Amy is a teenager trying to rebel against her father for abandoning her after her mother dies. She's a classic case--piercings, getting in trouble at school, etc. When her rich father decides to purchase a huge yacht and sail around the world with Amy and her new step-mother, Amy isn't exactly thrilled. Then again, she doesn't have much keeping her in London either. And so she goes, intent on tanning a lot, listening to dubstep loudly, and trying to just figure out what to do with her life.
And then come the pirates. It is odd to read a modern book that with pirates--these aren't swashbuckling heroes. They are Somalians who want to redistribute the wealth they see floating off their coastline. They carry AK-47s, people die, yet they have senses of humor. The pirates are people, and Amy gets to know one of them in particular, a handsome pirate named Farouz. There is a bit of Stockholm syndrome in this novel, and it's perfectly believable.
I was impressed with Nick Lake's ability to write from a female's perspective--it never felt awkward to me. But I was even more impressed that I felt sympathy for the pirates--their lives are hard in Somalia and the reader understands why they do what they do. And then I felt guilty for thinking that kidnapping and holding people for ransom is acceptable!
I did read the Advance Readers Copy, so I'm not sure how much of the design will carry into the final book, but I love the white space and the ending. It sure fooled me, even as I was thinking, "WTF?" It's pretty appropriate that Tom Hanks' new movie Captain Phillips comes out this month and is about an American cargo ship being taken over by Somali pirates in 2009. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzU3UJuV80w to watch the movie trailer. I don't think this book is Printz worthy, but I really appreciated a modern adventure tale about Somalian pirates. Because, come on, when was the last time you read a book like this?
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