★★★★★ 5
A fast paced and exciting read
Format: Kindle
I really enjoyed this book about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis by a Japanese submarine towards the end of World War II. The story is told through the eyes of a sixteen year old boy, Josh, who lied about his age on his enlistment application and forged his mother's signature. He was determined to do his bit for the American war effort and revenge the death of his father during the attack on Pearl Harbour.
When the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed, the survivors, about three quarters of the crew, were flung into the ocean without any survival equipment. Many of them did not even have life jackets and were burned by the fire that had broken out on board the ship or injured when they were swept overboard. The scent of urine and blood soon attracts sharks, lots of sharks, and the survivors fear that they have survived the sinking of the ship only to become food for these huge and vicious fish.
The story is short and sharp and I think middle school and young teenage boys will really enjoy it. The author shares some details of the attack and sinking of the ship, without making it to graphic and over whelming for younger readers. Boys, particularly, will relate to the action packed excitement of the attack and also to Josh's thoughts about his mother and younger brother back home. The terrible hardship of being in the ocean for a few days, without food or water, the temptation to drink sea water to alleviate the dreadful thirst and the savage behavior of some of the other survivors are all well told but not with so much detail that younger readers will become overwhelmed or bored.
Josh's relationship with another young survivor, Lee, who is of Japanese extraction is also most interesting and contains a good message of delving deeper into relationships and people that merely their heritage and looks.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2019
