Customer Reviews

Distant Waves: A Novel of the Titanic

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

What a special and wonderful book! Ms. Weyn has graced us again with yet
another wonderful, creative story! A must for everyone's library!

Wow! What an exciting great book. I couldn't put it down. It's about the Titanic but also so much more--contacting ghosts, the bond between four sisters, relations between mother and daughter, all the science that was happening at that time. I can see that the "waves" part has a lot of meanings like electrical waves, waves of future happenings, spirit waves, as well as the waves surrounding the Titanic. You have GOT TO check this book out. I found more about this author at [...]. The only thing bad is that the gorgeous cover is so girlie because boys would like it too. They can take the book jacket off, I guess.

The title of this book is Distant Waves: A Novel of the Titanic. This implies that the Titanic is the setting for this book. Well, not in this case.

Jane and her sisters go off with their mother to a place in Buffalo called Spirit Vale after their father dies. Their mother talks to the dead, which was a popular thing to do during that time. The one problem I had was it felt like this book focuses on Jane's mother more than the sisters. Half of the book takes place in Buffalo, which I found dull and uninteresting. Nothing happens! And that's the problem with this novel. It drags. (Jane's sister) has a secret hidden past which comes out at the reader from left field and is dropped in their lap. It's not a bad little twist but I'm not sure why it needed to be mentioned. Then we have these random historical figures thrown into the book. Why? Meanwhile the reader is going along, waiting and wondering where the Titanic fits into this whole story.

Finally we get to the Titanic at about page 200, however by that time I had lost interest in this book and I daresay most of my students would too.

The book was well written, the characters were decent, but the plot was very slow. I thought this books title was very misleading. Maybe if the book started on the Titanic then I might have been interested in what happened to the sisters.

I wish I could have liked this novel, but I could not.

This book doesn't focus on the Titanic as much as the title leads us to believe - but we are introduced to historical figures who boarded the Titanic before the ship is even mentioned; it's cool to learn about John Jacob Astor's hotel instead of just learning about what happened on the ship. The major characters of the book, five sisters and their mother, are fictional, but what is really great about this book is how excellently it portrays the mood of the times - which was in favor of séances and science. In fact, the characters believe strongly in both, as did many Victorians. The historical facts are woven so well into the story, I'm only just now realizing how much I absorbed. If you're a fan of the Victorians, this is a must-read, not so much for fans of the Titanic, but you should still read it, too. The magic and adventure of this book should have appeal for guys and girls - the cover is beautiful but so girly. The blend of ghosts, history, drama in a changing world is amazing.

Five sisters travel on the "Titantic", the ship that tragically sank. A simple story. This complex book is anything but simple.

Mimi is a gorgous, if somewhat rebellious, young woman. She longs to rise into high society, depsite the scandal that surrounds her birth. This could make some characters into a Mary-Sue, but it gives Mimi some really interesting flaws.

Jane who this story's perspective it's from is a smart intelligent girl, and an ispiring journalist. I found the romance between her and Thad to be very believable. Jane also grows as a character, ultamatly changed by her experiences on the "Titantic".

The twins Amelie and Emma, were hard to tell apart. Strangely, and somewhat creapily, they seemed like to halves of one whole.

Blythe like Mimi also longs for money, and more importantly, fame. She is the youngest of the sisters, a mear child of thirteen.

Can the five sisters' bound survive earthquakes, weddings, secrets, and even death itself? A very entralling story. Though I have read many stories about the "Titantic", this is the first one that is supernatural. Highly recomended for people who enjoy a good ghost story.

I felt that many parts of the book were very contrived. As I read I felt manipulated by the author. Like a previous reviewer, I felt that most of the characters were very flat. The book did make me want to look up more information on Tesla and I did see him as a well developed and interesting character. In addition I did like the spiritual connection between the twins and thought that their relationship and spiritual connection was interesting. On the whole however if I had not had to read the book for a library activity I am participating in, I would not have read it all the way through as I lost interest. I didn't really care what happened to the characters. I didn't like the movie Titanic a whole lot and had expected to like this book better as it got a Starred Review from Booklist and School Library Journal gave it a positive review. I was disappointed.

I had very high hopes for Distant Waves. The sinking of the Titanic is one of those historical event that has always fascinated me. I'm very sad to report that Distant Waves did even come close to living up to my expectations.

The thing that most annoyed me about Distant Waves is that the Titanic doesn't even make an appearance until 200 pages into the book! The first 200 pages or so instead focus on Janet, her mother, and her four sisters. I found none of these characters to be particularly endearing. All of Janet's sisters were pretty much interchangeable. There were several times when I found myself mixing them up. Janet was a very flat character. I didn't find her to be relatable and nothing she did ever really pulled me into the story. Most of the secondary characters were also very flat with the exception of Tesla. In fact, the only parts of the book that I enjoyed usually involved him. I really wished more of the story had actually taken place on the Titanic.

The supernatural elements of the Distant Waves did little to add to the story. There were a couple of times when ghosts might have been contacted. The sinking of the Titanic was predicted by two of Janet's sisters. Not that this mattered because I already knew that they ship was going to sink. I just didn't really see the point of adding all of this supernatural stuff to the story. It really did nothing to make Distant Waves interesting.

If there was one thing that I enjoyed about Distant Waves it would be the historical setting. I really loved reading about what New York City was like during that period in history. It was also kind of fun to see which famous historical people were going to pop up next. Still, this was not enough to redeem Distant Waves in my eyes. I would not recommend this book

What a great story, the characters are captivating. This is a great book for anyone interested in history, people and love...so in otherwords everyone! Read and enjoy.

What would you do if you had foreseen the sinking of the Titanic?

DISTANT WAVES is one of many re-tellings of the mysterious happenings surrounding the greatest shipwreck of all time, but Suzanne Weyn's version stands out with its breadth of historical research and, most importantly, with its allusions to the paranormal.

Maude Oneida Taylor is a famed psychic, one of the most respected clairvoyants in Spirit Vale, a small liberal town teeming with spiritualists and feminists. Mrs. Taylor's five daughters grow up in rather unusual circumstances, and none of them are typical American girls.

Mimi, the oldest, is stunningly beautiful, leaving home to pursue a more luxurious lifestyle and travel through Europe, though she can never truly escape her heritage. Jane, a budding journalist, is the most logical of the bunch, and the story is told through her perspective. Emma and Amelie, twins, seem to have inherited some of their mother's powers. Blythe, the youngest of the group, is completely mesmerized by the power that accompanies fame and fortune.

Growing up in Spirit Vale, the Taylor girls have seen so many clairvoyants, some who perhaps really have the gift and others who are clearly frauds. Jane has even seen her mother cheat, scribbling her own messages during "automatic writing" that are supposedly from loved ones that have passed on. There have been times though, when even Jane's jaded self doesn't know what to believe, such as during her sister Amelie's dangerous sleepwalking episodes.

Jane's life is influenced greatly by the ideas and attitudes of physicist Nikola Tesla. After a chance meeting in a man-made earthquake in New York City when she was only four, she has followed his career carefully, regarding him as a father-figure of sorts. Tesla's manipulation of electricity and inventive mind are incredible, only eclipsed by his generosity and lack of capitalist greed. Though Jane admires Tesla, it is his handsome assistant, Thad, who captures her heart.

As the Titanic sets sail from London, all five sisters find themselves on board, despite multiple predictions of its sinking. Sailing toward what might very well be their demise, Jane and her sisters must hope that somebody or something is out there watching out for them.

Weyn clearly understands the time period thoroughly, though occasionally the incorporation of facts seems slightly forced and almost weighs the story down. Readers do gain a wealth of knowledge, including little-known trivia about many celebrities of the era.

This book is a must-read for anyone who remembers Leonardo DiCaprio's "I'm king of the world!" line from the movie, or for anyone who has ever entertained the idea that maybe clairvoyancy isn't so far-fetched after all.

Reviewed by: Amber Gibson

Five daughters of a celebrated medium find themselves on the Titanic, the famed and doomed ship.

A problem often run into by young adult novels and Titanic novels are that they become giant cameo-ridden info-dumps. This novel, as both a young adult novel and a Titanic novel, falls into this trap with abandon. Pretty much every person that existed in 1912 pops up in this book, from Harry Houdini to Nikola Tesla. Yes, sure, we all love Tesla, but this book is like a giant preachy love letter to him, and then (SPOILERS) he accidentally sinks the Titanic and kills everyone with his time machine. Um....ok then. (END OF SPOILERS)

Don't get me wrong, the book is refreshing and creative, and definitely gets points for trying, for sort of portraying the complexities of the Gilded Age, but way too often it falls into the category of Mary Sue Time Traveler. It tries way too hard to do way too much. The characters are flat and uninteresting, and there isn't really a plot. Even what brought me to the book (the Titanic) was curiously absent for most of the book, and then it even skips over the sinking!

There are points where the book could have been poignant and clever (perhaps in the conflict between science and the spirit world, where those two meet in the Titanic), but too often, it is painfully laughable, shallow, empty, and full of obvious teaching moments, when it isn't also being completely historically inaccurate. At the end of the day, it totally fails to tell a good story or to tell it well. Grade: C+