Find yourself in the South Pacific
The Hurricane is a well-done word picture that transports the reader to the islands of the South Pacific. The authors (who also wrote Mutiny on the Bounty) skillfully reveal the characters so the reader feels he/she knows them. The descriptions of the island setting likewise are effective in making one feel present on them. The book is really two stories in one: a story of love tried but not broken, and the story of a devestating hurricane and its effects on the islands and people of the story. In the first part of the book the authors concentrate on the island life and the saga of its two main characters, Terangi and Marama. The reader becomes a part of life on Manakura. It is only well into the book that the hint appears that nature has something fateful in store for the peaceful paradise. The coming of the monstrous storm, the islanders desperate preparations to meet it and the storm's arrival and aftermath comprise the rest of the story. The authors vivid descriptions of the struggle for survival are riveting. In the final chapters the two stories are woven together to produce an unxepected ending. I am not a fan of novels and very rarely read one. This book, however, is one that I re-read every Spring.