The suffering of the victims of conflict is usually reduced to numbers - 3 dead in Iraq, 2 wounded in Afghanistan. No one can comprehend war who hasn't seen it. You're with them most painfully, as they rescue wounded sailors and desperately try to comfort dying men.īut, and this is what makes the novel truely brilliant, you are most with them when they die. You stand next to them on the bridge as they scan the horizon for U-boats. You follow them as they stay up for hours on end, because the gales are so strong they can't sleep. What makes The Cruel Sea more than just a war novel, is the intensely detailed portraits of the men and women involved. In this sense, the novel is like many others that came out of the Second World War - written by men who had served in the armed services, had seen action and perhaps used the process of putting the stories down on paper, as a method of dealing with their memories.
The novel deals with the terrors and horrors of the Atlantic conflict in World War II - specifically, the experiences of a group of tremendously inexperienced men sailing an escort ship in protection of the convoys bringing supplies to the UK from Canada and the US. One of mine is Nicholas Monsarrat's The Cruel Sea. Everyone should have at least one favourite novel that they return to year after year.
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