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This is a story about a boy that will keep you guessing until the end if the story is just a metaphor or if this amazing story really happened to the boy. It's very philosophical.
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I felt like the three parts of the book didn't really mesh too well with each other. By the time I'd finished the lost at sea chapter, I'd forgotten what the point of all the religion talk was in the beginning. And the end felt sort of tacked on just so as to wrap everything up with a moral that seemed a bit artificial.
Regardless, my favorite part was when he finds the giant, floating island of algae and he's wandering around and runs into a tree which looks like it has fruit on it, so he picks ...more
Regardless, my favorite part was when he finds the giant, floating island of algae and he's wandering around and runs into a tree which looks like it has fruit on it, so he picks ...more

Again, I'm showing my love of simplicity but I adored this book, right up to the last chapter. It reminded me of Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories, which is one of my favorite books of all time. I was entranced by the magic in this story. Then the author brought us back to reality in the last chapter. Some readers were probably craving that grounding. I was like a kid learning that Santa Claus doesn't exist. A little disheartened, mostly just sad that the fantasy is over.
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The first fifty pages and the last fifty pages are the most fascinating parts of this book. Clearly there is a philosophy hidden inside, I just didn't care enough in the slow parts to pause and figure it out.
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My old bookclub read this and I thought it was going to be boring (stranded on a raft? what is there to go on about for hundreds of pages) but I didn't get bored and liked the ending a lot.
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Apr 09, 2008
Arlene Caruso
marked it as to-read