A Greek Tragedy by Jeanne Carstensen

Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for A Greek Tragedy:

This was not a relaxing Mediterranean cruise.

Quick synopsis:

The story of the 2015 refugee shipwreck off the Greek island of Lesvos.

Fact for Non-History People:

There have been approximately 25,000 deaths and disappearances in the Mediterranean Sea since 2014.

Fact for History Nerds:

The UNHCR recorded 3,160 people died or were declared missing at sea on Mediterranean migration routes from January to December 2023, with 1,086 confirmed dead and 2,074 reported as missing.

My Take on A Greek Tragedy:

Large scale disasters can be extremely challenging to write about. You often need to introduce numerous characters before you even discuss the disaster itself. Crucially, when the catastrophe does hit, the story needs to move at a frenetic pace to ensure the reader feels the stress, heroism, and heartbreak. Jeanne Carstensen meets all of these challenges seemingly effortlessly in A Greek Tragedy.

Carstensen recounts the October 2015 shipwreck of an overloaded refugee boat trying to reach a small Greek island from Turkey. I remember this story when it happened and the tremendous loss of life which followed. I was hoping that the book would be informative without being dragged down by needless facts that don’t affect the story which is a hazard of the genre. Carstensen’s introduction of the characters is truly a master class in how to introduce people and make them stand out as individuals without bogging down the overall narrative. Over a dozen people are part of the story and yet I never felt impatient to move along. The author uses these people to tell the wider story of all the refugees and the rescuers who would throw themselves into the water.

Quite simply, A Greek Tragedy is done well in every single aspect you could as for as a reader. It is insightful, informative, heartbreaking, enraging, and hopeful all in one.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Atria Books.)

Verdict:

Tragic but compelling. Buy it here!

If You Liked This Try:

• Timothy Egan, The Big Burn
• David Von Drehle, Triangle
• Daniel James Brown, Under a Flaming Sky
• Ed O’Donnell, Ship Ablaze
• Sheri Fink, Five Days at Memorial