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The Last Cruise
From the acclaimed PEN-Faulkner Award-winning author of The Great Man comes a riveting high-seas adventure that combines Christensen's signature wit, irony, and humanity to create a striking and unforgettable vision of our times.
The 1950s vintage ocean liner Queen Isabella is making her final voyage before heading to the scrapyard. For the guests on board, among them Christine Thorne, a former journalist turned Maine farmer, it's a chance to experience the bygone mid-20th century era of decadent luxury cruising, complete with fine dining, classic highballs, string quartets, and sophisticated jazz. Smoking is allowed but not cell phones--or children, for that matter. The Isabella sets sail from Long Beach, CA into calm seas on a two-week retro cruise to Hawaii and back.
But this is the second decade of an uncertain new millennium, not the sunny, heedless fifties, and certain disquieting signs of strife and malfunction above and below decks intrude on the festivities. Down in the main galley, Mick Szabo, a battle-weary Hungarian executive sous-chef, watches escalating tensions among the crew. Meanwhile, Miriam Koslow, an elderly Israeli violinist with the Sabra Quartet, becomes increasingly aware of the age-related vulnerabilities of the ship herself and the cynical corners cut by the cruise ship company, Cabaret.
When a time of crisis begins, Christine, Mick, and Miriam find themselves facing the unknown together in an unexpected and startling test of their characters.
The 1950s vintage ocean liner Queen Isabella is making her final voyage before heading to the scrapyard. For the guests on board, among them Christine Thorne, a former journalist turned Maine farmer, it's a chance to experience the bygone mid-20th century era of decadent luxury cruising, complete with fine dining, classic highballs, string quartets, and sophisticated jazz. Smoking is allowed but not cell phones--or children, for that matter. The Isabella sets sail from Long Beach, CA into calm seas on a two-week retro cruise to Hawaii and back.
But this is the second decade of an uncertain new millennium, not the sunny, heedless fifties, and certain disquieting signs of strife and malfunction above and below decks intrude on the festivities. Down in the main galley, Mick Szabo, a battle-weary Hungarian executive sous-chef, watches escalating tensions among the crew. Meanwhile, Miriam Koslow, an elderly Israeli violinist with the Sabra Quartet, becomes increasingly aware of the age-related vulnerabilities of the ship herself and the cynical corners cut by the cruise ship company, Cabaret.
When a time of crisis begins, Christine, Mick, and Miriam find themselves facing the unknown together in an unexpected and startling test of their characters.
285 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 10, 2018
398 people are currently reading
5972 people want to read
About the author
Kate Christensen
19 books427 followersKATE CHRISTENSEN is the author of eleven novels, most recently The Arizona Triangle (as Sydney Graves) and Good Company. She has also published two food-centric memoirs. Her fourth novel, The Great Man, won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Her stories, reviews, and essays have appeared in numerous publications and anthologies. She lives in northern New Mexico with her husband and their two dogs.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 513 reviews
June 9, 2018
Some people love cruises with absolute passion. They can think of no greater vacation than sailing the seas, enjoying all of the creature comforts of the ship (including endless parades of food), and exploring the different ports of call. I have many friends and family members who would take a cruise as often as possible if cost and time were not an issue.
I've never been on a cruise, and to be honest, I've stayed away because of all of the horror stories I've seen in the media—the loss of power and water, the fires, the tipping over, the massively contagious viruses that spread among passengers and crew, and pirates. I know these things don't happen often (although some seem to happen more frequently), but I don't know if I like people enough to be stuck with them in the middle of the ocean.
While Kate Christensen's The Last Cruise isn't going to spur crowds of people to immediately book a cruise, it's more than a litany of things that could go wrong at sea.
The Queen Isabella is a vintage ocean liner from the 1950s which is going to make one more voyage, from Long Beach, California to Hawaii, before it is retired from service and sent to the salvage yard. The cruise ship company has decided to make this trip a nostalgic one—passengers will enjoy "old-fashioned" food like Steak Diane and Baked Alaska, as well as classic cocktails and vintage music. Oh, and there won't be wi-fi on the cruise, either.
The cruise couldn't have come at a better time for Christine Thorne. She left her farm home (and her farmer husband) back in Maine to meet her old friend for a vacation. Christine hopes to settle her mind while on the cruise, and determine whether the life that drew her away from New York City and a potential career in journalism years ago is still what she wants, or if she needs to start anew.
Miriam Koslow is an Israeli violinist who, along with her ex-husband, is part of a long-standing quartet which plays on many of the cruises run by the company. The owners of the ship are also the benefactors of the quartet. This last cruise leads Miriam to contemplation of her own mortality and that of her fellow musicians, and leads her to realize she needs to seize what she wants for the rest of her life, no matter the consequences.
Mick Szabo, one of the executive sous-chefs, is only on the cruise because he's filling in at the last minute for someone else. Working for a temperamental, well-known chef puts him on edge, but his skills are top-notch, and he's determined to prove himself worthy of a career beyond cooking on cruise ships. He's unprepared, however, for how tensions among the crew will affect the job he has to do.
Suddenly, everything changes, and the passengers and crew of the Queen Isabella find themselves facing more than where they'll sunbathe that day, what outfit they'll wear to dinner, or how to deal with the insubordination of an employee. They'll have to deal with issues of health and safety, whether there will be enough food and water, and what to do in case a storm comes their way. These crises will test everyone's mettle, bring long-hidden issues to the forefront, and put people in situations they weren't prepared to face.
Much of what occurs in The Last Cruise is unsurprising, and you can see it coming nearly from the beginning of the book. But Christensen still draws you into the story, and creates tremendously evocative images so you can almost smell and taste the food, hear the music, and see the nostalgic glamour around you. Not all of the characters are likable, but you become invested in their stories, and you wonder what will happen to them.
While the events that occur in the book aren't far-fetched if you've seen any news stories about cruise ships, but I felt like there was just too much happening, one thing after another. It almost became too melodramatic—there was a brief moment where I was expecting locusts or frogs to come next. I also thought the villains in the book were too much of a caricature—I would have liked something more than the greedy, insensitive tycoon.
Even with the things I didn't like, I still found The Last Cruise to be a good story. I wouldn't recommend you bring it with you on a cruise ship, however!
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com, or check out my list of the best books I read in 2017 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2017.html.
NetGalley and Doubleday Books provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!
I've never been on a cruise, and to be honest, I've stayed away because of all of the horror stories I've seen in the media—the loss of power and water, the fires, the tipping over, the massively contagious viruses that spread among passengers and crew, and pirates. I know these things don't happen often (although some seem to happen more frequently), but I don't know if I like people enough to be stuck with them in the middle of the ocean.
While Kate Christensen's The Last Cruise isn't going to spur crowds of people to immediately book a cruise, it's more than a litany of things that could go wrong at sea.
The Queen Isabella is a vintage ocean liner from the 1950s which is going to make one more voyage, from Long Beach, California to Hawaii, before it is retired from service and sent to the salvage yard. The cruise ship company has decided to make this trip a nostalgic one—passengers will enjoy "old-fashioned" food like Steak Diane and Baked Alaska, as well as classic cocktails and vintage music. Oh, and there won't be wi-fi on the cruise, either.
The cruise couldn't have come at a better time for Christine Thorne. She left her farm home (and her farmer husband) back in Maine to meet her old friend for a vacation. Christine hopes to settle her mind while on the cruise, and determine whether the life that drew her away from New York City and a potential career in journalism years ago is still what she wants, or if she needs to start anew.
Miriam Koslow is an Israeli violinist who, along with her ex-husband, is part of a long-standing quartet which plays on many of the cruises run by the company. The owners of the ship are also the benefactors of the quartet. This last cruise leads Miriam to contemplation of her own mortality and that of her fellow musicians, and leads her to realize she needs to seize what she wants for the rest of her life, no matter the consequences.
Mick Szabo, one of the executive sous-chefs, is only on the cruise because he's filling in at the last minute for someone else. Working for a temperamental, well-known chef puts him on edge, but his skills are top-notch, and he's determined to prove himself worthy of a career beyond cooking on cruise ships. He's unprepared, however, for how tensions among the crew will affect the job he has to do.
Suddenly, everything changes, and the passengers and crew of the Queen Isabella find themselves facing more than where they'll sunbathe that day, what outfit they'll wear to dinner, or how to deal with the insubordination of an employee. They'll have to deal with issues of health and safety, whether there will be enough food and water, and what to do in case a storm comes their way. These crises will test everyone's mettle, bring long-hidden issues to the forefront, and put people in situations they weren't prepared to face.
Much of what occurs in The Last Cruise is unsurprising, and you can see it coming nearly from the beginning of the book. But Christensen still draws you into the story, and creates tremendously evocative images so you can almost smell and taste the food, hear the music, and see the nostalgic glamour around you. Not all of the characters are likable, but you become invested in their stories, and you wonder what will happen to them.
While the events that occur in the book aren't far-fetched if you've seen any news stories about cruise ships, but I felt like there was just too much happening, one thing after another. It almost became too melodramatic—there was a brief moment where I was expecting locusts or frogs to come next. I also thought the villains in the book were too much of a caricature—I would have liked something more than the greedy, insensitive tycoon.
Even with the things I didn't like, I still found The Last Cruise to be a good story. I wouldn't recommend you bring it with you on a cruise ship, however!
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com, or check out my list of the best books I read in 2017 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2017.html.
NetGalley and Doubleday Books provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!
August 23, 2018
This novel revolves around the last sailing of the “Queen Isabella” a vintage ocean liner which will make her final voyage from Long Beach, California to Hawaii. The ship company has decided to make this a vintage cruise where passengers will be treated to circa 1950’s food, cocktails and music.
We are introduced to several characters from passengers to musicians and chefs. Christine Thorne has left her farm home in Maine to join a friend on this cruise and make up her mind whether she still wants a career in journalism and to live in New York city. She has decided she will use her time on the ship to make up her mind.
Mike Szabo is one of the chefs. His skills are expert but he has to work under the well known but highly emotional and temperamental head chef. He wants to prove his skill so that he can do more with his career than work on cruise ships. He isn’t prepared for all of the angst that goes into working with a large crew.
Then there is Miriam Koslow, an Israeli violinist, who along with her husband is part of the quartet that works on the cruise ship. The owners of the ship are their benefactors and they do many of these cruises. This cruise is forcing her to determine what she really wants to do with her talent for the rest of her life.
There are many other characters but they aren’t as well developed. Usually I enjoy rich detail but there was far too much time spent on the food and the music for my tastes. I would have preferred to meet more of the characters in depth as they play a part in the ending.
As we all know pretty much from the start, things start to go wrong on the cruise quite suddenly. There are health issues, food and water problems and if that weren’t enough, storms threatening.
I don’t want to give away more of the plot so I will stop here. For me this was a slow moving book and would have been better had it been edited of some of the details. However if you want to know what it would be like to be a passenger on a cruise ship which is in trouble, this is the book to read.
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.
We are introduced to several characters from passengers to musicians and chefs. Christine Thorne has left her farm home in Maine to join a friend on this cruise and make up her mind whether she still wants a career in journalism and to live in New York city. She has decided she will use her time on the ship to make up her mind.
Mike Szabo is one of the chefs. His skills are expert but he has to work under the well known but highly emotional and temperamental head chef. He wants to prove his skill so that he can do more with his career than work on cruise ships. He isn’t prepared for all of the angst that goes into working with a large crew.
Then there is Miriam Koslow, an Israeli violinist, who along with her husband is part of the quartet that works on the cruise ship. The owners of the ship are their benefactors and they do many of these cruises. This cruise is forcing her to determine what she really wants to do with her talent for the rest of her life.
There are many other characters but they aren’t as well developed. Usually I enjoy rich detail but there was far too much time spent on the food and the music for my tastes. I would have preferred to meet more of the characters in depth as they play a part in the ending.
As we all know pretty much from the start, things start to go wrong on the cruise quite suddenly. There are health issues, food and water problems and if that weren’t enough, storms threatening.
I don’t want to give away more of the plot so I will stop here. For me this was a slow moving book and would have been better had it been edited of some of the details. However if you want to know what it would be like to be a passenger on a cruise ship which is in trouble, this is the book to read.
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.
July 14, 2018
This started well--and it's hard to beat Christensen's food writing--but boy howdy did it spiral out of control. And that ending...I don't need things tied up into neat little packages, but this ending was as if she abruptly got tired of writing and said, "There. It's done."
July 10, 2018
There are a few simple prohibitions to remember when packing books for vacation:
Don’t take “Deliverance” on a canoe trip.
Don’t take “Into the Wild” camping.
And please don’t take Kate Christensen’s new novel on your next Carnival Cruise.
Trust me: Christensen is a discerning and witty writer, but “The Last Cruise” sails into such rough waters that it should come with a vial of Dramamine.
The story unfolds en route from California to Hawaii aboard the Queen Isabella, an elegant vessel built in France in the 1950s “before cruise ships got put on steroids and turned into so-called ‘floating cities.’ ” Once the preferred ship of Natalie Wood, Marilyn Monroe and Gene Kelly, the Isabella is now on its final voyage. To celebrate that bittersweet retirement, everything on board has been carefully redesigned to echo its first cruise, to create “a theater of nostalgia,” with jazz bands, cabaret singers, old movies and black-tie dinners.
With no Internet connection to distract them, these 400 lucky travelers are free to glide across the Pacific entirely cut off from the modern world. “The forecast for the next two weeks held nothing but sunshine and calm seas,” which should immediately rouse your inner Hercule Poirot.
Into this tiny, floating world, Christensen introduces. . . .
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...
Don’t take “Deliverance” on a canoe trip.
Don’t take “Into the Wild” camping.
And please don’t take Kate Christensen’s new novel on your next Carnival Cruise.
Trust me: Christensen is a discerning and witty writer, but “The Last Cruise” sails into such rough waters that it should come with a vial of Dramamine.
The story unfolds en route from California to Hawaii aboard the Queen Isabella, an elegant vessel built in France in the 1950s “before cruise ships got put on steroids and turned into so-called ‘floating cities.’ ” Once the preferred ship of Natalie Wood, Marilyn Monroe and Gene Kelly, the Isabella is now on its final voyage. To celebrate that bittersweet retirement, everything on board has been carefully redesigned to echo its first cruise, to create “a theater of nostalgia,” with jazz bands, cabaret singers, old movies and black-tie dinners.
With no Internet connection to distract them, these 400 lucky travelers are free to glide across the Pacific entirely cut off from the modern world. “The forecast for the next two weeks held nothing but sunshine and calm seas,” which should immediately rouse your inner Hercule Poirot.
Into this tiny, floating world, Christensen introduces. . . .
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...
July 8, 2018
I was drawn to this book because I do love cruising. On our last cruise to the Caribbean, we were offered an interesting tour of the inner workings of the ship--the galley, the laundry, the sanitation area, the engine control room and finally the bridge. Very eye-opening as to the enormous amount of work that is going on behind the scenes while passengers are enjoying themselves.
This novel also gives the reader a bit of that insight into the inner workings of a cruise ship and the people doing the work. It is the story of the last cruise of the ship Isabella, sailing from LA to Hawaii; afterwards, she will be retired. The theme of this cruise is retro-50ish, the era when the ship had been built in France, and the menu, clothes, entertainment and elegance of dress reflect that era.
The story is very much character-driven and revolves around passengers Christine Thorne, a Maine farm wife, and her friend, Valerie, a NYC journalist who hopes to add a chapter about working on a cruise ship to the book she is writing; Miriam and the other elderly members of a string quartet from Israel who will be performing on the cruise; and Mick Szabo, one of the ship's top chefs.
At first, all goes well, with bright, sunny days, delicious meals and fun entertainment. But then some members of the crew lead an insurrection and everything goes downhill swiftly from there. Think of some of the worst cruise ship disasters that have hit the headlines in recent years and you will have a good idea where this heads. Maybe a few TOO many of those disasters happen here to actually to be believable.
What makes this story interesting is how the aformentioned characters deal with the problems in the face of disaster but certain aspects of the story became a bit tedious. I found the ending strange...one of those situations where you turn the final page and think, That's it??
I received an arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
This novel also gives the reader a bit of that insight into the inner workings of a cruise ship and the people doing the work. It is the story of the last cruise of the ship Isabella, sailing from LA to Hawaii; afterwards, she will be retired. The theme of this cruise is retro-50ish, the era when the ship had been built in France, and the menu, clothes, entertainment and elegance of dress reflect that era.
The story is very much character-driven and revolves around passengers Christine Thorne, a Maine farm wife, and her friend, Valerie, a NYC journalist who hopes to add a chapter about working on a cruise ship to the book she is writing; Miriam and the other elderly members of a string quartet from Israel who will be performing on the cruise; and Mick Szabo, one of the ship's top chefs.
At first, all goes well, with bright, sunny days, delicious meals and fun entertainment. But then some members of the crew lead an insurrection and everything goes downhill swiftly from there. Think of some of the worst cruise ship disasters that have hit the headlines in recent years and you will have a good idea where this heads. Maybe a few TOO many of those disasters happen here to actually to be believable.
What makes this story interesting is how the aformentioned characters deal with the problems in the face of disaster but certain aspects of the story became a bit tedious. I found the ending strange...one of those situations where you turn the final page and think, That's it??
I received an arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
January 30, 2019
A historic cruise ship, the spruced up Queen Isabella, is making its last journey before going off to the scrapyards. It is a retro based themed cruise and the decor, entertainment, activities and food and beverages are all appropriately coordinated. The weather is expected to be beautiful with full days of sunshine and blue skies. It’s all that the cruise goers are hoping for on this trip.
Throw in an aspiring, rogue chef, a frustrated farm wife, an aggressive journalist, an aging musical quartet, and the wealthy (but cheap) owner of the boat and his wife. There’s a host of other characters, but these are pretty much the main group. We are involved in their every day to day activities/interactions on board, and backstories of their past. A very interesting group when all mixed up together; personally, professionally and socially.
Okay, now throw in an uprising of a vast majority of essential ships crew/staff, who are doomed to lose their jobs after this voyage. They have a lot of complaints concerning their protest/walkoff - low wages, interminable work hours, racial/ethnic discrimination, hatred for the ship’s owner. They are an aggressive group when joined together in number and one day decide go “on strike.” This pretty much starts everything on the ship to slide downhill, so hold on for the ride...
There’s a fire - did the protestors set this or was it an accident? The engines and pumps are not working, so they are literally dead in the water. Behind the scenes, there are many sick and a few dead bodies due to an outbreak of the dreaded norovirus. The news gets out fast and this adds to the passenger panic.
Toilets not working; water is severely limited. No electric or gas to make meals. Food supplies dwindling. No air conditioning except for an occasional hot breeze which does not satisfy. Lots of alcohol though, and people are consuming this like water, causing all kinds of behavioral issues amongst the passengers. Panic sets in further and further each day as the toilets are overflowing and whatever food rations that are available are made into some kind of slop to serve, or else there’s nothing. People are hot, sick, dehydrated, lethargic, lacking proper food and any medical care.
🆘 Rescue operations are days away because of the isolated routing of this cruise and an emergency helicopter drop of food rations is laughable. More succumb to illness as the ship lists every now and then in the water as they wait and wait for the delayed tugboats to pull them to the nearest port/land.
STOP! I’m stopping here as you need to read this book.
My husband I both had the norovirus at the same time a few years ago while in the comfort of our home and it was absolutely horrible! I can’t even imagine what that would be like on a cruise ship with all these people under these kinds of circumstances. 🤢
This is a story of what starts out as a good intention; a dream ocean vacation that quickly turns into a major catastrophic event. It’s rather scary, because a situation like this could, indeed, very well happen. In fact, you may recall norovirus outbreaks on many well known branded cruise lines in the past, which the virus of itself, is bad enough on its own. But throw a few other wrenches into things, and suddenly, your dream vacation turns into a living nightmare.
I’m giving this one a 3.5 star rating and am sticking to doing road trips. 🤭
Throw in an aspiring, rogue chef, a frustrated farm wife, an aggressive journalist, an aging musical quartet, and the wealthy (but cheap) owner of the boat and his wife. There’s a host of other characters, but these are pretty much the main group. We are involved in their every day to day activities/interactions on board, and backstories of their past. A very interesting group when all mixed up together; personally, professionally and socially.
Okay, now throw in an uprising of a vast majority of essential ships crew/staff, who are doomed to lose their jobs after this voyage. They have a lot of complaints concerning their protest/walkoff - low wages, interminable work hours, racial/ethnic discrimination, hatred for the ship’s owner. They are an aggressive group when joined together in number and one day decide go “on strike.” This pretty much starts everything on the ship to slide downhill, so hold on for the ride...
There’s a fire - did the protestors set this or was it an accident? The engines and pumps are not working, so they are literally dead in the water. Behind the scenes, there are many sick and a few dead bodies due to an outbreak of the dreaded norovirus. The news gets out fast and this adds to the passenger panic.
Toilets not working; water is severely limited. No electric or gas to make meals. Food supplies dwindling. No air conditioning except for an occasional hot breeze which does not satisfy. Lots of alcohol though, and people are consuming this like water, causing all kinds of behavioral issues amongst the passengers. Panic sets in further and further each day as the toilets are overflowing and whatever food rations that are available are made into some kind of slop to serve, or else there’s nothing. People are hot, sick, dehydrated, lethargic, lacking proper food and any medical care.
🆘 Rescue operations are days away because of the isolated routing of this cruise and an emergency helicopter drop of food rations is laughable. More succumb to illness as the ship lists every now and then in the water as they wait and wait for the delayed tugboats to pull them to the nearest port/land.
STOP! I’m stopping here as you need to read this book.
My husband I both had the norovirus at the same time a few years ago while in the comfort of our home and it was absolutely horrible! I can’t even imagine what that would be like on a cruise ship with all these people under these kinds of circumstances. 🤢
This is a story of what starts out as a good intention; a dream ocean vacation that quickly turns into a major catastrophic event. It’s rather scary, because a situation like this could, indeed, very well happen. In fact, you may recall norovirus outbreaks on many well known branded cruise lines in the past, which the virus of itself, is bad enough on its own. But throw a few other wrenches into things, and suddenly, your dream vacation turns into a living nightmare.
I’m giving this one a 3.5 star rating and am sticking to doing road trips. 🤭
August 10, 2019
Whenever a novel takes place on a cruise ship, the automatic expectation, I think, is that the book is going to be plot-heavy. A relatively small space, lots of people, no escape? Things are going to happen. Things do happen in The Last Cruise, but not quite as you might expect. It's told from the point of view of three characters: a youngish male kitchen worker, a mid-thirties female passenger, and an older woman who's a violinist in the ship's string quartet. These characters are strangers to each other but do eventually intermingle, and the first half of the book is devoted to taking a deep dive into each of their personalities and situations. Some interpersonal stuff happens, but the book really picks up steam when something more dramatic occurs in the second half.
So: Three narrators, lots of backstory, plot doesn't really kick in until halfway through. In some authors' hands, this would have been a disaster. Fortunately, Kate Christensen really knows how to write. The characters are interesting and complex, the prose is smooth and vivid without being overly descriptive, and when the pileup of plot occurs it all still feels plausible because she's laid such a good foundation. There's nothing showy going on here; the implication is that Christensen's skills are enough to carry the day, and they totally are. The Last Cruise may sound like a thriller, but it isn't. It's just a really good novel, one I'm still thinking about a week later. Luckily for me Christensen has written a bunch of others, and I'm on board (get it?) for all of them.
So: Three narrators, lots of backstory, plot doesn't really kick in until halfway through. In some authors' hands, this would have been a disaster. Fortunately, Kate Christensen really knows how to write. The characters are interesting and complex, the prose is smooth and vivid without being overly descriptive, and when the pileup of plot occurs it all still feels plausible because she's laid such a good foundation. There's nothing showy going on here; the implication is that Christensen's skills are enough to carry the day, and they totally are. The Last Cruise may sound like a thriller, but it isn't. It's just a really good novel, one I'm still thinking about a week later. Luckily for me Christensen has written a bunch of others, and I'm on board (get it?) for all of them.
June 22, 2018
3.5 stars rounded up.
If you have no desire at all to ever embark on a cruise ship, this book will reaffirm that notion. If you have cruised and want to go again, you may change your mind after reading this book. I am firmly in the first category since I suffer from motion sickness. And now I also suffer from fear of being stranded in the middle of the ocean with no power, diminishing food supply, and a chance of rain. For these passengers on the final voyage of The Isabella, at least there was plenty of wine and whiskey.
The Isabella is being decommissioned or whatever you call it, and this one last voyage from California to Hawaii will be reminiscent of the good old days, in both music and food. We get to know the musical quartet, from Israel, and one of the chefs, Hungarian, plus a couple of the passengers, Valerie and Christine. The crew has discovered that they're all being fired by the cruiseline once in Hawaii, and it's not going over well. Valerie is there to write about the dynamics of a crew made up of diverse cultures and their treatment by corporate, and then her story turns into something much larger in scale. Christine is the light of their cruiseship lives, but she doesn't know if her own life, her marriage to a farmer, is what she wants.
So much going on here yet I had no problem keeping up with all the names and places. The ending might make you angry, sad, content or confused, depending on how you take it. My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.
If you have no desire at all to ever embark on a cruise ship, this book will reaffirm that notion. If you have cruised and want to go again, you may change your mind after reading this book. I am firmly in the first category since I suffer from motion sickness. And now I also suffer from fear of being stranded in the middle of the ocean with no power, diminishing food supply, and a chance of rain. For these passengers on the final voyage of The Isabella, at least there was plenty of wine and whiskey.
The Isabella is being decommissioned or whatever you call it, and this one last voyage from California to Hawaii will be reminiscent of the good old days, in both music and food. We get to know the musical quartet, from Israel, and one of the chefs, Hungarian, plus a couple of the passengers, Valerie and Christine. The crew has discovered that they're all being fired by the cruiseline once in Hawaii, and it's not going over well. Valerie is there to write about the dynamics of a crew made up of diverse cultures and their treatment by corporate, and then her story turns into something much larger in scale. Christine is the light of their cruiseship lives, but she doesn't know if her own life, her marriage to a farmer, is what she wants.
So much going on here yet I had no problem keeping up with all the names and places. The ending might make you angry, sad, content or confused, depending on how you take it. My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.
April 6, 2019
Worst ending in the history of bad endings which ruined the whole thing.
July 8, 2018
3.5 stars
As we enter the middle of summer what could be better than a book about a favorite vacation activity- cruising? I have been on a number of cruises and luckily none of the events that happened on the Queen Isabella's final voyage, a trip to Hawaii, has ever happened to me, thank goodness. In honor of her long life, the cruise will have a 1950's theme which appeals to a diverse group of people.
The story is told mainly through the eyes of Mick-a Hungarian chef, Miriam-a member of an Israeli symphony quartet and Christine, a Maine farmer's wife traveling with her friend, Valerie, who is researching the conditions of employment on the cruise ship. The owner and his wife are on board and the passengers settle in for menus full of iceberg lettuce with Thousand Island dressing, Lobster Thermidor and Baked Alaskas.
Then a part of the crew does a work walkout, there's a fire in the engine, power goes out, sanitation fails and food starts to run out. The ship is stuck in the middle of the ocean with no Internet, cell phone connections or basic necessities, the reaction of the people on board is quite interesting. The tugboats that come to rescue them break down. What else could go wrong? Plenty.
The ending is fantastic and very unexpected. It's a fun read that kept me amused and reading. It was much better than I expected which is a nice surprise. Thanks to Net Galley for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.
As we enter the middle of summer what could be better than a book about a favorite vacation activity- cruising? I have been on a number of cruises and luckily none of the events that happened on the Queen Isabella's final voyage, a trip to Hawaii, has ever happened to me, thank goodness. In honor of her long life, the cruise will have a 1950's theme which appeals to a diverse group of people.
The story is told mainly through the eyes of Mick-a Hungarian chef, Miriam-a member of an Israeli symphony quartet and Christine, a Maine farmer's wife traveling with her friend, Valerie, who is researching the conditions of employment on the cruise ship. The owner and his wife are on board and the passengers settle in for menus full of iceberg lettuce with Thousand Island dressing, Lobster Thermidor and Baked Alaskas.
Then a part of the crew does a work walkout, there's a fire in the engine, power goes out, sanitation fails and food starts to run out. The ship is stuck in the middle of the ocean with no Internet, cell phone connections or basic necessities, the reaction of the people on board is quite interesting. The tugboats that come to rescue them break down. What else could go wrong? Plenty.
The ending is fantastic and very unexpected. It's a fun read that kept me amused and reading. It was much better than I expected which is a nice surprise. Thanks to Net Galley for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.
June 30, 2018
I read this novel about the last sailing of vintage ocean liner Queen Isabella while at sea, and had some interesting dreams! I did enjoy the story, particularly the crew members that are featured as events escalate. The points of view move between a member of an aging string quartet, a cook asked to come on board at the last minute, and a woman taking the last cruise with her friend, a journalist writing about the experience.
Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC through Edelweiss, this book comes out July 10, 2018.
Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC through Edelweiss, this book comes out July 10, 2018.
August 24, 2018
‘The Last Cruise’ by Kate Christensen was quite a surprise. I was expecting something along the lines of The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware, a taut, psychological thriller. While suspenseful, the book reads in part like a social injustice exposé with intense character studies along with detailed descriptions of a cruise ship galley and cuisine. There’s a lot here. Like a deconstructed recipe, Christensen deconstructs the Queen Isabella, a cruise ship. She breaks it down, offering to the reader these separate elements with intense focus, here taste this, okay now try this, and here, see what happens when this element falls apart or you take away this ingredient. Definitely scary, when you’re thousands of miles from land.
My favorite character is Mick Szabo, a Hungarian sous-chef in his mid thirties. Mick is ready for a break, having just come off a cruise, but when ask to fill in for someone who couldn’t make it, he agrees to go on the Queen Isabella’s last cruise. She’s being retired after 50 years of service. Mick is an interesting character to follow because he’s all things food. He’s really excited about this trip because all the cuisine is 1950’s nostalgia cooking. Mick loves everything about that kind of cooking; he feels like it’s honest and without all the artifice of contemporary dishes. His biggest problem is his girlfriend of 5 years, Suzanne, a philosophy professor at the Sorbonne; she’s not sentimental about their relationship and thinks it’s okay to sleep around. Mick is the unlikely romantic. Their relationship is falling apart.
The other two MCs are Christine Thorne, a Maine farmer, and Miriam Koslow, a violinist with the Sabra String Quartet from Israel. Christine, 36, is married to Ed, ten years older. Ed wants children; she doesn’t. Christine confides to Miriam that she feels invisible. Miriam has been divorced for the last twenty years from Isaac, who plays the viola in the string quartet. Miriam has a huge crush on Sasha Spector, the other violinist in the group. Miriam is in her seventies, but she’s ready for love to bloom again.
Christensen writes about the social structure of the cruise ship, how all the crew are from mostly impoverished countries and how the workers have very little rights. The passengers are almost entirely white, somewhat affluent, or at least the middle class who can afford cruise ship voyages. I love how Christensen sets up the galley drama as head chef Van Buyten, a hot shot from Belgium, makes his entrance. As all the kitchen workers kowtow to their self absorbed ringleader, Mick digs in to do the best job he can. One of the kitchen workers, Consuelo, is not as obsequious as desired, so trouble will brew. Christensen writes of Van Buyten,
“His freckled pale nose twitched slightly, but he didn’t sneeze. He pushed his glasses up on his nose. He was a gangly, weedy schoolboy, by all appearances. It worked to his advantage, so that when he struck, it would be as terrifying as a meek rabbit attacking viciously out of nowhere with a snake’s fangs.”
The ending is extremely surprising; everything is not tied up neatly; all the i’s are not dotted, nor all the t’s crossed. At first, I was startled and a little mad, but as I sat with it, I realized all of that emotion made the story that much more memorable.
My favorite character is Mick Szabo, a Hungarian sous-chef in his mid thirties. Mick is ready for a break, having just come off a cruise, but when ask to fill in for someone who couldn’t make it, he agrees to go on the Queen Isabella’s last cruise. She’s being retired after 50 years of service. Mick is an interesting character to follow because he’s all things food. He’s really excited about this trip because all the cuisine is 1950’s nostalgia cooking. Mick loves everything about that kind of cooking; he feels like it’s honest and without all the artifice of contemporary dishes. His biggest problem is his girlfriend of 5 years, Suzanne, a philosophy professor at the Sorbonne; she’s not sentimental about their relationship and thinks it’s okay to sleep around. Mick is the unlikely romantic. Their relationship is falling apart.
The other two MCs are Christine Thorne, a Maine farmer, and Miriam Koslow, a violinist with the Sabra String Quartet from Israel. Christine, 36, is married to Ed, ten years older. Ed wants children; she doesn’t. Christine confides to Miriam that she feels invisible. Miriam has been divorced for the last twenty years from Isaac, who plays the viola in the string quartet. Miriam has a huge crush on Sasha Spector, the other violinist in the group. Miriam is in her seventies, but she’s ready for love to bloom again.
Christensen writes about the social structure of the cruise ship, how all the crew are from mostly impoverished countries and how the workers have very little rights. The passengers are almost entirely white, somewhat affluent, or at least the middle class who can afford cruise ship voyages. I love how Christensen sets up the galley drama as head chef Van Buyten, a hot shot from Belgium, makes his entrance. As all the kitchen workers kowtow to their self absorbed ringleader, Mick digs in to do the best job he can. One of the kitchen workers, Consuelo, is not as obsequious as desired, so trouble will brew. Christensen writes of Van Buyten,
“His freckled pale nose twitched slightly, but he didn’t sneeze. He pushed his glasses up on his nose. He was a gangly, weedy schoolboy, by all appearances. It worked to his advantage, so that when he struck, it would be as terrifying as a meek rabbit attacking viciously out of nowhere with a snake’s fangs.”
The ending is extremely surprising; everything is not tied up neatly; all the i’s are not dotted, nor all the t’s crossed. At first, I was startled and a little mad, but as I sat with it, I realized all of that emotion made the story that much more memorable.
January 17, 2018
If you never read a single news story about a cruise and still considering this as an option for a vacation…there’s this book, to get that silly notion right out of your brain. Funnily enough, until about midway through The Last Cruise really is a dream vacation. The last encore voyage of a luxury cruise ship Queen Isabella decked out in mid century glamour, free of modern world distractions, gourmet meals, first class entertainment, impeccable service, elite clientele, no kids, no wifi. Just top shelf luxury in the Pacific. And then you reach midway through juncture and it all just Titanics (yes, I used that as a verb, check me out) into a spectacular snowballing snafu. Because, of course, how can such gorgeous artifice sustain itself, not with its dreamy perfection, not with its upstairs/downstairs dynamic and certainly not if weather has a thing to say about it all. And, of course, like all boat stories, this one is a character driven drama, kinda of a steamy dish really (especially apt considering how much of the book is spent describing food, preparation, injection obtaining, etc.), throw in a lot of diverse ingredients of varied pedigrees, stir, simmer initially then turn it up…gives new definition to a potboiler. The traditional definition definitely doesn’t apply here, although I’m not familiar with author’s oeuvre (acclaimed and PEN Faulkner winning sounds auspicious enough), this doesn’t read like it’s phoned in at all, in fact it’s very good. It’s a sort of what a really good women’s fiction would read like, almost. Yes, technically one of the leads is male, but it has that estrogen driven narrative, kind of sort of, love at high seas and belated self discoveries made, etc. Thing is, though, it’s just so exceptionally well written, it draws you in completely, and for a book to turn off my brain long enough to offer a genuinely immersive experience is pretty special and unusual enough. In fact, that’s probably why I didn’t love the ending, appreciated it from an artistic perspective, but just...wanted more? More definitive? Happier? Oh I refuse to become one of those readers who require happy endings to enjoy a story, so I’m just gonna have to enjoy what the author put down and trust her literary acumen and discernment. Other than that, terrifically developed characters, utterly engaging narrative, this was a very enjoyable read. If Titanic didn’t do the trick, nor any of the recent ones like Costa Concordia, maybe this book will…there’s a reason cruise ships storylines so often feature a word disaster in them. Makes for a great story, though, apparently. Thanks Netgalley.
July 29, 2018
Too much story about the main characters. Let’s face it: when you are reading a disaster novel, you wants to get right to the action. It was 53% of the way through before anything happened. Too many disasters, characters you could care less about... I only continued reading to see if anyone survived. Really, a 1.5 stars book.
July 27, 2018
Let’s just say that The Last Cruise ( the title tells all) did not float my boat. I enjoyed the first part of the book which reminded me of an Arthur Hailey type mash-up with a great cast of characters featuring the upstairs passengers and downstairs crew. Christensen also spent a lot of time delving into employment issues of the diverse foreign crew; their enslavement & mistreatment at the hands of the cruise industry.
The Queen Isabella is a vintage 1950’s luxury ship on her last voyage, sailing from California to Hawaii before being sold for scrap. The billionaire owner and his wife are celebrating their anniversary on board while the large majority of staff have been given notice that at the end of the cruise their contracts will be terminated and they will be replaced with less expensive workers. The conditions of employment are truly abysmal. I’ve only been on one cruise and it’s simply not for me, but after reading this, I certainly won’t be taking a cruise again anytime soon, if ever.
But the ending was really a sour note for me. WTF???!!! I have a hard time recommending this one. Three stars only for hooking me early. I think I will reread some Hailey.
The Queen Isabella is a vintage 1950’s luxury ship on her last voyage, sailing from California to Hawaii before being sold for scrap. The billionaire owner and his wife are celebrating their anniversary on board while the large majority of staff have been given notice that at the end of the cruise their contracts will be terminated and they will be replaced with less expensive workers. The conditions of employment are truly abysmal. I’ve only been on one cruise and it’s simply not for me, but after reading this, I certainly won’t be taking a cruise again anytime soon, if ever.
But the ending was really a sour note for me. WTF???!!! I have a hard time recommending this one. Three stars only for hooking me early. I think I will reread some Hailey.
June 6, 2018
This was a surprisingly good novel. I felt very engaged with the characters, and while I kept waiting for some crazy twist to happen, it never really did. There are many characters in this adventurous novel, and not one felt more or less important or necessary than another.
It's the last cruise for the elegant Queen Isabella and the crew and guests assembled are a fascinating and diverse group, from a quartet of elderly Israeli string players, to a Hungarian chef desperate to feel some success and control in his life. All sorts of people that would normally never encounter one another in "real life" are hurled together by the events of the ship's last trip from California to Hawaii. A really fun book! The ending was stunning.
It's the last cruise for the elegant Queen Isabella and the crew and guests assembled are a fascinating and diverse group, from a quartet of elderly Israeli string players, to a Hungarian chef desperate to feel some success and control in his life. All sorts of people that would normally never encounter one another in "real life" are hurled together by the events of the ship's last trip from California to Hawaii. A really fun book! The ending was stunning.
August 23, 2018
The entire book was as listless and unwavering as the ship when it at last loses navigation and propulsion. Divided into three sections--typical cruise mentality, off to rest, relaxation, booze and conquests; striking workers, intractable ship owner, viral disease, fire in the engine room, dead in the water; after days drifting with no cooking or toilet facilities, hit by a storm at sea and, I think, sinking.
The mood changed little during each phase, there was little development of characters, except maybe the elderly musicians, and certainly no development of plot that would justify the love that develops between the Chef and the dissatisfied farmer's wife from Maine.
All in all, superficial--as a reader felt outside the story and disconnected from its characters or setting.
The mood changed little during each phase, there was little development of characters, except maybe the elderly musicians, and certainly no development of plot that would justify the love that develops between the Chef and the dissatisfied farmer's wife from Maine.
All in all, superficial--as a reader felt outside the story and disconnected from its characters or setting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 12, 2018
Kate Christensen, already my literary crush for The Astral and The Great Man and Trouble and this incredible interview, has given me the book of my actual dreams in The Last Cruise. I am not kidding, it's like she took some of the signal events of my life and a few other of my favorite literary tropes and made a book out them. It is:
1) set on an aging ocean liner (that bears a marked resemblance to the QE2), and features
2) a pair of female best friends, both at a crossroads in their lives, and a wry elderly woman who authors her own sexual and romantic reawakening, and
3) the plot turns on class dynamics, the erotics of making music and cooking, and seaborne catastrophe.
KATE DID YOU WRITE THIS FOR ME AND CAN WE BE FRIENDS?
1) set on an aging ocean liner (that bears a marked resemblance to the QE2), and features
2) a pair of female best friends, both at a crossroads in their lives, and a wry elderly woman who authors her own sexual and romantic reawakening, and
3) the plot turns on class dynamics, the erotics of making music and cooking, and seaborne catastrophe.
KATE DID YOU WRITE THIS FOR ME AND CAN WE BE FRIENDS?
July 21, 2018
Great story. Till last sentence.
February 5, 2019
Was it a brilliant ending or a cop-out? I'm still deciding...
February 19, 2019
Kate Christensen’s Last Cruise is the first and last book I’ll read by her. I was bored and irritated from just about the first sentence on. I made it through the book only because the plot is so flimsy and barely there and the prose so meaningless (I skimmed entire sections of food and music descriptions that had no bearing on the plot) I knew I could probably finish it off in a few days. I hated this book, but I think my hate is very personal. I disliked the author’s storytelling and prose but I don’t think the book is technically a bad book. Just not my thing at all.
Christine has been invited by her journalist friend, Valerie, to take a cruise with her on the Queen Isabella. It’s the last cruise for this once-majestic ship before it retires. This last cruise is being conducted in the glamorous style of by-gone days: no internet, no children, but food and music and drinks popular from the mid-twentieth century—and all the cigarette smoking you’d like. However, the guests are not aware that Cabaret, the company owning the ship, has made only cheap and slap-dash repairs to the aging vessel. There is also a rebellion brewing among the crew regarding Cabaret’s unfair labor practices. Christine is looking forward to this trip as a welcome break from her life as a Maine farmer, but it delivers far more than she expected.
This book alternates chapters between three main characters, none of whom I give a shit about. There’s Christine who keeps declaring “I’m a farmer!” to anyone who listens. She used to be a journalist, but didn’t like the job, so she gave it up when she met Ed, the hot farmer. Christine and I got off on the wrong foot immediately when she decided that her cab driver was an immigrant and she asked him where he was from and when he said Wisconsin, she responded with, “no, originally?” She was miffed that he would be offended, insincerely apologized, then was miffed again when the cab driver called her “ma’am” (he was being polite, unlike her) and regretted tipping him. I can’t tell if being a thoughtless bitch is her true character or not because her personality is so underdeveloped. I know a few things for sure about her: she’s a farmer!, she’s a proud resident of Maine, she’s bored with her marriage, and
Miriam is the second major character. She is a member of a classical quartet hired by the Cabaret company owners (who are personal friends) to provide the music for this cruise. I didn’t care about her either. She and the other members of the quartet (her ex-husband Isaac, Jakov, and Sasha) are elderly and nearing retirement. She has her own problems and concerns, which I didn’t find interesting, and the Miriam chapters give the book its (endless) musical descriptions and also provide the reader with lots of Jewish vocabulary and, I guess, a sort of Jewish point of view. Miriam, like the other characters, is so bland that I neither liked nor disliked her—I just didn’t care, which is worse.
Mick, the Hungarian chef, is the last major character. I almost found him and his situation interesting. Almost. Then the author blew it by There are other characters running around who barely make a dent in my memory. One of them is Valerie, the anorexic alcoholic journalist friend of Christine. They barely have a friendship, more like—hey, we used to both be journalists and live glamorous lives but now you’re a farmer and I drink a lot while pretending to be a journalist! I never really bought into the idea of her being a journalist, despite all the details of Valerie pounding furiously on her laptop and interviewing crew members. But I don’t get too fussed about it because Valerie has no impact on the story at all. Her character could be erased and it wouldn’t matter. Although, I think that’s true for all the characters. What happens, happens, and the people (and their reactions) don’t change anything at all.
The author has both of her main female characters do something I absolutely despise, but apparently is necessary in romantic novels, or novels that sell themselves as disaster novels but are more about romance. Both Christine and Miriam stand in front of full length mirrors to gauge their sexiness. I’m guessing authors use this device to describe their female characters to readers without having to write something like: “Christine is 36 years old but being a farmer in Maine has made her muscles strong and she still has the lithesome young body of a 20 year old.” That way we, the readers, are assured that our female main characters are still lust-worthy and thus the future romances with (handsome) men are not beyond realistic expectations. I’m so relieved! My last nitpicky comment is Christine still using the same shoulder bag “for years.” Maybe Christine is a different kind of woman (she is, after all, a Maine farmer) but in my experience women have an ever-changing purse habit. I carry maybe the same purse for 3-4 months, then switch it out. Sometimes I’m in the mood for a big purse so I can cram all my crap into it, then one day I wake up and can’t stand hauling around books and magazines and receipts, empty everything out and go for something smaller. I have a lot of purses. Not because I shop that much, but because I kept every purse I’ve bought since college and keep them all in my closet because you never know when you may need that exact purse again. So when Christine, worried she has no loose cash on her to tip the valet, remembers “the five she always kept stashed in a side pocket of her shoulder bag; she’d put it there years ago…she’d never had to use it before” (5) I call foul. Really? Same purse for years? And that $5 never spent? Please. A thrifty Maine farmer like herself would have used the fiver a long time ago to buy seed or fertilizer or something.
The action of this book never actually starts until over halfway thru the novel. Sure, there are rumblings from the crew members, but the actual dire situation doesn’t start until the book is well past the halfway mark. And when it does…I don’t care. The story isn’t all that unusual. Google “cruise ship” and you can read/see Youtube videos of all sorts of cruises gone terribly, terribly wrong. Even the peek inside the life of the crew members, via Mick, isn’t as interesting as it could be.
I don’t have much else to say. This book bored me, the characters were uninteresting, I hated all the cooking and music details, the pacing is glacier slow and when something finally happened, it barely increased the suspense of the story. The end, which is rather abrupt, is actually okay. I didn’t mind the end and think it was the only thing I liked about the whole book. Not just because it was the end (finally!) but because it seemed to work. If the author had kept writing, she’d have to get into the dreary details of what happens to everyone now, after the emergency, and I think you can use your imagination for that.
I hated The Last Cruise. It was sappy, disappointing, and boring. However, I don’t think the book is necessarily bad, it’s just not my cup of tea. I won’t read this author again.
Christine has been invited by her journalist friend, Valerie, to take a cruise with her on the Queen Isabella. It’s the last cruise for this once-majestic ship before it retires. This last cruise is being conducted in the glamorous style of by-gone days: no internet, no children, but food and music and drinks popular from the mid-twentieth century—and all the cigarette smoking you’d like. However, the guests are not aware that Cabaret, the company owning the ship, has made only cheap and slap-dash repairs to the aging vessel. There is also a rebellion brewing among the crew regarding Cabaret’s unfair labor practices. Christine is looking forward to this trip as a welcome break from her life as a Maine farmer, but it delivers far more than she expected.
This book alternates chapters between three main characters, none of whom I give a shit about. There’s Christine who keeps declaring “I’m a farmer!” to anyone who listens. She used to be a journalist, but didn’t like the job, so she gave it up when she met Ed, the hot farmer. Christine and I got off on the wrong foot immediately when she decided that her cab driver was an immigrant and she asked him where he was from and when he said Wisconsin, she responded with, “no, originally?” She was miffed that he would be offended, insincerely apologized, then was miffed again when the cab driver called her “ma’am” (he was being polite, unlike her) and regretted tipping him. I can’t tell if being a thoughtless bitch is her true character or not because her personality is so underdeveloped. I know a few things for sure about her: she’s a farmer!, she’s a proud resident of Maine, she’s bored with her marriage, and
Miriam is the second major character. She is a member of a classical quartet hired by the Cabaret company owners (who are personal friends) to provide the music for this cruise. I didn’t care about her either. She and the other members of the quartet (her ex-husband Isaac, Jakov, and Sasha) are elderly and nearing retirement. She has her own problems and concerns, which I didn’t find interesting, and the Miriam chapters give the book its (endless) musical descriptions and also provide the reader with lots of Jewish vocabulary and, I guess, a sort of Jewish point of view. Miriam, like the other characters, is so bland that I neither liked nor disliked her—I just didn’t care, which is worse.
Mick, the Hungarian chef, is the last major character. I almost found him and his situation interesting. Almost. Then the author blew it by There are other characters running around who barely make a dent in my memory. One of them is Valerie, the anorexic alcoholic journalist friend of Christine. They barely have a friendship, more like—hey, we used to both be journalists and live glamorous lives but now you’re a farmer and I drink a lot while pretending to be a journalist! I never really bought into the idea of her being a journalist, despite all the details of Valerie pounding furiously on her laptop and interviewing crew members. But I don’t get too fussed about it because Valerie has no impact on the story at all. Her character could be erased and it wouldn’t matter. Although, I think that’s true for all the characters. What happens, happens, and the people (and their reactions) don’t change anything at all.
The author has both of her main female characters do something I absolutely despise, but apparently is necessary in romantic novels, or novels that sell themselves as disaster novels but are more about romance. Both Christine and Miriam stand in front of full length mirrors to gauge their sexiness. I’m guessing authors use this device to describe their female characters to readers without having to write something like: “Christine is 36 years old but being a farmer in Maine has made her muscles strong and she still has the lithesome young body of a 20 year old.” That way we, the readers, are assured that our female main characters are still lust-worthy and thus the future romances with (handsome) men are not beyond realistic expectations. I’m so relieved! My last nitpicky comment is Christine still using the same shoulder bag “for years.” Maybe Christine is a different kind of woman (she is, after all, a Maine farmer) but in my experience women have an ever-changing purse habit. I carry maybe the same purse for 3-4 months, then switch it out. Sometimes I’m in the mood for a big purse so I can cram all my crap into it, then one day I wake up and can’t stand hauling around books and magazines and receipts, empty everything out and go for something smaller. I have a lot of purses. Not because I shop that much, but because I kept every purse I’ve bought since college and keep them all in my closet because you never know when you may need that exact purse again. So when Christine, worried she has no loose cash on her to tip the valet, remembers “the five she always kept stashed in a side pocket of her shoulder bag; she’d put it there years ago…she’d never had to use it before” (5) I call foul. Really? Same purse for years? And that $5 never spent? Please. A thrifty Maine farmer like herself would have used the fiver a long time ago to buy seed or fertilizer or something.
The action of this book never actually starts until over halfway thru the novel. Sure, there are rumblings from the crew members, but the actual dire situation doesn’t start until the book is well past the halfway mark. And when it does…I don’t care. The story isn’t all that unusual. Google “cruise ship” and you can read/see Youtube videos of all sorts of cruises gone terribly, terribly wrong. Even the peek inside the life of the crew members, via Mick, isn’t as interesting as it could be.
I don’t have much else to say. This book bored me, the characters were uninteresting, I hated all the cooking and music details, the pacing is glacier slow and when something finally happened, it barely increased the suspense of the story. The end, which is rather abrupt, is actually okay. I didn’t mind the end and think it was the only thing I liked about the whole book. Not just because it was the end (finally!) but because it seemed to work. If the author had kept writing, she’d have to get into the dreary details of what happens to everyone now, after the emergency, and I think you can use your imagination for that.
I hated The Last Cruise. It was sappy, disappointing, and boring. However, I don’t think the book is necessarily bad, it’s just not my cup of tea. I won’t read this author again.
June 19, 2018
This was so much more than I thought it would be. Christine is a married Maine farmer who joins her friend a journalist doing a story about the workers of the cruise industry. Christine plans to enjoy this final cruise on the once stunning Queen Isabella. 1950's style luxury with fine dining and jazz. But it turns out to be anything but wonderful. A mind blowing deep look into the cruise industry and what actually goes on behind the scenes that you don't know about. An eyes wide open look and it is scary!. This isn't a remake of the Titanic. It's so much more. I liked so many things about characters, their stories, their histories. Jewish history and culture. A hauntingly deep amazing story. Scary and will make you think twice before booking that cruise.
Thank You
Double Day
NetGalley
Dawn Ruby
Novels N Latte
Book Blog
Thank You
Double Day
NetGalley
Dawn Ruby
Novels N Latte
Book Blog
August 28, 2018
Like the ocean liner in the book, the plot goes nowhere and leaves the reader stranded.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 25, 2018
So very disappointed in the way it ends!
November 14, 2019
Sigh. Why is this a book? Three characters go on a retro cruise aboard a soon-to-be-scrapped liner: Christine, a married farmer from Maine, Mick, a hardworking chef, one of three sub-chefs for the trip, and Miriam, an aging Israeli violinist, part of the ship’s entertainment.
Usually in a novel, characters face challenges. Not here. Christine’s challenge is to eat, drink, and doze and maybe reconsider having children with her husband. It’s a vacation—not much thinking. Mick’s challenge is to do his usual excellent job and impress the head chef so he can continue to improve his career. Miriam’s challenge is to do her usual job in her usual quartet without significant flubs. These are three remarkably unchallenged characters, people whose lives are going smoothly, comfortably, and without any sort of surprise. They’ve been brought together on a cruise, possibly the least likely venue to produce any sort of action.
Sometimes books have stories, where otherwise mundane characters have problems thrust upon them. Not here. They make meals, they eat meals. (If every sentence describing food were removed from this silly book, the remainder would be only 30-40 thousand words.) The sun shines, the water is calm, the bartender is chatty. Yay! We wouldn’t want to disturb the mellow, meaningless vibe of being trapped in a floating hotel.
Then something happens. It’s past the halfway point of the book, but at least it’s something. Most of the staff go on strike (We are told, but never shown, they are third-world workers who are over-worked and under-paid.) Then the ship’s engines, electricity, and water service break.
The resulting horror is almost unreadable for its sheer pretentiousness. The guests have to eat meat grilled on charcoal burners because the electric stoves can’t make lobster thermidor. No bacon and eggs; only cold cereal, yoghurt, and fresh fruit. For lunch, sandwiches. The horror! How will they cope? I’ll tell you. Mick works hard, preparing food. The passengers, including Christine and Miriam, eat, drink, and lie around in the deck chairs. The shocking difference: the ship isn’t moving so this grinding boredom will go on a few extra days.
Then people get sick with the norovirus. It’s a retro cruise, why can’t they catch polio?
Then, the author throws the manuscript away. It’s picked up by a stranger who writes the last chapter. At least, that seems the most logical explanation. In the last chapter, a storm comes up and tosses the ship around. People die of norovirus. A giant wave comes and lifts the ship . . . And the book stops. Did it sink? Was it fine? We don’t know. Or care.
If the author weren’t a novice or an idiot, she would have started the story in the middle, with the ship’s breakdown. There’s no reason to read the preceding 150 pages; there’s really no reason to read anything but the last four pages.
Even the marketing people knew what a dud this book is. In the jacket copy, they had to lie to make it sound interesting. And I don’t mean the usual misleading puffery, I mean lie. They say ‘Mick becomes aware of escalating tensions among the crew.’ Lie. About page 160, he is surprised as hell when workers quit their jobs. Up to that point, he was well satisfied with the crew’s work.
The jacket copy says ‘Miriam becomes aware of the ship’s age-related vulnerabilities and the corners cut by the owners.’ LIE LIE LIE. She’s a professional violinist, for cripes-sakes. She has zero interest or knowledge about ships, their maintenance, their engines, or anything else. They’re sailing smoothly through perfect weather. She’s practicing her instrument and musing about her friends.
The thing to note is that both lies make this sound like an interesting story: worries about the physical safety, worries about the third-world workers. Is this a new low in demonstrating the contempt publishers have for readers? The person who wrote the jacket copy added things that, if they were real, would have made the book interesting. Like saying the weathered shack has four bedrooms, three baths, and a grand foyer. They’re not really there, but maybe you’ll buy it before you find out.
This is clearly the most pathetic book I have read this year, probably this decade, possibly ever.
Usually in a novel, characters face challenges. Not here. Christine’s challenge is to eat, drink, and doze and maybe reconsider having children with her husband. It’s a vacation—not much thinking. Mick’s challenge is to do his usual excellent job and impress the head chef so he can continue to improve his career. Miriam’s challenge is to do her usual job in her usual quartet without significant flubs. These are three remarkably unchallenged characters, people whose lives are going smoothly, comfortably, and without any sort of surprise. They’ve been brought together on a cruise, possibly the least likely venue to produce any sort of action.
Sometimes books have stories, where otherwise mundane characters have problems thrust upon them. Not here. They make meals, they eat meals. (If every sentence describing food were removed from this silly book, the remainder would be only 30-40 thousand words.) The sun shines, the water is calm, the bartender is chatty. Yay! We wouldn’t want to disturb the mellow, meaningless vibe of being trapped in a floating hotel.
Then something happens. It’s past the halfway point of the book, but at least it’s something. Most of the staff go on strike (We are told, but never shown, they are third-world workers who are over-worked and under-paid.) Then the ship’s engines, electricity, and water service break.
The resulting horror is almost unreadable for its sheer pretentiousness. The guests have to eat meat grilled on charcoal burners because the electric stoves can’t make lobster thermidor. No bacon and eggs; only cold cereal, yoghurt, and fresh fruit. For lunch, sandwiches. The horror! How will they cope? I’ll tell you. Mick works hard, preparing food. The passengers, including Christine and Miriam, eat, drink, and lie around in the deck chairs. The shocking difference: the ship isn’t moving so this grinding boredom will go on a few extra days.
Then people get sick with the norovirus. It’s a retro cruise, why can’t they catch polio?
Then, the author throws the manuscript away. It’s picked up by a stranger who writes the last chapter. At least, that seems the most logical explanation. In the last chapter, a storm comes up and tosses the ship around. People die of norovirus. A giant wave comes and lifts the ship . . . And the book stops. Did it sink? Was it fine? We don’t know. Or care.
If the author weren’t a novice or an idiot, she would have started the story in the middle, with the ship’s breakdown. There’s no reason to read the preceding 150 pages; there’s really no reason to read anything but the last four pages.
Even the marketing people knew what a dud this book is. In the jacket copy, they had to lie to make it sound interesting. And I don’t mean the usual misleading puffery, I mean lie. They say ‘Mick becomes aware of escalating tensions among the crew.’ Lie. About page 160, he is surprised as hell when workers quit their jobs. Up to that point, he was well satisfied with the crew’s work.
The jacket copy says ‘Miriam becomes aware of the ship’s age-related vulnerabilities and the corners cut by the owners.’ LIE LIE LIE. She’s a professional violinist, for cripes-sakes. She has zero interest or knowledge about ships, their maintenance, their engines, or anything else. They’re sailing smoothly through perfect weather. She’s practicing her instrument and musing about her friends.
The thing to note is that both lies make this sound like an interesting story: worries about the physical safety, worries about the third-world workers. Is this a new low in demonstrating the contempt publishers have for readers? The person who wrote the jacket copy added things that, if they were real, would have made the book interesting. Like saying the weathered shack has four bedrooms, three baths, and a grand foyer. They’re not really there, but maybe you’ll buy it before you find out.
This is clearly the most pathetic book I have read this year, probably this decade, possibly ever.
April 6, 2019
I was surprised by how compelling this story is. The interpersonal drama combined with the confined setting of a cruise ship is a brilliant concept. While the story takes place over a relatively short period of time, Christensen's writing builds suspense beautifully and gives it epic feel, as if we've known these characters for a long time.
Those who are giving this novel poor reviews don't seem to have an understanding of literary fiction. This isn't a thriller/mystery or a disaster novel. It's a story about people. Those who say "nothing happens" in the first half obviously don't appreciate character driven novels. The tension here and the beauty in the story come from the individuals on this cruise, their intentions, inner workings, and interactions with others. It's a fantastic story told with gorgeous, vivid prose.
Those who are giving this novel poor reviews don't seem to have an understanding of literary fiction. This isn't a thriller/mystery or a disaster novel. It's a story about people. Those who say "nothing happens" in the first half obviously don't appreciate character driven novels. The tension here and the beauty in the story come from the individuals on this cruise, their intentions, inner workings, and interactions with others. It's a fantastic story told with gorgeous, vivid prose.
June 4, 2018
From the first page of THE LAST CRUISE, it’s clear that you’re in the hands of a masterful storyteller. With wit and precision, Kate Christensen wrangles a large cast of characters on a cruise to Hawaii that undergoes a disastrous series of calamities, deftly turning what appears to be a comedy of manners into an intimate and moving story about how human beings relate to each other in times of stress and upheaval — with plenty of sensuous details about food, sex, and drink along the way. This novel is a delight.
July 16, 2018
The things that happen in this book are so, so mundane. I kept waiting for something to happen. Eventually something did, but it was that the ship ran out of power. It was stranded in the middle of the ocean.
The only reason I finished this book is because it was a lazy Sunday and I was being very lazy and didn't look for another book to read.
This was five hours of my life I will never get back.
Extra star given for author's time.
Thanks to Doubleday Books and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
The only reason I finished this book is because it was a lazy Sunday and I was being very lazy and didn't look for another book to read.
This was five hours of my life I will never get back.
Extra star given for author's time.
Thanks to Doubleday Books and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
September 9, 2018
I started skimming just to see where the story was going, but couldn’t even bear to do that. Stopped about a third the way through. I wish the author had cut out all the extraneous descriptions and let the dialogue reveal the characters, setting and story.
September 16, 2020
I only got 55 pages in and had to put it down. The story itself didn’t interest me and the 3 main characters were unlikable. Additionally, each had an opinion that left a bad taste in my mouth.
The first was confused as to why the cabbie went silent when asking where he was from, he replied Wisconsin, and she asked where he was actually from. And she had no idea why someone would be upset by that.
The second character was complaining about how ‘sensitive’ everyone is nowadays because she had to correct herself from saying stewardess to flight attendant.
The third was frankly the most disturbing from the souls-chef was watching the pigs cook and thought ‘if he had to eat human flesh, a juvenile female would be his choice’ and went on thinking about how strange western culture is for looking down on cannibalism, especially compared to some tribe that ‘slaughtered young females virigins’.
Take what you will, but between the slow story build and the characters, I have no interest to finish this novel.
The first was confused as to why the cabbie went silent when asking where he was from, he replied Wisconsin, and she asked where he was actually from. And she had no idea why someone would be upset by that.
The second character was complaining about how ‘sensitive’ everyone is nowadays because she had to correct herself from saying stewardess to flight attendant.
The third was frankly the most disturbing from the souls-chef was watching the pigs cook and thought ‘if he had to eat human flesh, a juvenile female would be his choice’ and went on thinking about how strange western culture is for looking down on cannibalism, especially compared to some tribe that ‘slaughtered young females virigins’.
Take what you will, but between the slow story build and the characters, I have no interest to finish this novel.
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