Tokelau is a barely populated tiny New Zealand territory that seems like the kind of place young people would feel hemmed in by and want to escape. Which is exactly what three teenage boys tried to do a few years ago! They drank some vodka, decided to blow this boring popsicle stand and sail to Oz or somewhere - anywhere! - else in a relative’s stolen boat... and then they sobered up and realized they were lost at sea!
Michael Finkel’s nonfiction Kindle Single Here Be Monsters… 50 Days Adrift At Sea chronicles the boys’ hellish experience as they struggle to survive having brought nearly nothing with them to eat or drink but somehow made it 50 days before being picked up by a fishing boat. It’s not that great a read though as barely anything happens that you wouldn’t expect from a “lost at sea” story.
They drink rainwater. They eat anything they can. They bicker out of boredom and frustration. They just happen to survive and just happen to be picked up by pure luck. Endurance does not make for an exciting narrative when that’s all they’re doing. And they don’t even learn anything from the experience besides the fact that they don’t want to live on somewhere so damn remote so they move elsewhere!
I guess it is a remarkable true story and Finkel writes it well. Buuuut it really wasn’t very interesting and despite its relative shortness it still managed to feel overlong. Michael Finkel is a fine writer but I wouldn’t recommend Here Be Monsters to anyone - check out his vastly more compelling book, The Stranger in the Woods, instead.
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