The Ferryman by Justin Cronin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The book starts out with Prosperans living a perfect life, once they get old they are sent back to the nursery to be given a new life to live again. The weather is also good. Prosperans don’t have children per se, instead they adopt a child, one that is a teenager back from the nursery. They understand the basics, but have to be taught much more. Prosperans work in creative endeavors, usually, although our main character is a Ferryman. Proctor Bennet helps take the elderly to the ferry which takes them across the water to the nursery.
Yet, all is not well in the island of Prospera. The others on the island, the help is getting unhappy with their lot, as they aren’t like the Prosperans; they have children the regular way and grow old then die. They also have to do all the manual work, and something has to change.
It starts the day the Ferryman is tasked with having an assistant, well more like a mentee, and the person they need to take to the docks is none other than Proctor’s father.
Without getting into too much of the details later in the book, as to spoil anything, I will say this is a bit of a mind-bending novel. There are many turns and adjustments one has to make while reading the book. It is also filled with action, and it becomes a gripping tale.
There were some parts when I felt the book was lagging a bit, and a tiny bit predictable, but then it changed and was not going where one might think. When the book came to the ending, I thought it was extended out much longer than it needed, maybe the last several chapters didn’t need to be there. All in all, a great ride.
Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine and NetGalley for an advanced electronic review copy of this book. However, I listened to the audiobook from my public library. An excellent narration by Scott Brick and Suzanne Elise Freeman.
No comments:
Post a Comment