It’s always the books in the middle which are the hardest to review. Captain’s Dinner (ew, and you’ll know why in a second) by Adam Cohen is one of those books where I have very little to complain about, but I also think could probably have been much shorter. The setup is certainly intriguing, so let’s talk about it.
It’s 1884 and a rich guy bought a yacht he wants sailed from England to Australia. Four men take the gig and set sail. There are many issues including the fact that yachts at this time are not suited to long voyages across oceans. The boat sinks, and while all four make it into the lifeboat, they are set adrift with no water, very little food, and no hope unless a ship finds them. The cabin boy ends up murdered and eaten. The survivors are found days later and saved. I’m not spoiling anything. All of this information is in the description/summary.
The bulk of the book is about HOW the cabin boy ended up food. The perpetrators never tried to hide what happened. However, they didn’t expect to get charged with murder which is precisely what happened. Cohen’s narrative hinges on the fact that this entire scenario challenged many people and how they apply their own sense of morality.
Here is where my issues with the book come into play. The entire narrative portion of the book is only slightly longer than 200 pages. There is a fair bit of repetition of certain things which means it probably could have come in quite shorter. This is probably too long for an essay, but feels too short for a book. However, I have zero problem with anything in it (with the exception of the aforementioned repetition, which is not egregious). The story flows. Cohen proposes interesting thought experiments.
In summary, if you like stories which have a good bit of history with philosophy applied (and law), then I think this might be a must read. If you are looking for a sea adventure like The Wager or In the Heart of the Sea (two of the best ever), then you may be a bit let down with how little of the narrative is about the survival story. To each their own! I liked it.
(This book was provided as an advance reader copy by NetGalley and Authors Equity.)
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