⋙ Read Gratis The Midnight Watch Dyer David 9781926428727 Books

The Midnight Watch Dyer David 9781926428727 Books

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The Midnight Watch Dyer David 9781926428727 Books

If your a fan of the Titanic, and love knowing as much information as you can about the night she sunk, then this is definitely a book for you.

I have read so many books on the Titanic, and seen all the movies, but once I started this, I was surprised by how little I actually knew of the Californian's story. I knew she was there, and I knew she was closer than the Carpathia and that her wireless man had shut off his Morse for the evening, but I didn't realize just how neglectful her Captain was.

I didn't know that the Californian had seen all eight distress rockets that Titanic had fired, and that she flat-out ignored them. As I read the story, I thought for sure that there must be SOME valid reasoning as to why Captain Lord did not head to her location to be of assistance. Alas, there was none.

Personally, I think Stanley Lord deserved becoming an outcast and a pariah in his own country. He was an incredibly stubborn man who absolutely REFUSED to take responsibility for his actions (or lack thereof). He had been at seaman, in some capacity, for 24 years by the night of April 14th, 1915. He knew DAMN WELL what a ship firing a white rocket meant...let alone firing EIGHT of them.

While reading the book I looked up Captain Lord and read his Wikipedia page, as well as the testimony he gave during both the American and British Inquiries. I thought maybe the book had exaggerated some of his ignorance and stubborness, but no, he was in fact an ass-bag! I could go on and on about all the ways this wretched man pissed me off, but I'll leave it at that.

Overall, this was a great book and I absolutely recommend it to Titanic lovers. There are some pretty slow sections of this book, so if you don't truly love the subject matter, it may be rough to plow through, but for the most part, I really enjoyed this. Glad I finally read it!


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The Midnight Watch Dyer David 9781926428727 Books Reviews

We all know the story of the Titanic but David takes the story and makes it real. It's told from the point of a reporter who has the uncanny ability to know when there's more going on. He's relentless in his persuit of the facts behind why the ship The Californian didn't assist the Titanic despite being on the scene before the first distress rocket was fired. It's a story of courage, loyalty, honor human frailty and one man's drive to find the truth.
This book could have been good as the idea of writing about the Titanic disaster from a different perspective is interesting. Written as a piece of fiction but using quite a bit of historical fact results however in a situation where the book doesn't work as either fiction or nonfiction sitting uncomfortably in a space which is neither.

The characterisation is weak at times as the book relies more on facts which most readers are all too familiar with. This is disappointing as the characters explored could have been very flawed and interesting but the author only really skims the surface here.

The prose is fine but it reads like a simple summer/ beach read which is a little bland and not really suited to the subject. Although there is little tension created in a story it would have warranted from a prose that builds up over time.

The author states that he has a fascination with the subject matter and this book might appeal to those fans of the Titanic disaster. Unfortunately his enthusiasm is not contagious.

Overall a little boring and one I would struggle to recommend
The Midnight Watch is a novel of the Titanic and the Californian. It is historical fiction relating particularly the events on the Californian, which failed to help the Titanic when it sunk although it was close by. Key characters are the officer of the watch Herbert Stone and the master of the vessel Captain Lord. Stone saw the Titanic’s distress rockets and told the Captain. The key argument in the novel is that Stone was a weak character too weak to anger the Captain and the Captain seeing Stone’s weakness wanted Stone to do something himself. The outcome was that neither did anything, the Californian did not assist and 1500 lives were unnecessarily lost.

I found the book an enjoyable engrossing read with characters well described. However I am not totally convinced by the key analysis outline above of why the Californian did not assist. Despite his distain for Stone I would have thought the Captain Lord, a strong character would have taken action himself personally if he had been advised. Lord’s self image depended largely on his belief as a noble English Sea Captain. The idea that he would put this aside in favour of giving Stone the responsibility for sorting out what the rockets were about doesn’t gel with me.
Dyer's novel offers a new spin on the by-now-familiar story of the sinking of the Titanic. The great genius of James Cameron's film "Titanic" was both in its structures (his fortune hunters use a computer model to preview the events we will see later, providing an understanding of how the ship breaks up and sinks) and its characters (we know about the famous folk who died, but we become invested in the fictional characters of Jack and Rose). Dyer's brilliant strategy is to focus primarily on the aftermath of the Titanic's demise, by dramatizing the official inquiries into the failure to rescue the ship's passengers. A mix of actual historical figures, primarily the crew of the Californian, the ship closest to the damaged cruise ship, and a few of the lesser-known passengers, the novel is a propulsive read, a strong page-turner. And that's a terrific accomplishment in a book about a story which almost all readers will already know. Dyer creates a fictional reporter whose attempts to find out what happened are plausible and engaging. His back story begins the book and eventually justifies his behavior and leads to an astonishing compelling brief version of what it must have been like to be on the ship as it sank. This isn't great literature, but it is most worthwhile; it's a very smart marriage of fact and fiction.
If your a fan of the Titanic, and love knowing as much information as you can about the night she sunk, then this is definitely a book for you.

I have read so many books on the Titanic, and seen all the movies, but once I started this, I was surprised by how little I actually knew of the Californian's story. I knew she was there, and I knew she was closer than the Carpathia and that her wireless man had shut off his Morse for the evening, but I didn't realize just how neglectful her Captain was.

I didn't know that the Californian had seen all eight distress rockets that Titanic had fired, and that she flat-out ignored them. As I read the story, I thought for sure that there must be SOME valid reasoning as to why Captain Lord did not head to her location to be of assistance. Alas, there was none.

Personally, I think Stanley Lord deserved becoming an outcast and a pariah in his own country. He was an incredibly stubborn man who absolutely REFUSED to take responsibility for his actions (or lack thereof). He had been at seaman, in some capacity, for 24 years by the night of April 14th, 1915. He knew DAMN WELL what a ship firing a white rocket meant...let alone firing EIGHT of them.

While reading the book I looked up Captain Lord and read his Wikipedia page, as well as the testimony he gave during both the American and British Inquiries. I thought maybe the book had exaggerated some of his ignorance and stubborness, but no, he was in fact an ass-bag! I could go on and on about all the ways this wretched man pissed me off, but I'll leave it at that.

Overall, this was a great book and I absolutely recommend it to Titanic lovers. There are some pretty slow sections of this book, so if you don't truly love the subject matter, it may be rough to plow through, but for the most part, I really enjoyed this. Glad I finally read it!