The Watch That Ends the Night book review

The Watch That Ends the Night by Allan Wolf
Published by Candlewick Press on October 11, 2011
Pages: 480
Goodreads

Arrogance and innocence, hubris and hope--twenty-four haunting voices of the Titanic tragedy, as well as the iceberg itself, are evoked in a stunning tour de force.
Millionaire John Jacob Astor hopes to bring home his pregnant teen bride with a minimum of media scandal. A beautiful Lebanese refugee, on her way to family in Florida, discovers the first stirrings of love. And an ancient iceberg glides south, anticipating its fateful encounter. The voices in this remarkable re-creation of the Titanic disaster span classes and stations, from Margaret ("the unsinkable Molly") Brown to the captain who went down with his ship; from the lookout and wireless men to a young boy in search of dragons and a gambler in search of marks. Slipping in telegraphs, undertaker’s reports, and other records, poet Allan Wolf offers a breathtaking, intimate glimpse at the lives behind the tragedy, told with clear-eyed compassion and astounding emotional power.
Extensive back matter includes:
Author’s noteMorse code with messages to decipherTitanic miscellanyBibliography, articles, periodicals, government documents, discography

The Watch That Ends the Night is a novel made up of poems telling the story of the Titanic sinking. The different poems all tell of a different perspective and I really enjoyed having the insight from all parts of the ship. I will say I was a little disconnected to the story and found some parts to be a little boring and over told but this book made me feel all the emotion at the end which I think was its intended purpose. I definitely feel as though I’ve learnt a lot from the different people’s story and overall this book was interesting and I enjoyed the different aspects off it.

In terms of characters in The Watch That Ends the Night, there is a whole host of them, all ranging from the famous that everyone knows about to third class where nobody knows anything about them. There was such a great level of diversity in this book that I had no idea what who we were going to meet or learn about next. I really loved the fact that there were so many different cultures on board and seeing how they interacted with the passengers around them was really interesting. I actually thought the insight into the third class was better written than the first class.

When I think about the characters and who would be my favourite I think about how much I learnt from each of them. I would have to say my favourites would be the Captain and his insight into the ship and how it felt to drive such a big ship, his poems were always interesting and made brilliant points. I also loved the poems by Bruce Ismay, it was interesting to see the moments of his life pan out and see the worries and concerns that overtook him. The most interesting to me though was Mr Andrews the shipbuilder, I loved hearing the amount of detail that went into building the Titanic and how proud he was of her.

My best bits were definitely the run up to the sinking, I really loved the way the story was told and how it jumped from perspective to perspective and you managed to get a complete view of what it was like to be on board when she started to founder. I especially thought that the trust the third class passengers had when they were waiting for their turn was so heartbreaking and telling. It was beautifully done and it didn’t hide away from any of the truths to sugarcoat the story.

For me there were some stories that were told that were a little convoluted and I think they took away from the main plot. It also made the story feel as though it was a fictional telling rather than a true account of what was going on. It just didn’t sit quite right with me unfortunately. I also thought there were some poems that were extremely long but didn’t really add anything to the story. I would have loved to have more information instead of “setting the scene” poems which seemed to plague this book.

I would recommend The Watch That Ends the Night even with its issues, there were definite moments that shone all the way through this and I think it was a well-researched piece. If you’re looking for a decent book on the Titanic then this one is for you.

Have you got any favourites that follow a true life event? Let me know in the comments.