A Night to Remember by Walter Lord Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of A Night to Remember
Book Review: A Book To Remember
Summary: 5 Stars
Walter Lord did his homework on the Titanic's fateful night in this unforgettable and memorable book. He did not need to create fiction or suggest anything to the contrary. In fact, he writes about it from the survivor's perspectives. Despite the horrors, what shocked me was the situation in the lifeboats in the aftermath of shell-shocked people who have watched their loved ones, mostly their husbands, go down with the ship. I don't know why California didn't seek to assist them or inquire about the distress signals. We'll never know what makes people ignore others in time of great distress. When the Carpathia arrived to pick up the survivors, they are shocked by the news that Titanic is gone and they are the only ones to tell a shocking story of so many people's last moments on earth. Forget James Cameron's movie, this book is real and faithful to those fifteen hundred men, women, and children who perished as it is to the survivors who never recovered fully. Because of the Titanic disaster, every ship since was required by international shipping law to have enough lifeboats for everybody on ship and supplies during the worst of disasters. The last pages of the book are the names of those who died and survived. Where they embarked for their final destination to New York City but most of them would never make it there. I remember survivor Eva Hart who lost her father in the disaster that it was all about arrogance. The ship had to be fast, unsinkable, and yet the disaster was unthinkable. She said her mother, Miriam Hart, lashed back with a comment that has stuck with me for years that when saying the ship is unsinkable is like tempting fate to occur. Mrs. Hart, Eva's Mother, spent her nights awak and days asleep as if a premonition of this ship never making New York City. This story was not included in this book but Walter Lord does his best and it's remarkable that he prefers facts to rumors or gossip. It has taken me years to read this book maybe because of all those who perished still resonate with the Titanic's ultimate fate. The Titanic was the ultimate ship and none has ever come close in the ship's genius, magnificience, style, and sophistication. The third class passengers never enjoyed it. The second and first class passengers must have felt like they were in heaven with first class service catered to their needs and fancies. Rest in Peace, Titanic, and all those who have sailed with you on that fateful trip. You will always be in my heart as the ship of dreams and destiny.Book Review: A Book to Remember
Summary: 5 Stars
No matter how many times you revisit it, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, the granddaddy of all Titanic books, remains as fresh a read today as it did fifty years ago. Walter Lord is still universally regarded as "the man who knows everything about the Titanic" and this fast-paced, detail-laden, and dramatically visualized book is the reason why and the product of that reason.
A NIGHT TO REMEMBER transports you to the decks of the Titanic that cold April night so convincingly that you are left with an eerie chill-between-your-shoulder blades feeling as the great ship goes down.
You share the early complacency of the passengers on the 'unsinkable' ship. Your sense of impending doom grows as the bows disappear below the glassy Atlantic. You grit your teeth at the obtuseness of the crew of the Californian---why, oh why, didn't they question those white rockets?---and you share in the breathless trauma of those on shore as the story unfolds.
Sure, since the discovery of the wreck many questions have been answered (and a few more posed). Some of Lord's information is dated (the ship did in fact break in half, for example). There have been other 'Titanic' books, and they explore almost every aspect of the disaster in meticulous detail; even Lord's follow-up The Night Lives On: The Untold Stories & Secrets Behind the Sinking of the Unsinkable Ship-Titanic falls into this category. But no one has ever told the story of the RMS Titanic any better, and it's likely they never will.
Book Review: A Dozen Hours On The North Atlantic
Summary: 5 Stars
The sinking of the Titanic is one of the mot famous events of the twentieth century. It has spawned numerous books, movies (including one of the highest grossing of all time), poems, songs and even a full-fledged Broadway musical. Considering all that material, it might seem difficult to believe that there would be a definitive account of the sinking. The late Walter Lord's 1955 book A Night To Remember could very well be called just that. Though published more then a half century ago, Lord's book remains a well researched, fast paced and highly accessible account of the events of April 14th-15th, 1912.
Unlike many Titanic books, Lord chose to focus A Night To Remember on just about a dozen hours of the Titanic's story: namely the events from 11:40 PM on April 14th through about the same hour the following morning. Lord wisely decided not to focus on one person or group as well but instead used accounts and interviews from various survivors to create a books that seems to effortlessly wander around both the Titanic herself and the people aboard her. We float from the likes of the Astor and Thayer families in first class to teacher Lawrence Beesley in second class to Daniel Buckley and Katy Gilnagh in third class to members of the ship's crew like second officer Charles Lightoller and wireless operator Harold Bride. In doing so Lord created a fascinating human drama played out for the most part on an 882 ½ foot stage filled with people from all walk's of life.
On occasion Lord does venture away from Titanic towards other aspects of that night. The now classic prologue with its surprising twist of eerie coincidence is a fine example of this. Nine of the ten chapters of the book go about ten or so miles away from the Titanic to another ship, the Californian, which thanks to this book (and the film version of it released in 1958) would once again find itself in the middle of a controversy that continues on to this very day. The reader is also given glimpses to the wider world outside of the sinking liner such as chapter seven which looks at the aftermath of the sinking or the final chapter that finally shows the reader the reaction in New York City and around the world to the immediate aftermath of the sinking. While the book mainly focuses on the sinking itself and its immediate aftermath, these occasional ventures are welcomed indeed.
The book is also helped by its brisk pacing. One might expect that to do all of the above A Night To Remember must have a page count equal to that of a great epic novel of the past. But the truth is quite different. Lord does all of the above in a mere 180 or so pages (based on the page count of the 1997 Bantam Books reprint). The ability to float from place to place, person to person makes up for a large portion of this. When needed though, Lord narrows the narrative focus down to a single moment in time. This is no better illustrated then with Lord's truly incredible description of the Titanic's final plunge to the bottom of the Atlantic that, while not stating that the ship broke up as it sank (a fact not confirmed until thirty years after the book was published and that Lord would explore along with other Titanic issues in his follow-up to this book published in 1986), leaves one more then capable of imaging both the sights and sounds of that very moment. While the brisk pacing and constant moving about may leave some readers with the feeling the book is unfocused the truth is that the book is anything but.
A Night To Remember is more then just another book on the sinking of the Titanic. It is a true epic that wanders from person to person, place to place as it recreates one of the most famous disasters of all time. It is a non-fiction book that feels more like a great novel and as such remains pretty much as definitive today as it was more then a half century ago.
Book Review: A Must read for Titanic buffs.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the best Titanic book I have read. I got it, then for some reason it layed around for years. When I found it, I was sorry I didn't find it sooner. Forget Cameron's movie, the storyline with Jack and Rose has no truth. If you like the Titanic, but haven't read this book, read it now!Book Review: A Night to Remember
Summary: 5 Stars
Publishing for the first time in 1955, Walter Lord's novel remains unsurpassed in accuracy and excitement. To fulfill his purpose, Lord interviewed the few Titanic survivors in effort to create the most precise and vivid picture of what happened out in the Atlantic on that moonlit night in 1912. This book allows readers to step on board the luxury liner with an explosion of the emotions the passengers felt that night they knew there was no where to go but into the freezing icy water of the ocean. Devoid of Hollywood glamour, Lord tells exactly what happened when it happened as told by those who were actually there. With chapters brilliantly titled with heart-wrenching words of the passengers, Lord is able to describe in complete detail the events as they occurred minute-by-minute from the point of view of different passengers. Some passengers stayed in bed despite the jolt of the iceberg, some continued to drink and smoke in the lounges, and some went up on deck to investigate while others played a game of soccer with chunks of ice. By his exceptional use of lead-ins and transitions, Lord's novel flows in a remarkable manner. Descriptions are depicted in such intense detail that any reader can taste the gourmet meals of the first class, see the excessively adorned quarters, hear the chilling silence, and feel the pain of the frigid water.