Carolina Hurricane by Marian Rumsey

I am having trouble finding the motivation to read much of anything these days.  This problem has been caused by stress from the pandemic in addition to some other events.  There is nothing I can do about this problem; I will get past it eventually.

The upside is that I am willing to try just about any book outside of what would normally interest me.  I am uninterested in all of the books that I would typically take great interest in reading.  Since I won't be able to accomplish reading any of them, I can just as easily pick up something else and give it a try.  

I purchased a copy of Carolina Hurricane by Marian Rumsey in early December.  The book is a Weekly Reader edition from 1977.  The book was on the clearance shelf in a local bookstore.  I purchased it because it looked interesting, and it was cheap.  Books about storms tend to be good.

The other day, I remembered this book and thought, Why not?  I decided to read it.

In Carolina Hurricane, twelve-year-old Morgan sets out in his father's crab boat to collect the crab pots.  Morgan and his mother are concerned about a tropical disturbance that is offshore.  While Morgan works on collecting the pots, he checks the weather on the VHF radio.  He learns that the disturbance is now a hurricane.  Morgan turns towards home but ends up stranded in the storm.

The story has very little dialogue.  I prefer stories in which the protagonist is accompanied by a friend.  The dialogue improves the pacing and makes the book easier to read.  Conversations also add interest to the story.

Here are two pages from the story from right when Morgan begins to be in danger.  Click on the image to enlarge it so that you can read the words.  

I found the setting to be confusing and had trouble visualizing it.  The book does have a map; however, the map also confused me.  The map shows where Morgan is stranded, but he moves around a bit during that time.  I needed some more information.

The Fancy Gap River and the various waterways all look to be about the same size on the map, yet that is not the case in the story.  I also was thrown off by north not pointing up at 90 degrees as is standard for a map.  Not being able to picture the setting diminished my enjoyment of the story.

I mostly enjoyed this book and consider it to be overall good.  It isn't anything special, but it's a decent read.  Also, it is my third book read in 2022, and that's an accomplishment.  Even more significantly, I actually wrote this review.