Dead Wake by Erik Larson is a narrative non-fiction book about the last voyage of the top-of-the-line passenger ship, the Lusitania, during WWI. This book is in the third person point of view as the reader learns about President Wilson’s actions in the white house, the activities in the secret British intelligence room, Room 40, the interesting passengers and a lavish journey aboard the Lusitania, and the movements of the U-20 and its Kptlt. Schweiger. This book has the main ideas of friendship, family, and loss. This novel is a good example of narritive non-fiction because the author uses many primary sources, quoted words, and dates to emphasize the setting, plot, and characters.
I really enjoyed reading this book. Admittedly at first it was really boring but eventually, I got caught up in the story and the characters. One of my favorite things about this book is the surprisingly detailed descriptions. For example, on page 223, “A seven-year-old girl wore a pink- and-white-striped cotton frock under a black velvet coat line with red silk, then added a gold ring, a red coral necklace, and a mother of pearl brooch.” I did find this book a little bit harder to read than some of the other books because of its nonfiction aspects which were different than the fantasy books I usually read. But, I really enjoyed this book, and it was fun it read a different genre. I would recommend this book to anybody who likes books set in WWI or WWII, like me, because this book is very war heavy. I also think that the earliest it should be read is 6th grade because this book has some complex vocabulary. But other than that, I think anybody can enjoy this book!
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