Richard Lewis,
The Killing Sea: A Story of the Tsunami That Stunned the World
Simon & Schuster, 2007

ages 12+

Novelist, surfer, and lifelong Bali resident (the son of missionaries), Richard Lewis volunteered in Aceh, Indonesia, after the 2004 tsunami. His fictionalized account of the tragedy is told from the viewpoints of two teenagers there: an American girl who is trying to save her sick brother and an English-speaking Indonesian boy looking for his missing father.

When the tsunami hits, Ruslan has to tear through a rooftop to escape rising water. He sees the first of countless corpses and tries to rescue living neighbors floating by, some just beyond his reach. Sarah's family is aboard a sailboat as they realize disaster is upon them. Sarah sees her father break his leg, discovers and buries her mother's corpse, and sees their sailboat hanging in the trees. But she focuses doggedly on the mission her mother slapped her daughter's face to force upon her as the tsunami bore down: rescue your younger brother, Peter.

In alternating suspenseful chapters, the struggles of Sarah and Ruslan are detailed. He must escape a military interrogation and interception by rebels as he gradually acquires a longer and longer list of "borrowed" items, from food to motorcycle, that he promises himself he'll repay. By the end of the story, he has hijacked a truck to help get Peter to a hospital, reassessed his religious views, and discovered his own deeply human values. Sarah, who couldn't be bothered to wear a headscarf to respect local custom at the beginning of the story, has been transformed as well by her own resourcefulness and by the help she receives from Ruslan and others as desperate as she.

This is a grueling, spellbinding book, extremely important for both adults and younger readers. Monumental tragedy has to be brought to human scale for us to realize its enormity. As Lewis reports how Sarah and Ruslan each find water and food, attempt to clean their bodies, grab moments of privacy, and share with and help others, we realize the devastation in intimate, emotional terms. By focusing on the mission behind each young person's ordeal and breaking the tension with the mystic antics of Peter's pet, Surf Cat, Lewis relates a deeply moving story without overwhelming his youthful audience.

A portion of the author's royalties go to Aceh grassroots relief organizations.

Charlotte Richardson
March 2007