The Raft by S.A. Bodeen

Robie is an experienced traveler. 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.

Pages: 231
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release Date: August 21, 2012
Stars: 3/5

I picked this book up on a whim at the bookstore, and it made for a fast little read. Robie goes down on a plane and crashes into the ocean, stranding her and one other character on a raft in the ocean.

I used to watch the show I Shouldn't Be Alive, which documented the stories of people who had been in situations like Robie's before, and I was super excited to read a book about it.

I read The Raft in nearly one sitting, and it just flew by for me. It was suspenseful and scary in some parts, and sad in others, but definitely attention grabbing the whole time. There were little mini-climaxes throughout the novel that kept you hooked, wanting to know what was going to happen next to Robie, and if she would ever be rescued.

The novel jumps right into the action, though I wish it had spent some time before letting me get to know Robie and her family a little better. Throughout the book, though, I got to get a sense of who Robie was. She ended up being a little infuriatingly selfish when making some decisions, but other than that she wasn't too bad.

Bodeen threw a twist in the novel that I wasn't really expecting, but made the first half of the book make better sense.

I would recommend The Raft for anyone that wants a quick, suspenseful read!

FTC: Bought.