This story involves Igor Stravinsky, Nazi submarines, the Kennedy family, Jewish girls and I don't know what all else. Everyone (except the submarine) on the same ocean liner headed to America from France. Possibly the last ship to be able to leave France with freedom. At first I wondered where the author was going with all that. The story went nowhere slowly. The characters were not appealing, the "history" far-fetched. I didn't finish reading it because I began to be nauseated by all the characters, except maybe Stravinsky and the boy. Your mileage may vary, so don't take my word for it. ( )

It's not long ago that I read THE DESIGNER by Marius Gabriel, a book that I came to enjoy quite a lot. So, when I saw this book for the first time, I was intrigued, especially since there was no attached blurb at the moment. All I knew is that I wanted to read it. And, I'm happy to say that THE OCEAN LINER is just as good as THE DESIGNER.

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION! ( )

A work of historical fiction about the crossing of the USS Manhattan from Le Havre/Southampton to New York City (Ellis Island) about 1940. Real personages were aboard: Arturo Toscainni, Stravinsky, "Lizzie Taylor", Rose Kennedy and all her children except Kathleen (who was with her father undergoing a lobotomy--true!) and assorted others as to support this cast. Good read! 380 pages I listened to this on audio--11 hours 13 minutes. ( )

Historical fiction set during WWII and takes place on the ocean liner Manhattan as it sails to New York City. I enjoyed the stories of the cousins Masha and Rachel Morgenstern. Their is an interesting cast of characters on board and learning about their stories was intriguing. I would recommend this book to friends and give it a 4 star rating. ( )

DNF

I am always in awe of writers who take a little snippet of fact and have the imagination to weave a whole convincing story around it. The author of The Ocean Liner brings a cast of real and fictional characters together on a cruise ship bound for the United States from Europe right before WWII. One of the passengers is a young Rosemary Kennedy. While living in England where her father served as Ambassador, she fell in love with a man named Cubby Hubbard. He truly loved Rosemary in return, and planned to marry her, saving her from the sad life she lived with the demanding Kennedy family. As history shows, this was not Rosemary's fate.

I thought that was such a tragic, romantic part of her story I had never known about before. But then I found out that this wasn't true, and the man never existed! (In fact, I don't think Rosemary was even on the cruise ship with the rest of her family, but instead stayed on in England for awhile with her father, but I'm not sure about that.) Anyway, that kind of killed what little interest I had in the story, so this one is a DNF for me.