Review of The Old Corsair
Posted: 27 Jul 2024, 01:38
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Old Corsair" by Michael DeStefano.]
Michael DeStefano's novel The Old Corsair is a classic of maritime noir, and it casts a very dark spell on human yearning. It is a book that does not just narrate events but rather becomes an existence, an existence where the sea itself is just as much a character as any of the people who venture through its dangerous zones. Terrie Murphy, whose identity is veiled in mystery, can be regarded as a vessel herself in the given novel, and she is also revealed to be, though not entirely affirmative, a storm chaser.
The prose that DeStefano has contributed here is a wave that transports the reader between the light of the current day and the storm of the previous days with amazing ease. The foundation laid is the author's inherent research, and the squares of information fit into the picture like a puzzle, forming this grand narrative. And yet, it is not simply a work of history; it is an exciting saga in which history is very much alive, and history's mysteries are as fantastical and dangerous as a rock formation.
It is an intricate play of different mysteries, with the novel as a puzzle in which each component is crucial and where the picture obtained at the end is unique in both its splendor and horror. DeStefano does an excellent job of telling the story with the ocean, not as merely a setting but as a character in the book, powerful, vast, and immovable as the tides. This is a kind of ghost story in which the ghost is from the past and violently breaks into the present. The thorough research of maritime history can be detected throughout the novel, but it never intrudes into the properly built flow of action.
The Old Corsair will be on my 5 out of 5 star shelf. It was so excellently edited that the book was free from errors; there is nothing to dislike about the book. His depiction of the sea is so vivid and full of sense that one can actually feel as if he were in the thick of it. This is a novel one cannot forget, a book that should be a reminder of the author's talent in writing a novel that is provoking to the mind and affects the emotions of the reader. The Old Corsair is also a long sea voyage that has a somewhat profound impact on a man's soul.
******
The Old Corsair
View: on Bookshelves
Michael DeStefano's novel The Old Corsair is a classic of maritime noir, and it casts a very dark spell on human yearning. It is a book that does not just narrate events but rather becomes an existence, an existence where the sea itself is just as much a character as any of the people who venture through its dangerous zones. Terrie Murphy, whose identity is veiled in mystery, can be regarded as a vessel herself in the given novel, and she is also revealed to be, though not entirely affirmative, a storm chaser.
The prose that DeStefano has contributed here is a wave that transports the reader between the light of the current day and the storm of the previous days with amazing ease. The foundation laid is the author's inherent research, and the squares of information fit into the picture like a puzzle, forming this grand narrative. And yet, it is not simply a work of history; it is an exciting saga in which history is very much alive, and history's mysteries are as fantastical and dangerous as a rock formation.
It is an intricate play of different mysteries, with the novel as a puzzle in which each component is crucial and where the picture obtained at the end is unique in both its splendor and horror. DeStefano does an excellent job of telling the story with the ocean, not as merely a setting but as a character in the book, powerful, vast, and immovable as the tides. This is a kind of ghost story in which the ghost is from the past and violently breaks into the present. The thorough research of maritime history can be detected throughout the novel, but it never intrudes into the properly built flow of action.
The Old Corsair will be on my 5 out of 5 star shelf. It was so excellently edited that the book was free from errors; there is nothing to dislike about the book. His depiction of the sea is so vivid and full of sense that one can actually feel as if he were in the thick of it. This is a novel one cannot forget, a book that should be a reminder of the author's talent in writing a novel that is provoking to the mind and affects the emotions of the reader. The Old Corsair is also a long sea voyage that has a somewhat profound impact on a man's soul.
******
The Old Corsair
View: on Bookshelves