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Safe from the Sea
Set against the powerful lakeshore landscape of northern Minnesota, Safe from the Sea is a heartfelt novel in which a son returns home to reconnect with his estranged and dying father thirty-five years after the tragic wreck of a Great Lakes ore boat that the father only partially survived and that has divided them emotionally ever since. When his father for the first time finally tells the story of the horrific disaster he has carried with him so long, it leads the two men to reconsider each other.
Meanwhile, Noah’s own struggle to make a life with an absent father has found its real reward in his relationship with his sagacious wife, Natalie, whose complications with infertility issues have marked her husband’s life in ways he only fully realizes as the reconciliation with his father takes shape.
Peter Geye has delivered an archetypal story of a father and son, of the tug and pull of family bonds, of Norwegian immigrant culture, of dramatic shipwrecks and the business and adventure of Great Lakes shipping in a setting that simply casts a spell over the characters as well as the reader.
Meanwhile, Noah’s own struggle to make a life with an absent father has found its real reward in his relationship with his sagacious wife, Natalie, whose complications with infertility issues have marked her husband’s life in ways he only fully realizes as the reconciliation with his father takes shape.
Peter Geye has delivered an archetypal story of a father and son, of the tug and pull of family bonds, of Norwegian immigrant culture, of dramatic shipwrecks and the business and adventure of Great Lakes shipping in a setting that simply casts a spell over the characters as well as the reader.
256 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 21, 2009
62 people are currently reading
1646 people want to read
About the author
Peter Geye
12 books286 followersPeter Geye is the author of the award-winning novels Safe from the Sea, The Lighthouse Road, Wintering, winner of the Minnesota Book Award, Northernmost, and The Ski Jumpers, forthcoming in September 2022.
Geye received his MFA from the University of New Orleans and his PhD from Western Michigan University, where he was editor of Third Coast. He currently teaches the year-long Novel Writing Project at the Loft Literary Center. Born and raised in Minneapolis, he continues to live there with his family.
Geye received his MFA from the University of New Orleans and his PhD from Western Michigan University, where he was editor of Third Coast. He currently teaches the year-long Novel Writing Project at the Loft Literary Center. Born and raised in Minneapolis, he continues to live there with his family.
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June 7, 2019
I love stories that take me places I’ve never been and spin out low and slow for me to savor. I’ve spent the last few days alternating between time aboard the Ragnarøk, an eighteen-thousand-ton ore ship on the “ocean” of Lake Superior and time inside a tiny cabin hidden in the scenic wilderness of Misquah, Minnesota. Retired ship captain Olaf Torr has been estranged from his only son Noah for over five years and finally reaches out to him with a phone call for help. Olaf is sick, and Noah can tell it is serious. So despite his wife Natalie’s disappointment at him leaving her at an extremely inopportune time, Noah drops everything and makes the long trek from Boston to Misquah. What he finds is the family cabin in shocking disrepair and a man he barely recognizes.
Part high seas drama, part family memoir, this is ultimately the story of the toll a seaman’s life takes on his family and himself. But it is also a story of the wasteland caused by misconception, the healing power of forgiveness, and the importance of holding on to your dreams. Even though I predicted the slightly too tidy ending almost from the start, it didn’t spoil the journey. The writing and characters here are exceptional.
“The anger and resentment and sadness that had colored the years of their estrangement were absent now. Not just absent but erroneous . . . He knew now that he could venture freely in the full range of his memories. No more caveats next to the good times, or whole years’ forbidden recollection.”
Part high seas drama, part family memoir, this is ultimately the story of the toll a seaman’s life takes on his family and himself. But it is also a story of the wasteland caused by misconception, the healing power of forgiveness, and the importance of holding on to your dreams. Even though I predicted the slightly too tidy ending almost from the start, it didn’t spoil the journey. The writing and characters here are exceptional.
“The anger and resentment and sadness that had colored the years of their estrangement were absent now. Not just absent but erroneous . . . He knew now that he could venture freely in the full range of his memories. No more caveats next to the good times, or whole years’ forbidden recollection.”
May 25, 2022
Review originally published August 2012
The storm raged on the open water of Lake Superior that fateful night in November when the ore boat, Ragnarok, went down. Only three men survived, and Olaf Torr was only one of those whose lives would be forever haunted by the memories. The unspoken story of that stormy night would impact his family for the rest of their lives.
Now, Olaf is sick and has asked his son, Noah, to come up to the family cabin on Minnesota’s North Shore. The story needs to be told by the dying man, and he needs to hear it so he can begin to move forward in his own life. Their last contact was at his son’s wedding over five years ago. Noah begins to explore his memories as he spends a night in Duluth before heading further north to Misquah.
The author deftly develops the father and son through their conversations, memories, unspoken thoughts, and silences. The cultural heritage and ferocious beauty of the landscape and lake opens up as Olaf and Noah struggle with acceptance and understanding of the beliefs and images that constructed their lives for the past 35 years.
I would recommend this book, and found Olaf to be a man not easily forgotten. Safe From the Sea is the first book for Minneapolis native Peter Geye.
This title is available for checkout at the La Crosse County Library, with branches in Bangor, Campbell, Holmen, Onalaska, and West Salem.
Find this book and other titles within our catalog.
The storm raged on the open water of Lake Superior that fateful night in November when the ore boat, Ragnarok, went down. Only three men survived, and Olaf Torr was only one of those whose lives would be forever haunted by the memories. The unspoken story of that stormy night would impact his family for the rest of their lives.
Now, Olaf is sick and has asked his son, Noah, to come up to the family cabin on Minnesota’s North Shore. The story needs to be told by the dying man, and he needs to hear it so he can begin to move forward in his own life. Their last contact was at his son’s wedding over five years ago. Noah begins to explore his memories as he spends a night in Duluth before heading further north to Misquah.
The author deftly develops the father and son through their conversations, memories, unspoken thoughts, and silences. The cultural heritage and ferocious beauty of the landscape and lake opens up as Olaf and Noah struggle with acceptance and understanding of the beliefs and images that constructed their lives for the past 35 years.
I would recommend this book, and found Olaf to be a man not easily forgotten. Safe From the Sea is the first book for Minneapolis native Peter Geye.
This title is available for checkout at the La Crosse County Library, with branches in Bangor, Campbell, Holmen, Onalaska, and West Salem.
Find this book and other titles within our catalog.
June 18, 2012
Safe from the Sea is small in scope – a mere 241 pages – but it is gripping in its messages and intensity.
It begins simply: Olaf Torr, an officer and one of three survivors of a Lake Superior ore ship dubbed the Ragnarok that was lost in 1967, is dying. He reaches out to his estranged son Noah, who travels to Olaf’s Northern Minnesota cabin – not to reconcile but through a sense of duty. Noah has long held resentments about his father’s drinking and his inability to hold the family together after the tragedy.
Peter Geye might have turned this into a cover-up saga, where long-time secrets of what happened on that tragic night are suddenly unveiled. But thankfully, Safe from the Sea is not that kind of book. As Olaf begins to narrate that horrific story (“We had the inferno blazing beneath us, the snow squall suffocating us, seas still washing the deck”), it becomes evident that people can do everything right and life can still go wrong. Sometimes, there just aren’t any answers.
“The crew? They were just a bunch of anybodies,” Olaf tells his son. Noah counters: “Isn’t it more fantastic to think of the guys who died as little bit heroic, as swashbuckling sailors? As something more than a bunch of yokels from Great Lakes port towns?” Olaf answers, “It’s real life. In real lie, there’re boys from port towns.”
As Noah comes to grip that “the old man’s crew of nobodies could take precedence over his mother and sister and himself” – how surviving can often mean “going under” again and again – he and Olaf begin to understand and appreciate each other for the first time.
Peter Geye obviously knows the Northern Minnesota landscape, which comes alive every bit as much as his characters. Olaf’s dialogue and characteristics ring authentic. And Noah – a name associated with the biblical pre-flood patriarch who survived the flood – has spent his adult life procuring and selling ancient maps as a career. The one map he has always needed – a blueprint to who he is and where he stands as a son and potential future father – is explored with subtlety and insight here.
It begins simply: Olaf Torr, an officer and one of three survivors of a Lake Superior ore ship dubbed the Ragnarok that was lost in 1967, is dying. He reaches out to his estranged son Noah, who travels to Olaf’s Northern Minnesota cabin – not to reconcile but through a sense of duty. Noah has long held resentments about his father’s drinking and his inability to hold the family together after the tragedy.
Peter Geye might have turned this into a cover-up saga, where long-time secrets of what happened on that tragic night are suddenly unveiled. But thankfully, Safe from the Sea is not that kind of book. As Olaf begins to narrate that horrific story (“We had the inferno blazing beneath us, the snow squall suffocating us, seas still washing the deck”), it becomes evident that people can do everything right and life can still go wrong. Sometimes, there just aren’t any answers.
“The crew? They were just a bunch of anybodies,” Olaf tells his son. Noah counters: “Isn’t it more fantastic to think of the guys who died as little bit heroic, as swashbuckling sailors? As something more than a bunch of yokels from Great Lakes port towns?” Olaf answers, “It’s real life. In real lie, there’re boys from port towns.”
As Noah comes to grip that “the old man’s crew of nobodies could take precedence over his mother and sister and himself” – how surviving can often mean “going under” again and again – he and Olaf begin to understand and appreciate each other for the first time.
Peter Geye obviously knows the Northern Minnesota landscape, which comes alive every bit as much as his characters. Olaf’s dialogue and characteristics ring authentic. And Noah – a name associated with the biblical pre-flood patriarch who survived the flood – has spent his adult life procuring and selling ancient maps as a career. The one map he has always needed – a blueprint to who he is and where he stands as a son and potential future father – is explored with subtlety and insight here.
September 18, 2015
This was an easy read that held a strong attachment to place and nature. That aspect was absolutely at 4 star level.
But for me, the story line was 2.5 star. It's a man's tale. Told to his son. And, IMHO, both of their conceptual horizons were either rather limited in communication or this author didn't peel back the layers or flesh out the back story to proper illumination. Not for me, anyway. You "got" the immense baggage left by the survivor experience, but some other aspects of Olaf? Like the more than considerable selfishness from youth. And voids of years he contexts at status quo. And his relationship to his daughter? She wasn't told any history, but she's the one who actually got some medicine for relief.
And I also thought the son's situation of being able to leave his job for length and the eventual method for the father's body? Well, the second is against the law even in Minnesota. For good reason. And the first went beyond my reality believability. And the ending was pure Hallmark card Lifetime caption. My enjoyment was in the Superior and ship's yarn for this one.
But for me, the story line was 2.5 star. It's a man's tale. Told to his son. And, IMHO, both of their conceptual horizons were either rather limited in communication or this author didn't peel back the layers or flesh out the back story to proper illumination. Not for me, anyway. You "got" the immense baggage left by the survivor experience, but some other aspects of Olaf? Like the more than considerable selfishness from youth. And voids of years he contexts at status quo. And his relationship to his daughter? She wasn't told any history, but she's the one who actually got some medicine for relief.
And I also thought the son's situation of being able to leave his job for length and the eventual method for the father's body? Well, the second is against the law even in Minnesota. For good reason. And the first went beyond my reality believability. And the ending was pure Hallmark card Lifetime caption. My enjoyment was in the Superior and ship's yarn for this one.
March 4, 2019
Safe from the Sea, by Peter Geye, 2009. The central historical event of Peter Geye’s first novel is the sinking of the oreboat Ragnarok during a hellish November storm on Lake Superior. The story unfolds during an estranged son and father’s week together on the North Shore of Superior, as winter rolls in in early November, 35 years later. The ending is powerful – I knew it was coming, and it still blew me away. Throughout, the writing is tight, clear, compelling and the pace of the storytelling keeps you moving and wanting more. As I write this, having just finished the book, I am remembering the many images – of the fire-and-ice end of the Ragnarok, of an old man’s dying, of snow and ice and the lake. Geye’s scenes are so true and memorable – this is truly a great piece of writing.
December 21, 2013
Here's the genius of Goodreads: A reader you really respect (Lance Weller, who wrote one of my favorite books of the year, "The Wilderness") gave this five stars. I'd never heard of the book or the author, but when that review showed up in my newsfeed, I knew I had to put the book on hold. Bonus that I really love Minnesota and Lake Superior.
Peter Geye's characters are among the most memorable and moving father-son duos in anything I've read. The book is a tightly constructed swashbuckler of a tale. It's as satisfying as a 600 page epic but is extremely economical and clocks in around 250...while I read it in two short sittings it feels like I read several times that. I'll be thinking of these characters and their life circumstances for a long time.
I loved the subtle touch in handling the revelations surrounding the big tragedy at the heart of the book; other authors would give you 200 pages of hair-tearing foreshadowing but Geye manages to set the tone and the urgency and then actually deliver. There are so many lovely lines and observations about life and death just woven in as asides to the plot.
The story was as much about what happened to the characters as what happened in their perceptions and hearts.
I found the dialogue believable and setting urgently realistic...Peter Geye found so many chilling ways to tell us how cold it was. Usually those descriptors can lag, but this author creates a whole immediate world.
Peter Geye's characters are among the most memorable and moving father-son duos in anything I've read. The book is a tightly constructed swashbuckler of a tale. It's as satisfying as a 600 page epic but is extremely economical and clocks in around 250...while I read it in two short sittings it feels like I read several times that. I'll be thinking of these characters and their life circumstances for a long time.
I loved the subtle touch in handling the revelations surrounding the big tragedy at the heart of the book; other authors would give you 200 pages of hair-tearing foreshadowing but Geye manages to set the tone and the urgency and then actually deliver. There are so many lovely lines and observations about life and death just woven in as asides to the plot.
The story was as much about what happened to the characters as what happened in their perceptions and hearts.
I found the dialogue believable and setting urgently realistic...Peter Geye found so many chilling ways to tell us how cold it was. Usually those descriptors can lag, but this author creates a whole immediate world.
December 11, 2023
5 Stars
I read Peter Geye's The Ski Jumpers in January of this year and it continues to hold a top spot in my 2023 reads. I enjoy Geye's sensible and abled writing.
Since Safe from the Sea is approximately 250 pages, the author concisely tells a story about a dying father and an estranged son with surprising emotion and authenticity. There's no mystery about where the story is ultimately headed, but I still felt gut-punched. I was hooked and read it in under 24 hours. I'm convinced this author excelled straight out of the gate and I'll continue to seek out his older and upcoming stories.
June 16, 2016
I liked it OK, but felt it was a little milquetoast in style, a little too much on the heart plucking. One of those book that makes you think "I could of written that", in fact I was thinking it was some fledging author's first novel, or at least he reached down into the pile of his manuscripts for some early effort, dusted it off and sent it to his publisher after having found success on a more recent novel.
August 8, 2013
This is my kind of book--a family story of love and redemption, a tragic past, fishermen, fathers & sons. The connection between generations and the land is paramount. I highly recommend it to readers who enjoy Hemingway's THE OLD MAN & THE SEA or his NICK ADAMS stories.
October 4, 2010
For the full review go to WellReadWife.com.
Safe From The Sea is Peter Geye’s debut novel. Notice I say novel because you can’t refer to this one as merely a book or a story. Geye’s creation is a novel, and he is a skillful story teller. Geye tells of a son coming to grips with the imminent death of his father while at the same time trying to understand why his father emotionally abandoned his family in favor of alcohol years ago. It is a novel ripe with revelations and family secrets. Noah’s struggle to come to terms with his dying father is very moving. In fact, about three quarters of my way into the book I was boohooing, and the tears lasted off and on until I finished.
Peter Geye received his MFA from the University of New Orleans and his PhD from Western Michigan University. It is obvious that he is well versed in the writing craft. Geye draws the reader in with a quiet subtlety and then BAM!- a major plot element occurs. Throughout the novel dialogue was sparse in sections; but the expositive third person narrative more than sufficiently satisfied my curiosity regarding each of the main character’s back stories. In fact, towards the beginning the back story is told through a series of insanely well-crafted flashbacks. Later on, the rest of the back story is filled in through dialogue between Noah and his father, Olaf. Safe From The Sea took me to a completely foreign land. A place very different from the Mississippi Gulf Coast (where I live). Full of unusual names, a completely different climate, and a different way of life from the one I’m used to - the northern Minnesota culture/landscape is exalted by Geye and quickly becomes a character in itself.
Safe From The Sea is Peter Geye’s debut novel. Notice I say novel because you can’t refer to this one as merely a book or a story. Geye’s creation is a novel, and he is a skillful story teller. Geye tells of a son coming to grips with the imminent death of his father while at the same time trying to understand why his father emotionally abandoned his family in favor of alcohol years ago. It is a novel ripe with revelations and family secrets. Noah’s struggle to come to terms with his dying father is very moving. In fact, about three quarters of my way into the book I was boohooing, and the tears lasted off and on until I finished.
Peter Geye received his MFA from the University of New Orleans and his PhD from Western Michigan University. It is obvious that he is well versed in the writing craft. Geye draws the reader in with a quiet subtlety and then BAM!- a major plot element occurs. Throughout the novel dialogue was sparse in sections; but the expositive third person narrative more than sufficiently satisfied my curiosity regarding each of the main character’s back stories. In fact, towards the beginning the back story is told through a series of insanely well-crafted flashbacks. Later on, the rest of the back story is filled in through dialogue between Noah and his father, Olaf. Safe From The Sea took me to a completely foreign land. A place very different from the Mississippi Gulf Coast (where I live). Full of unusual names, a completely different climate, and a different way of life from the one I’m used to - the northern Minnesota culture/landscape is exalted by Geye and quickly becomes a character in itself.
January 18, 2011
The Short of It:
A quiet, simple story about a father and a son. Told in simple, but beautiful prose, Safe from the Sea reminds you what it feels like to read a really good book.
The Rest of It:
Noah returns home to take care of his dying father, Olaf. The two have not been close for several years, so Noah is surprised at his father’s request. Although the decision to return home is not an easy one and is not a decision his wife Natalie is happy about, he decides to make the trip back to the lakeshore landscape of northern Minnesota. There, the two grapple with their past and what brought them to this place in their lives.
Peter Geye’s writing is simple and clean. There are no extraneous details to be found. Every word is thoughtfully chosen and blends seamlessly into the story as a whole. The characters are genuine and weathered to a degree, which makes them all the more endearing to the reader.
Most of the novel takes place in a cabin on the lake. Surrounded by the chill of winter, you can smell the fire in the wood stove, feel the crispness of the snow beneath their feet. This is one of those novels where the setting certainly adds to the story, but Geye manages to allow it to exist within the background, quietly. It doesn’t compete with the rest of the story, and I found that the same can be said for any of the components within this novel. They all mesh beautifully with one another.
I really enjoyed Safe from the Sea. I found it to be deeply moving and well told.
A quiet, simple story about a father and a son. Told in simple, but beautiful prose, Safe from the Sea reminds you what it feels like to read a really good book.
The Rest of It:
Noah returns home to take care of his dying father, Olaf. The two have not been close for several years, so Noah is surprised at his father’s request. Although the decision to return home is not an easy one and is not a decision his wife Natalie is happy about, he decides to make the trip back to the lakeshore landscape of northern Minnesota. There, the two grapple with their past and what brought them to this place in their lives.
Peter Geye’s writing is simple and clean. There are no extraneous details to be found. Every word is thoughtfully chosen and blends seamlessly into the story as a whole. The characters are genuine and weathered to a degree, which makes them all the more endearing to the reader.
Most of the novel takes place in a cabin on the lake. Surrounded by the chill of winter, you can smell the fire in the wood stove, feel the crispness of the snow beneath their feet. This is one of those novels where the setting certainly adds to the story, but Geye manages to allow it to exist within the background, quietly. It doesn’t compete with the rest of the story, and I found that the same can be said for any of the components within this novel. They all mesh beautifully with one another.
I really enjoyed Safe from the Sea. I found it to be deeply moving and well told.
September 14, 2017
I'm on a roll with Peter Geye. The climate & the landscape are characters in their own right.
January 24, 2024
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this on audiobook from the library.
Thoughts: I enjoyed a lot of this book. Learning about the Duluth taconite ships was fun. Hearing about the wreck of the ship (the Ragnarök) was interesting. This doesn't seem to be a real ship as far as I could tell. It would have been wonderful to have an afterward talking about how the Rag relates to real ships that move taconite out of Duluth's harbors. The book moves slowly but is beautifully written.
I had hoped that more of this book was going to be about Lake Superior and the taconite shipping industry. However, it is mostly about an old man, Olaf, who survived a horrible shipwreck. Rather than being happy he lived, Olaf is filled with guilt and pisses the rest of his life away drinking and estranged from his family. Until he finally calls his son to help him get his cabin ready for the winter. Olaf wants to tell his son, Noah, that he's dying and pour all of his regrets out to Noah while retelling the story of the shipwreck.
This is a sad and slow moving book but is beautifully written. If sad memoirs are your thing you might enjoy this. I couldn't help thinking that Olaf was a jerk throughout. He lived, he should have made the most of it or gotten some help when he was struggling rather than take it out on his family. I know things were different back them. However, it is sad how many times I have seen this happen in real life. Not the being in a shipwreck part, but the being a jerk to your family part and then regretting your life choices when you find out you are dying.
I have a lot more sympathy for Noah, who dropped everything in his life to come and help out his estranged dad. He did a lot more than he had to and is an incredibly decent person for doing so. I also enjoyed his wife Natalie, who was initially frustrated with the situation but quickly turned around when she realized how important this was to Noah. Noah and Natalie were an amazing couple and I hope that Olaf truly appreciated them.
I did enjoy hearing about Duluth and the history there. I am up in Duluth quite a bit and really love the North Shore in Minnesota in general, so the setting was very fun for me. The whole ending about the lake and the body (and we'll leave it at that) was incredibly unrealistic.
I listened to this on audiobook and the narration is slow but well done. My husband and I listened to this, ironically, on a drive up to Duluth and ended up speeding it up a bit. I thought the narrator did an excellent job with character voices though.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this. It is a beautifully written book that is more about an old man's regrets in life than Lake Superior and shipwrecks. The backdrop and history discussed around Duluth and taconite shipping were intriguing. I also thought Olaf's description of the Ranarok sinking was amazing...the conditions on the lake and vicious they were...just wow. I probably won't pick up more books by Baker, I am interested in the history of Minnesota but not so much this type of sad regretful story. If that's your thing though, his writing style is very beautiful.
If you are really interested in shipwrecks and ever happen to in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the Great Lake Shipwreck Museum is up there. We went to it last year and it's really in the middle of nowhere, but an awesome visit if you are interested in Great Lakes shipwrecks.
Thoughts: I enjoyed a lot of this book. Learning about the Duluth taconite ships was fun. Hearing about the wreck of the ship (the Ragnarök) was interesting. This doesn't seem to be a real ship as far as I could tell. It would have been wonderful to have an afterward talking about how the Rag relates to real ships that move taconite out of Duluth's harbors. The book moves slowly but is beautifully written.
I had hoped that more of this book was going to be about Lake Superior and the taconite shipping industry. However, it is mostly about an old man, Olaf, who survived a horrible shipwreck. Rather than being happy he lived, Olaf is filled with guilt and pisses the rest of his life away drinking and estranged from his family. Until he finally calls his son to help him get his cabin ready for the winter. Olaf wants to tell his son, Noah, that he's dying and pour all of his regrets out to Noah while retelling the story of the shipwreck.
This is a sad and slow moving book but is beautifully written. If sad memoirs are your thing you might enjoy this. I couldn't help thinking that Olaf was a jerk throughout. He lived, he should have made the most of it or gotten some help when he was struggling rather than take it out on his family. I know things were different back them. However, it is sad how many times I have seen this happen in real life. Not the being in a shipwreck part, but the being a jerk to your family part and then regretting your life choices when you find out you are dying.
I have a lot more sympathy for Noah, who dropped everything in his life to come and help out his estranged dad. He did a lot more than he had to and is an incredibly decent person for doing so. I also enjoyed his wife Natalie, who was initially frustrated with the situation but quickly turned around when she realized how important this was to Noah. Noah and Natalie were an amazing couple and I hope that Olaf truly appreciated them.
I did enjoy hearing about Duluth and the history there. I am up in Duluth quite a bit and really love the North Shore in Minnesota in general, so the setting was very fun for me. The whole ending about the lake and the body (and we'll leave it at that) was incredibly unrealistic.
I listened to this on audiobook and the narration is slow but well done. My husband and I listened to this, ironically, on a drive up to Duluth and ended up speeding it up a bit. I thought the narrator did an excellent job with character voices though.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this. It is a beautifully written book that is more about an old man's regrets in life than Lake Superior and shipwrecks. The backdrop and history discussed around Duluth and taconite shipping were intriguing. I also thought Olaf's description of the Ranarok sinking was amazing...the conditions on the lake and vicious they were...just wow. I probably won't pick up more books by Baker, I am interested in the history of Minnesota but not so much this type of sad regretful story. If that's your thing though, his writing style is very beautiful.
If you are really interested in shipwrecks and ever happen to in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the Great Lake Shipwreck Museum is up there. We went to it last year and it's really in the middle of nowhere, but an awesome visit if you are interested in Great Lakes shipwrecks.
March 6, 2024
A father and son. The father is dying and the son come home to take care of him. The son, Noah is carrying hard feelings from growing up with a father who worked on the ore boats on Lake Superior and was never there. However as they spend time together and his father tells the story about when he was one of three who survived the ore boat they were working on got caught in a storm on Lake Superior (I felt like I was on that ship as it sunk.) feelings start to turn. Great read.
January 27, 2025
I would actually rate this 4.5 ( if Goodreads would allow half stars !)
This is an amazing book, and hard to believe it was Peter Geye's first novel. The plot centers around Olaf Torr, a freighter captain on the Great Lakes who was one of three survivors of the epic wreck of the 'Ragnorak'. 35 years after the shipwreck, Olaf contacts his son Noah and asks him to come to his cabin in the Minnesota Northwoods. Olaf is dying. Noah had been estranged from his father for some time but decides to go.
What transpires is a story of a cataclysmic life event, the shipwreck, and the impact it had on an entire family over several decades.
This is an amazing book, and hard to believe it was Peter Geye's first novel. The plot centers around Olaf Torr, a freighter captain on the Great Lakes who was one of three survivors of the epic wreck of the 'Ragnorak'. 35 years after the shipwreck, Olaf contacts his son Noah and asks him to come to his cabin in the Minnesota Northwoods. Olaf is dying. Noah had been estranged from his father for some time but decides to go.
What transpires is a story of a cataclysmic life event, the shipwreck, and the impact it had on an entire family over several decades.
August 13, 2018
Well, if you are from the Great Lakes AND a boater, this is a must-read. Beautiful father-son story about a freighter captain who survived the sinking of his freighter on Lake Superior.
October 3, 2021
I read this book for a book club I'm in. I didn't expect to like it but I certainly did. I enjoyed the references to Lake Superior; I could picture the area as I was reading this book.
September 12, 2022
I love this author and yet another of his books. A simple story about a man, his father, and the tragedies that life can bring. Maybe it’s because the stories take place in my home state of Minnesota, this story taking place north of Duluth, an area I knew well as a child!!! Highly recommend….
December 13, 2024
5 stars
This is a perfect book for anyone interested in Shipwrecks, the Great Lakes, and family drama. I will warn that it does have the topic of death of a parent.
This is a perfect book for anyone interested in Shipwrecks, the Great Lakes, and family drama. I will warn that it does have the topic of death of a parent.
May 20, 2019
A very nice read. Not my usual story genre. However the father son relationship, the sinking ship, and a father dying make for s good story.
August 10, 2011
"Olaf nodded up at the sky. 'He taught me some things about navigating. Just basic stuff, but I was hooked. He said that a true seaman could sail around the world without anything more than a watch and a sextant and the sky to guide him. I didn't even know what a sextant was, just figured you knew where to go if you were in charge of one of those boats. I never reckoned there was any science to it. Wolf taught me how to take sun sights, how to chart our course, how to estimate our position using dead reckoning when the sky was cloudy and the shore out of sight.' He paused, cleared his throat. 'Now it's just a bunch of satellites telling you where you are and where to go. Back then it was still something beautiful to steer a ship." (pg. 62)
Noah Torr's relationship with his father Olaf has always been a tricky one to navigate. In this novel, Olaf's a crusty, weathered former sailor who is somewhat of a local legend along the remote northern Minnesota shoreline where he lives, haunted by his surviving a devastasting 1967 shipwreck that killed all 27 of his 30-member crew.
It's a story that Olaf has been reluctant to tell, but now that he's dying and his son Noah has returned home (ostensibly to "help him prepare the cabin for winter"), he unburdens himself of the secrets and guilt that he has carried for nearly four decades since the accident. In the process, father and son begin the rocky process of trying to understand and accept one another before its too late.
Yeah, the troubled-father-and-son-making-amends-on-one's-deathbed story has been done before, but it's a theme universal enough that it doesn't flounder in Peter Geye's hands as an author. For starters, Geye apparently knows his stuff (or has done a tremendous amount of research) regarding several key areas of the book. The descriptions of the northern Minnesota coast and its waters, as well as of boats and shipping and the shipping industry, are incredibly well done - not to mention the characters' hardy Norwegian heritage and Noah and his wife's Natalie's infertility struggles. I'd be surprised if much of this did not originate from Geye's own life - which is more than perfectly fine, particularly since Safe from the Sea is Geye's debut novel.
Moreso than the story and the writing (which seemed to me to be perfunctory and matter of fact, but is perhaps designed to be such to reflect the characters' personalities), Safe from the Sea is a story with a strong sense of place. As the reader, you absolutely feel as if you are right there in the fierce winter storm with the ill-fated sailors, even if you (like me) have barely set foot on a boat. Like Per Petterson's I Curse the River of Time (which I didn't care for much at all), you physically feel cold reading this novel.
(Our air-conditioner broke a few hours after I finished this and the temperature was a toasty 83 degrees inside our house. This would have been the perfect book to read under such conditions, believe you me.)
Safe from the Sea is one that many bloggers love, many calling it "stunning" and "gorgeous." I'm in the minority here and am not going quite that far (it's not going to be one of my absolute favorites of the year, as it is for many of my blogging peers), but it was a satisfying enough read for me, one that I appreciated, and definitely one that will make me seek out Peter Geye's work in the future.
Noah Torr's relationship with his father Olaf has always been a tricky one to navigate. In this novel, Olaf's a crusty, weathered former sailor who is somewhat of a local legend along the remote northern Minnesota shoreline where he lives, haunted by his surviving a devastasting 1967 shipwreck that killed all 27 of his 30-member crew.
It's a story that Olaf has been reluctant to tell, but now that he's dying and his son Noah has returned home (ostensibly to "help him prepare the cabin for winter"), he unburdens himself of the secrets and guilt that he has carried for nearly four decades since the accident. In the process, father and son begin the rocky process of trying to understand and accept one another before its too late.
Yeah, the troubled-father-and-son-making-amends-on-one's-deathbed story has been done before, but it's a theme universal enough that it doesn't flounder in Peter Geye's hands as an author. For starters, Geye apparently knows his stuff (or has done a tremendous amount of research) regarding several key areas of the book. The descriptions of the northern Minnesota coast and its waters, as well as of boats and shipping and the shipping industry, are incredibly well done - not to mention the characters' hardy Norwegian heritage and Noah and his wife's Natalie's infertility struggles. I'd be surprised if much of this did not originate from Geye's own life - which is more than perfectly fine, particularly since Safe from the Sea is Geye's debut novel.
Moreso than the story and the writing (which seemed to me to be perfunctory and matter of fact, but is perhaps designed to be such to reflect the characters' personalities), Safe from the Sea is a story with a strong sense of place. As the reader, you absolutely feel as if you are right there in the fierce winter storm with the ill-fated sailors, even if you (like me) have barely set foot on a boat. Like Per Petterson's I Curse the River of Time (which I didn't care for much at all), you physically feel cold reading this novel.
(Our air-conditioner broke a few hours after I finished this and the temperature was a toasty 83 degrees inside our house. This would have been the perfect book to read under such conditions, believe you me.)
Safe from the Sea is one that many bloggers love, many calling it "stunning" and "gorgeous." I'm in the minority here and am not going quite that far (it's not going to be one of my absolute favorites of the year, as it is for many of my blogging peers), but it was a satisfying enough read for me, one that I appreciated, and definitely one that will make me seek out Peter Geye's work in the future.
September 30, 2010
When Noah and his sister were young children their lives were forever changed when their father’s ore ship burned and sunk in the tormented waters of Lake Superior. Though their father survived, much of him was left behind when the ship went down, and Noah’s relationship with his father would never be the same. Decades later, when Noah is grown man with a wife living in Boston, his father becomes ill and Noah faces a tough choice: should he go to his father’s side? The man who shut him out and all but left him so many years ago? Journeying to the northern Minnesota town of his youth, Noah faces more than just his father when he arrives. History comes back as Noah confronts the man who changed so many years ago.
Safe from the Sea is heartbreaking and sad, but also cathartic. Noah must deal with many issues by choosing to face his father again: guilt, blame, and a deeply rooted anger. The bond of family, for better or worse, makes us who we are, and Noah is the man he is today because of his relationship with his father. This is the story of a man facing his past, for both Noah and his father.
It’s hard for me to review this novel because I’m torn in two directions. First is my loyalty to my own past, which also came from Minnesota. Geye’s writing of the north and the harsh winters carries true emotional weight. Likewise, my whole family is also in Minnesota, while I am also in Boston, much like Noah and his family are parted. Though I didn’t leave under the same circumstances and return often, the bond Noah has to Minnesota touched my heart.
The other direction I am pulled in is that of a reviewer analyzing a novel. It’s not because this is Geye’s first novel that I feel why I do, because I read many first novels, but the writing of Safe from the Sea didn’t grab me the way I wish it had. The topics did, the scenes and places, but the dialogue felt forced, and parts of Noah’s relationship with his father and wife seemed contrived. Here is a situation where a man is facing the person who destroyed him and tore him apart. I see the word “anger” but I do not feel it. I see a scene of “longing” and “regret” but do not feel those sensations. There was more true emotion in the description of snow and ice than in the setup of Noah and his relationships, and that’s the one fallback of the book.
Safe from the Sea is heartbreaking and sad, but also cathartic. Noah must deal with many issues by choosing to face his father again: guilt, blame, and a deeply rooted anger. The bond of family, for better or worse, makes us who we are, and Noah is the man he is today because of his relationship with his father. This is the story of a man facing his past, for both Noah and his father.
It’s hard for me to review this novel because I’m torn in two directions. First is my loyalty to my own past, which also came from Minnesota. Geye’s writing of the north and the harsh winters carries true emotional weight. Likewise, my whole family is also in Minnesota, while I am also in Boston, much like Noah and his family are parted. Though I didn’t leave under the same circumstances and return often, the bond Noah has to Minnesota touched my heart.
The other direction I am pulled in is that of a reviewer analyzing a novel. It’s not because this is Geye’s first novel that I feel why I do, because I read many first novels, but the writing of Safe from the Sea didn’t grab me the way I wish it had. The topics did, the scenes and places, but the dialogue felt forced, and parts of Noah’s relationship with his father and wife seemed contrived. Here is a situation where a man is facing the person who destroyed him and tore him apart. I see the word “anger” but I do not feel it. I see a scene of “longing” and “regret” but do not feel those sensations. There was more true emotion in the description of snow and ice than in the setup of Noah and his relationships, and that’s the one fallback of the book.
November 11, 2010
Safe From the Sea by Peter Geye is steeped in rough seas, relationships, and a break in the weather. From water imagery to isolated wilderness, Geye takes readers on a descriptive and detailed journey of Noah and Olaf Torr’s strained father-son relationship and the past that comes between them. Set in the northern regions of Minnesota near Lake Superior, Noah must confront his father when time is running out. While there is doubt about whether his father is truly ill and dying, Noah drops everything in Boston, including his wife Natalie and their fertility issues, to come to his father’s aid.
“He took off his jeans and shirt, his socks and drawers, and stood naked at the end of the dock. Instantly the sweat that only a few minutes earlier had been dripping from him dried — seemed almost to encase him — as the wind curled around him. . . . From the instant he went under he could feel the water seizing him. Although he’d been anticipating something like it, he could never have expected the grip of the water. If he hadn’t kicked and pulled for the surface the instant he was submerged he might have ended up sunk.” (page 134)
Coming back to town brings back all the feelings of abandonment he felt as a child when his father worked on the Great Lakes with the shipping companies. Readers will be absorbed in the descriptive detail, leaving their living rooms and subway cars and entering the wooded forest near Olaf’s cabin. The wintry wind will whip through their collars, forcing them to wrap scarves around their necks and feeling the ice freeze on their skin as Noah takes a bath in the lake.
Read the full review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2010/11/s...
“He took off his jeans and shirt, his socks and drawers, and stood naked at the end of the dock. Instantly the sweat that only a few minutes earlier had been dripping from him dried — seemed almost to encase him — as the wind curled around him. . . . From the instant he went under he could feel the water seizing him. Although he’d been anticipating something like it, he could never have expected the grip of the water. If he hadn’t kicked and pulled for the surface the instant he was submerged he might have ended up sunk.” (page 134)
Coming back to town brings back all the feelings of abandonment he felt as a child when his father worked on the Great Lakes with the shipping companies. Readers will be absorbed in the descriptive detail, leaving their living rooms and subway cars and entering the wooded forest near Olaf’s cabin. The wintry wind will whip through their collars, forcing them to wrap scarves around their necks and feeling the ice freeze on their skin as Noah takes a bath in the lake.
Read the full review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2010/11/s...
May 30, 2016
Set in Misquah, Minnesota near the shores of Lake Superior this is the story of correcting past history of stoic pride and neglected love for the deceased wife and two living adult children, Noah and Solveig, by a stubborn and strong willed Norwegian man, Olaf Torr.
Olaf worked for the Superior Steel company as an ore boat captain. On November 6, 1967 the ship Ragnarok, went down with twenty seven of its thirty crew. Four made it off the ship but only three survived. Olaf was one of the survivors. He carried his remorse for the loss of the ship and men and guilt for surviving. He became withdrawn from his family and spent more and more time on ore ships on the Great Lakes.
Olaf is now elderly and dying. He asks Noah to visit him after nearly five years of estrangement. Noah lives in Boston and owns an antique map business. He and his wife, Natalie, have been unsuccessful in having a child. Noah goes to Misquah and confronts the memories of his past ski jumping with his father and grandfather, fishing in the northern lakes, and the beauty and solitude of the North Shore.
Father and son come to terms with the past and Olaf shares the story of the fateful night of 11/6/67 and the impact it had on him and his family. His final request is for Noah to bury him in the lake where fate prevented him for joining his shipmates years earlier.
This is a haunting and beautifully told story of redemption, forgiveness, and setting past wrongs right. A story of a father and his love for his wife and children. Oh my heart sang from the descriptions of Lake Superior and the mystery and majesty of its nature.
Olaf worked for the Superior Steel company as an ore boat captain. On November 6, 1967 the ship Ragnarok, went down with twenty seven of its thirty crew. Four made it off the ship but only three survived. Olaf was one of the survivors. He carried his remorse for the loss of the ship and men and guilt for surviving. He became withdrawn from his family and spent more and more time on ore ships on the Great Lakes.
Olaf is now elderly and dying. He asks Noah to visit him after nearly five years of estrangement. Noah lives in Boston and owns an antique map business. He and his wife, Natalie, have been unsuccessful in having a child. Noah goes to Misquah and confronts the memories of his past ski jumping with his father and grandfather, fishing in the northern lakes, and the beauty and solitude of the North Shore.
Father and son come to terms with the past and Olaf shares the story of the fateful night of 11/6/67 and the impact it had on him and his family. His final request is for Noah to bury him in the lake where fate prevented him for joining his shipmates years earlier.
This is a haunting and beautifully told story of redemption, forgiveness, and setting past wrongs right. A story of a father and his love for his wife and children. Oh my heart sang from the descriptions of Lake Superior and the mystery and majesty of its nature.
June 1, 2012
This is an extremely touching novel, very much like Crossing to Safety. I kept thinking it was like Angle of Repose, but that is a Wallace Stegner novel on my to-read list, not my read list. My bad!
At the start of this book, Noah is contacted by his father, Olaf. Olaf informs Noah that he needs help getting his remote cabin ready for winter and although Noah and his father have been estranged for several years, Noah immediately commits. When Noah arrives at the cabin, he can see that his father is quite ill and they begin a process reconciliation.
Olaf was on a ship that sunk, some 35 years earlier, where only 3 of 30 people survived. Olaf, who has internalized the events, tells Noah the story of the Ragnarok's demise. The sinking changed Olaf is ways the young Noah could have never understood, but now adult Noah understand's why his father remained distanced after the sinking. Prior to hearing the story from his father, Noah had disdain for his fathers' actions and really had no interest in being a part of his fathers life. After the story, the slate is cleared and Noah has a fresh understanding of his father.
This story is about the last days of Olaf's life and his special burial request that is sure to bring you to tears. This is a slow read, set in Northern Minnesota, that is so touching it is well worth your time.
At the start of this book, Noah is contacted by his father, Olaf. Olaf informs Noah that he needs help getting his remote cabin ready for winter and although Noah and his father have been estranged for several years, Noah immediately commits. When Noah arrives at the cabin, he can see that his father is quite ill and they begin a process reconciliation.
Olaf was on a ship that sunk, some 35 years earlier, where only 3 of 30 people survived. Olaf, who has internalized the events, tells Noah the story of the Ragnarok's demise. The sinking changed Olaf is ways the young Noah could have never understood, but now adult Noah understand's why his father remained distanced after the sinking. Prior to hearing the story from his father, Noah had disdain for his fathers' actions and really had no interest in being a part of his fathers life. After the story, the slate is cleared and Noah has a fresh understanding of his father.
This story is about the last days of Olaf's life and his special burial request that is sure to bring you to tears. This is a slow read, set in Northern Minnesota, that is so touching it is well worth your time.
December 9, 2012
Well, the first 50 pages of this book are boffo. The beginning is really funny and entertaining. The last 200 pages comprise a very ordinary tale of redemption with a sugar sweet happy ending. Argh.
This is a story of a father (Olaf) and a son (Noah). The father is an old, retired sailor living in rural Minnesota. The son is pretty much a Prius-fueled yuppie living in Boston. In the early parts of the book, the father's salty rants are very funny. There's a lot of outdoor living and hard drinking and smoking and cussing and all that great stuff. Slowly but surely, the son begins to understand that he has kind of turned into a weenie.
QOTD
After such a strong start, I was disappointed that the book flattened out, but it was still worth the read.
yow, bill
This is a story of a father (Olaf) and a son (Noah). The father is an old, retired sailor living in rural Minnesota. The son is pretty much a Prius-fueled yuppie living in Boston. In the early parts of the book, the father's salty rants are very funny. There's a lot of outdoor living and hard drinking and smoking and cussing and all that great stuff. Slowly but surely, the son begins to understand that he has kind of turned into a weenie.
QOTD
On the mismatched barstools half-a-dozen gray-haired men sat like barnacles. When the door creaked shut behind Noah they turned in unison to sneer at the schoolteacher in pressed khaki trousers standing in the doorway. Olaf stood up, last in line and farthest from the door, looked down at Noah over the top of his glasses, and pulled out the barstool next to his own. "Hello, boy," he said across the room as he pushed two empty Bloody Mary glasses into the bar gutter and crushed out a cigarette. "Come here. Have a seat. What do you know?"
- Safe from the Sea
After such a strong start, I was disappointed that the book flattened out, but it was still worth the read.
yow, bill
July 24, 2010
Peter Geye brings to life images of maritime history from a time when the ore ships plied the waters of the Great Lakes feeding the great industrial heart of America.
But this debut novel is so much more. Classic themes of redemption,reconciliation, and family ties, are set against the awesome power, magnitude and beauty of the north shore of Lake Superior. "Safe from the Sea" is also a riveting adventure tale and a heart-rending love story.
One of 3 survivors of the tragic wreck of the ore boat Ragnarok, Olaf, 35 years later, knows he is dying and reaches out to his estranged son. Noah returns to the cabin built by his grandfather to care for his father.
In the final weeks of his life Olaf relives the story of the wreck for the first time and acknowledges his feelings of guilt and regret while Noah discovers that things are not always as they seem.
This is a stunning narrative, by a talented new author. I am excited about telling our "Winter Texan" visitors from Minnesota about this book.
But this debut novel is so much more. Classic themes of redemption,reconciliation, and family ties, are set against the awesome power, magnitude and beauty of the north shore of Lake Superior. "Safe from the Sea" is also a riveting adventure tale and a heart-rending love story.
One of 3 survivors of the tragic wreck of the ore boat Ragnarok, Olaf, 35 years later, knows he is dying and reaches out to his estranged son. Noah returns to the cabin built by his grandfather to care for his father.
In the final weeks of his life Olaf relives the story of the wreck for the first time and acknowledges his feelings of guilt and regret while Noah discovers that things are not always as they seem.
This is a stunning narrative, by a talented new author. I am excited about telling our "Winter Texan" visitors from Minnesota about this book.
July 9, 2012
Safe from the Sea takes place on a small lake north of Lake Superior near Duluth, Minnesota. It is the story of an estranged son and father who reunite when Olaf, the father, calls Noah, the son, to say that he is sick and needs his help. Noah goes home, a place he hasn’t been to in years, and together father and son try to put the pieces of their memories together in the little time they have left.
Geye has painted a visual masterpiece in this quiet and dignified book. Place is a key element in Safe from the Sea and Lake Superior is a critical character. Lake Superior is a dark, mysterious, dangerous, and well-respected lake. The Lake is unpredictable and in Safe from the Sea we witness her power when Olaf finally tells the story of the harrowing ship wreck that he survived and why he came back a broken man.
Safe from the Sea is a hauntingly, moving book about guilt, regret, and failure, but it is also the story, about how in the end, there is only family, love, and forgiveness. Highly recommend.
Geye has painted a visual masterpiece in this quiet and dignified book. Place is a key element in Safe from the Sea and Lake Superior is a critical character. Lake Superior is a dark, mysterious, dangerous, and well-respected lake. The Lake is unpredictable and in Safe from the Sea we witness her power when Olaf finally tells the story of the harrowing ship wreck that he survived and why he came back a broken man.
Safe from the Sea is a hauntingly, moving book about guilt, regret, and failure, but it is also the story, about how in the end, there is only family, love, and forgiveness. Highly recommend.
November 26, 2013
Peter Geye wisely sets his first novel in an area he knows well -- Duluth, MN and on the unpredictable shores of Lake Superior. After years of estrangement, Noah returns to reconnect with his dying father, Olaf, one of three survivors of an ore-boat wreck 35 years earlier. Geye brings to life the Northern Minnesota landscape, its immigrant Norwegian culture, the sailing community and loss of the taconite industry with an keen and compassionate eye. Olaf's telling of the story of the shipwreck gave me chills. I felt like I was right there in this isolated spot in the woods with a father and son as they fish, chop wood, shovel snow, laugh and cry while working to resolve their long-time issues. As a Minnesota native I found this a remarkably good read.
January 10, 2018
An excellent read and an unusual adventure into family history, the beauty and harshness
of Lake Superior, and the shipping sailors of the inland sea.
I can’t remember when I have read a work of fiction that pivots around family dynamics that
does NOT have at least one character that I disliked; yet, everyone (flaws and all) come across as real and someone you would welcome as a neighbor.
Peter Geye’s first novel is impressive with a straight forward narrator and a clear story line; his second novel, Wintering, while too convoluted at times, is a more complex look into another
family's life and times in the cold cold Northern Minnesota area of the Boundary Waters and
Canada's Quetico Provincial Park. Both are recommended.
of Lake Superior, and the shipping sailors of the inland sea.
I can’t remember when I have read a work of fiction that pivots around family dynamics that
does NOT have at least one character that I disliked; yet, everyone (flaws and all) come across as real and someone you would welcome as a neighbor.
Peter Geye’s first novel is impressive with a straight forward narrator and a clear story line; his second novel, Wintering, while too convoluted at times, is a more complex look into another
family's life and times in the cold cold Northern Minnesota area of the Boundary Waters and
Canada's Quetico Provincial Park. Both are recommended.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 283 reviews