Bibliofreakblog

Unpredictable Crossing by Jonna-Lynn K Mandelbaum

Well, I have some good things and bad things to say about this book.

Let’s get the bad out of the way first.

It was horribly written.  The writing cliché, the dialogue stiff, the pacing forced.  

Let me give you an example.  This is how chapter six starts out (note that this takes place on a cruise ship):

Amanda and Jeffrey stood side by side watching the ship’s wake.  The swirls and foam mesmerized and lulled them.  Jeffrey broke the spell.  ”What are you going to do today?”
      ”Nothing,” she teased.
      Her husband’s mouth fell open.  ”I doubt that you could keep that up for an hour.”
      ”But it’s a tempting thought.  Actually there’s a morning talk about pearls, nature’s gems, by one of the staff from the jewelry store.  Since it’s the only precious gem that comes from a living source, it intrigues me more than other gemstones.  What are you going to do?”
     “Sit on the deck and read until lunchtime.”
     “I may join you after the talk.”
     “See you then.”
     Jeffrey kissed her lightly on the cheek and climbed the outside steps to the upper deck.

At one point, she even has her characters explain what alcohol poisoning is through dialogue.  Mandelbaum adds all sorts of details about life aboard a cruise ship (some through bizarre footnotes), which add nothing to the setting or feel of the story.  And I don’t care to learn a character’s name or their position on the ship if they are only going to appear once in a story.  Don’t even get me started on her overuse of the words “finally” and “suddenly”.

But I pressed on and finished the book for three reasons.  1. It was short (174 pages) and a fast read, 2. It was sent to me to be reviewed (hear that FTC?) and so I felt I had an obligation to finish it and give it an honest review–however scathing said review might turn out to be, and 3. It was actually an interesting story, and I learned a lot.

Here’s what I learned:

• In the 1980’s, vigilantes used to go around Rio De Janeiro killing homeless people–including children (while I haven’t been able to find any more info on this, one of the strange footnotes sites the book by Joseph A. Page, listed below).
• “Honor Killing”–you know, killing one’s wife or female relative for infidelity–was legal in Brazil until 1991.  Actually, I found out that it was outlawed in 1991 from a Google Search.  But still.  I had no idea.
• Divorce was illegal in Portugal–I’m not sure when it became legal, but it was at least illegal in the 1980’s.  Maybe Nymeth can tell me more, as she’s the only person I now know from/in Portugal (I knew somebody else but she moved away a few months ago, so no luck there).  I knew that it had been illegal under Franco’s Spain, but didn’t know about Portugal.
• The Portuguese army destroyed Mozambique’s villages–like on the level of genocide, apparently, in the early 1970’s.  I’m talking, killing pregnant women and everything.  Goes to show how little I know about African countries not often in the news–didn’t even realize that Mozambique had been colonized by the Portuguese–I thought it was French.  Then there was a war for Independence.  Not sure what life is like there now.
• The U.S. were the ones who trained the Portuguese to go kill the people of their colony.  So they didn’t much care about the genocide.
• The Catholic Church was in on it.  At least regionally.

So, what happens in the book is that a former missionary, a former Portuguese Colonel, and a survivor of the atrocities in Mozambique all walk into a bar–er, cruise ship.  Actually, the survivor, works on the cruise ship.  She recognizes the Colonel, and the missionary, and gets the missionary to help her out.

Like I said, good story and I learned a lot.  But damn, it was tough to get through that writing.  Maybe somebody should buy the movie rights and make a blockbuster drama out of this.  Something like The Da Vinci Code meets Blood Diamond?

To learn more, visit Jonna-Lynn K Mandelbaum’s website
Buy Unpredictable Crossing on Amazon

If you like this book/writer, you might like:

(my reviews in blue)

Wiriyamu: My Lai in Mozambique by Adrian Hastings
The Brazilians by Joseph A. Page 
A Complicated War: The Harrowing of Mozambique by William Finnegan
Mozambique: Beyond the Shadow by Ellie Hein
Mozambique Mysteries by Lisa St. Aubin de Teran
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
A Long Way Down: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah 
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky: The Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan by Benjamin Ajak, Benson Deng, Alephonsian Deng and Judy Bernstein
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Phillip Gourevitch
What Is the What by Dave Eggars
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Neighbours: The Story of a Murder by Lilia Momple
Secrets in the Fire by Henning Mankell
Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto
Every Man Is a Race by Mia Couto
The Last Flight of The Flamingo by Mia Couto 
A River Called Time by Mia Couto

Other works by Jonna-Lynn K Mandelbaum:

Unspoken Farewell
Malarial Fevers: A Pioneer Missionary in Africa

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