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The Passenger: How a Travel Writer Learned to Love Cruises & Other Lies from a Sinking Ship
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40/99
Critics
29/99
Readers
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Scholars
46/99
Rating
34/99
Volume
17/99
Rating
41/99
Volume
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About This Book
In March 2019, the Viking Sky cruise ship was struck by a bomb cyclone in the Arctic Sea. Rocked by 60-foot swells and 87-knot gales, the ship lost power and began to drift straight toward the notoriously dangerous Hustadvika coast in Norway. This is the suspenseful, harrowing, funny, touching story by one passenger who contemplated death aboard that ship. Chaney Kwak is a travel writer used to all sorts of mishaps on the road, but this is a first even for him: trapped on the battered cruise ship, he stuffs his passport into his underwear just in case his body has to be identified. As the massive cruise ship sways in surging waves, Kwak holds on and watches news of the impending disaster unfold on Twitter, where the cruise ship's nearly 1,400 passengers are showered with "thoughts and prayers." Kwak uses his twenty-seven hours aboard the teetering ship to examine his family history, maritime tragedies, and the failing relationship back on shore with a man he's loved for nearly two decades: the Viking Sky, he realizes, may not be the only sinking ship he needs to escape. The Passenger takes readers for an unforgettable journey from the Norwegian coast to the South China Sea, from post-WWII Korea to pandemic-struck San Francisco. Kwak weaves his personal experience into events spanning decades and continents to explore the serendipity and the relationships that move us--perfect for readers who love to discover the world through the eyes of a perceptive and humorous observer.
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Reviews
"He augments this with skillful reportage to explain what was going on beyond that atrium."
"Kwak's fluid and evocative prose provides a gripping, moment-by-moment account of his 27-hour ordeal among nearly 1,400 cruise ship passengers and crew ..."
"Chaney fills out the volatility of the weather conditions of that day with viewpoints from those on rescue vessels and other ships occupying the same rough ocean."
"With a mix of candor and cynicism, the author details his family's history and his estranged relationship with his German partner of 16 years ..."
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