Synopsis:
The islands of Prospera lie in a vast ocean, in splendid isolation from the rest of humanity—or whatever remains of it. Citizens of the main island enjoy privileged lives. They are attended to by support staff who live on a cramped neighboring island, where whispers of revolt are brewing—but for the Prosperans, life is perfection. And when the end of life approaches, they’re sent to a mysterious third island, where their bodies are refreshed, their memories are wiped away, and they return to start life anew. Proctor Bennett is a ferryman, whose job it is to enforce the retirement process when necessary. He never questions his work, until the day he receives a cryptic message:
“The world is not the world.”
These simple words unlock something he has secretly suspected. They seep into strange dreams of the stars and the sea. They give him the unshakable feeling that someone is trying to tell him something important.
Something no one could possibly imagine, something that could change the fate of humanity itself.
Awards/Nominations:
My Edition:
ARC provided by Net Galley
My Thoughts:
Dystopia is becoming a more difficult sub-genre for me with every passing day. Is that because I feel the world I’m actually living in becoming one? Maybe. Either way, it is what it is. Luckily, a past version of me read The Ferryman. A version of me that didn’t feel the daily slide into oblivion. That version of me had a good time with the story. It’s a bit overlong (538 pages!), and it’s not treading any new ground (if you’ve read a dystopian story before, you know what I mean – they’re rarely mind-blowing), but it is told in an engaging manner.
Proctor Bennett, as main characters go, felt a little underwhelming to me. He pretty much cycles through every aspect of the dystopian-hero’s journey beat for beat, and doesn’t offer the reader much beyond that. He has an Everyman feel about him – I imagine that was intentional. But I liked pretty much all the characters he interacted with much more than I did him, so it still worked out well for me. The Ferryman has big The Giver and Logan’s Run vibes, although as mentioned, I definitely engaged with the mc way less than I did in either of those examples. But story-wise, like I said, if you’ve read one dystopian novel, you can pretty well figure out where this one is going.
I know all this sounds like I didn’t enjoy The Ferryman, which is probably confusing. I apologize for that. But the thing is this: although I didn’t find the premise of The Ferryman terribly original, and at parts the story did feel a bit too plodding for my taste, overall it was an enjoyable read. I like this kind of story even though they lean heavily toward mind-numbing predictability. It’s like I watched a really long episode of a comfort show. Or literally any of the Hunger Games movies, but this time I actually had a good time (which I wouldn’t because WHY ARE THEY SO LONG AND BORING). He definitely plotted it out well, and told an entertaining story.
Rating:
The Ferryman
By Justin Cronin
Ballantine Books
Published: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780525619475
Hardcover, Paperback, E-book, Audiobook
538 Pages
