Published by Feiwel & Friends
Released August 21, 2012
231 pages
Where I got it: E-galley received from publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

Description (from Goodreads):

Robie is an experienced traveller. She’s taken the flight from Honolulu to the Midway Atoll, a group of Pacific islands where her parents live, many times. When she has to get to Midway in a hurry after a visit with her aunt in Hawaii, she gets on the next cargo flight at the last minute. She knows the pilot, but on this flight, there’s a new co-pilot named Max. All systems are go until a storm hits during the flight. The only passenger, Robie doesn’t panic until the engine suddenly cuts out and Max shouts at her to put on a life jacket. They are over miles of Pacific Ocean. She sees Max struggle with a raft.

And then . . . she’s in the water. Fighting for her life. Max pulls her onto the raft, and that’s when the real terror begins. They have no water. Their only food is a bag of Skittles. There are sharks. There is an island. But there’s no sign of help on the way.

I like a good survival story, and The Raft was compelling enough to hold my interest. The book is short, which works in its favor, because I don’t think the straightforward style and main character could have supported many more pages. The story doesn’t take too long to get into the plane wreck, and there’s plenty of detail about Hawaii, the local animals, and the island of Midway, where Robie lives. Some of the descriptions made me really miss Hawaii.

Bodeen throws in plenty of obstacles to Robie’s survival. First, there’s the thirst and the hunger. Then, the sun beating down on her. Then the sharks. There’s also the fact that nobody knows that Robie was on the plane, so they don’t even know to look for her. It’s pretty much a bad deal no matter how you look at it. Initially, I was annoyed by Robie. She’s just such a…teen. However, as the story progressed I found myself rooting for her more and more.

I read this book in one day. That’s partially because it’s so short, and because I got to a point where I just couldn’t put it down. I wanted to see how everything would end up, for better or worse. Bodeen throws in a twist at the end, which I didn’t see coming, and that kept things interesting.  This is a great read for somebody looking for a quick book with a little bit of a thrill, and plenty of shark attacks.

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