The Stranger in the Lifeboat, a spiritual novel by Mitch Albom, is narrated by Benji, a crewman aboard a luxury yacht that sank after a mysterious deadly explosion. Forty-four people had been on board the Galaxy, including world leaders in politics, business, the arts, and technology.
After the explosion, nine people make it to the yacht’s lifeboat. The survivors are a mix of people; some were guests who come from great wealth, some were crewmen. For three days the lifeboat is adrift, short on water, food, and hope. When they see a man floundering in the water, they pull him aboard, and one of the survivors says, “Thank the Lord we found you.”
“I am the Lord,” the man whispers.
Days pass slowly as the survivors suffer from exposure. The lifeboat has some shelter, but they must alternate seeking relief from the blazing sun under the small canopy. They take turns stretching their legs in the cramped lifeboat. They suffer from thirst, sharing what meager water they have or are able to catch. They divvy up a small packet of crackers, then must resort to eating raw fish when they can catch one, or even a raw bird that lands on the raft.
The man who calls himself Lord isn’t particularly useful, but insists he can only save them if they all believe in him.
Benji, in his written narration, which is in the form of a letter to his wife, records all that is happening, but each day his despair grows as the weary days pass with no relief in sight.
The story switches to a year later when the empty raft appears on the shore of Montserrat, an island located in the Caribbean Sea, part of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles. The incident is reported to the island’s chief inspector who finds Benji’s written narration, and attempts to solve the mystery of what caused the yacht’s explosion, and what happened to those on board.
I especially enjoyed this sea story. My husband and I sailed from Seattle to the South Pacific on our 40-foot sailboat, Impunity. Although we had a life raft aboard, we never had to use it, thankfully. It often crossed my mind what would happen if our survival depended on our life raft. We rehearsed a scenario of the possibility of having to abandon ship. The Pacific Ocean is huge. It took thirty-five days to sail from San Diego, California to our first landfall, the Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific. In all that time we never saw another boat.
The Stranger in the Lifeboat is another well-written novel by Mitch Albom, an author of several inspirational books, many of which I’ve read and reviewed. This is yet another memorable read.
