfully, I’d have found a polyamorous relationship between the three of them more believable than what actually played out.
November 23, 2023
Timothy Schaffert is a very sensuous writer, using color, texture, scent, taste, and sound form his scenes ' aesthetic. His earlier book, "The Perfume Thief," is especially redolent with this these details, and he uses them again with great success in his new book, "The Titanic Survivors Book Club."
The survivors of the title are not people who were on the Titanic and survived, but people who were supposed to be on the ship and at the last minute did not board. There are many reasons for this: Yorick was supposed to be the second-class librarian but a superior bumped him from the job at the last minute; Zinnia and her parents were told at the last minute they could not travel first-class because her mother was Japanese. Everyone has a reason for their extraordinary luck. A toymaker who designed souvenir toys for the ship brings all these survivors together at Yorick's bookshop in Paris so they can share their feelings and experiences through books.
Although the toymaker brings them together, he is not a major character. Yorick, Zinnia, and Haze form a romantic triangle that dominates the story. They're a pretty interesting trio, but I would liked to know more about the other survivors. When the book puts these three in lazer-like focus it's almost too much and the taut line of the narrative goes slack.
If you haven't read Schaffert before, a treat awaits you. His complex stories with that rich detail make you look at the world in a different way--I found that I was thinking more about the textures, scents, and color around me. Trying to hang on to that feeling.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.a
The survivors of the title are not people who were on the Titanic and survived, but people who were supposed to be on the ship and at the last minute did not board. There are many reasons for this: Yorick was supposed to be the second-class librarian but a superior bumped him from the job at the last minute; Zinnia and her parents were told at the last minute they could not travel first-class because her mother was Japanese. Everyone has a reason for their extraordinary luck. A toymaker who designed souvenir toys for the ship brings all these survivors together at Yorick's bookshop in Paris so they can share their feelings and experiences through books.
Although the toymaker brings them together, he is not a major character. Yorick, Zinnia, and Haze form a romantic triangle that dominates the story. They're a pretty interesting trio, but I would liked to know more about the other survivors. When the book puts these three in lazer-like focus it's almost too much and the taut line of the narrative goes slack.
If you haven't read Schaffert before, a treat awaits you. His complex stories with that rich detail make you look at the world in a different way--I found that I was thinking more about the textures, scents, and color around me. Trying to hang on to that feeling.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.a
December 28, 2023
As a lover of all things Titanic, I find most books that mention Titanic are not about the voyage itself but rather the people that were on it or in this case should have been on it. Most people expect the Jack and Rose love story and this is not that..but close..kind of.
This is a book about books and the way circumstances bring people together. I enjoyed this book as a casual read. I never became immersed in the story but it was lacking to the point I felt like I didn’t want to finish it. We are given an interesting cast of characters that end up in a love triangle with some LGBTQ rep and the author gives us vivid detail throughout as well.
I think this would be a really good book club book for sure. Worth the read if you enjoy historical fiction!
3.5 stars
This is a book about books and the way circumstances bring people together. I enjoyed this book as a casual read. I never became immersed in the story but it was lacking to the point I felt like I didn’t want to finish it. We are given an interesting cast of characters that end up in a love triangle with some LGBTQ rep and the author gives us vivid detail throughout as well.
I think this would be a really good book club book for sure. Worth the read if you enjoy historical fiction!
3.5 stars
June 2, 2024
Okay the amount of highlighted text I have in this book is crazy. The writing is 😘👌
December 18, 2024
Did not finish. I was drastically bored and I have other books I’d rather read. I’ll never know what became of Yorrick, Zinnia, and Haze but the reviews on here can fill in those holes for me. I will say there was a lot of beautiful wording & sentiments, but it’s quite clear to me that historical fiction just isn’t my thing. I tried! Onto the next!
February 4, 2025
Interesting. Not what I was expecting and a little drawn out at times, but interesting.
May 25, 2025
sobbed on a plane reading this
February 25, 2024
I can pretty well say that if a book has "Titanic" in the title I will be picking it up. While the title is originally what brought me to this, I stayed for the glorious writing. This writing is rich and tangible. I felt like I was sinking my teeth into every line of this book. This book is the definition of yearning. Without it being a romance novel, it is one of the most romantic books I have ever read. Yorick, Zinnia, and Haze's relationships throughout this novel felt so real and passionate. I found myself gawking at some of the lines in this book. It really is a love letter to literature as well. I found myself dying to go to a bookshop and browse the shelves. The way that books are described here reminds me of why I'm a reader. The care in which each novel and the bookshop as a whole was described leaves me speechless. The friendships with the other group members was lovely as well. Everyone's distinct personalities and the love they have for one another from their shared experience makes my heart happy as a lover of found family. This book has become one of my all time favorites. I think I could reread it over and over again and get something new out of it each time.
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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May 3, 2024Endearing, but. Main character somewhat devolved into a Bilbo Baggins by the end of the book. Not terrible, but.
It also seemed to be setting up for a lot more that the author just kind of let drift off without mention. It feels very incomplete, but there's certainly no room or need for a sequel. First half went great, and it just became increasingly awkward.
It also seemed to be setting up for a lot more that the author just kind of let drift off without mention. It feels very incomplete, but there's certainly no room or need for a sequel. First half went great, and it just became increasingly awkward.
May 11, 2024
This is a story about loneliness, love and loss.
The titanic „survivors“ are people who were supposed to board the titanic but for some reason didn’t. They come together, and friendships and loves bloom.
There’s a love triangle where he loves Him, but He loves her, and she loves the him.
I cried 🥺
I had a heard time getting into this book but I ended up loving it.
The titanic „survivors“ are people who were supposed to board the titanic but for some reason didn’t. They come together, and friendships and loves bloom.
There’s a love triangle where he loves Him, but He loves her, and she loves the him.
I cried 🥺
I had a heard time getting into this book but I ended up loving it.
May 21, 2024
This was a "did not finish" for me. Confusing, slow, and not at all what I expected it to be.
I really don't like giving up on books, but I tried multiple times with the physical book and the audio because it's a book club pick, but I just couldn't do it. Apparently many of the others in my book club felt the same way.
I really don't like giving up on books, but I tried multiple times with the physical book and the audio because it's a book club pick, but I just couldn't do it. Apparently many of the others in my book club felt the same way.
May 23, 2024
I tried on several occasions to get this book started. As someone who is fascinated by the Titanic I really wanted to like this. But i definitely judged a book by its cover. Thought it would be good with that Gatsby like cover. I was wrong. Dull and not catchy.
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