{"id":4398,"date":"2017-12-14T05:00:50","date_gmt":"2017-12-14T13:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4398"},"modified":"2017-12-10T13:09:30","modified_gmt":"2017-12-10T21:09:30","slug":"mark-reads-lifeboats-chapter-8-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2017\/12\/mark-reads-lifeboats-chapter-8-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘Lifeboats’: Chapter 8, Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the second half of the eighth chapter of Lifeboats<\/i>, Kit trusts his instincts and has a bizarre conversation with a sibik. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Young Wizards<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I feel like Kit is so close to putting this all together, and I need him to do that because THEN I CAN PUT IT TOGETHER MYSELF. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how this is all going to be wrapped up in just under 40 pages, but here we are, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. HERE WE ARE. And gods, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, WHAT IF THIS IS ALL ABOUT KIT DEALING WITH HIS LOSS OF PONCH??? Well, maybe not \u00e2\u20ac\u0153all\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that is going on, but the fact that the second half of this chapter relies so heavily on the emotional weight of Ponch\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death feels like a hint to me.<\/p>\n

The parallels are sort<\/i> of there, in the sense that Lifeboats <\/i>deals with slow inevitability. Just like Thesba is going to crash into Tevaral, Ponch was inevitably going to transcend and leave Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s side. (Or die. You could choose that as the end point and still make the same point.) So it feels telling to me that Kit suspects that in some way, Ponch is within this sibik and is gently pushing him towards acceptance of a world that he cannot control.<\/p>\n

And really, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what I think<\/i> that this novel is about. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going back over this incredible conversation between the unnamed sibik and Kit (and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s truly one of my favorite scenes in the whole book), and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s amazing to me that it starts in such sorrow, but moves to a place that is far more uplifting. The sibik\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sadness is understandable because it can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite understand what is happening to the people it has bonded with, and that frustration becomes its own sadness, too. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something to be said for how this emotional upheaval is a mutual thing, too. Even for Kit! These Teveral are not his friends, and he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know any of them well, and yet he is still having an existential crisis while trying to help them out.<\/p>\n

So Kit and the sibik, confused and saddened and uncertain, share a packet of saltines while Kit tells a story. And that story\u00e2\u20ac\u201dabout a man convinced that God will save him\u00e2\u20ac\u201ddeals with inevitability and control. The irony is that the man is convinced that every lifeline sent to him is God testing him, when it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actually how God offered help. How does that relate to what these two are going through, then? Well, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m wondering if Kit things that the gates the wizards have brought to Teveral are the same signs of help that are in the story he told. Initially, that was my theory, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure that makes sense. He knows why <\/i>certain Tevaral won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t leave. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not that they think help is coming later; they simply can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t leave their home behind. Instead, he recognizes what a horrible situation this is, but believes that out of every possibility, living<\/i> would be best. Even in a world that isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t their home, even in a place that feels unreal and unfair and terrible, wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t trying<\/i> to live in that world be better?<\/p>\n

I guess we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have to see.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/u3sLSoNuuqE<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now available for pre-order!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"