The Last Cruise

A Novel

By: Kate Christensen

Narrated by: Rob Shapiro

The 1950s ocean liner Queen Isabella is making her final voyage—a retro cruise from Long Beach to Hawaii and back—before heading to the scrapyard. For the guests on board, it’s a chance to experience a bygone era of decadent luxury, complete with fine dining, classic highballs, string quartets, and sophisticated jazz. Smoking is allowed but not cell phones—or children, for that matter. But this is the second decade of an uncertain new millennium, not the sunny, heedless mid-twentieth century, and certain disquieting signs of strife and malfunction above and below deck intrude on the festivities, throwing a trio of strangers together in an unexpected and startling test of character.

What’s with the abrupt ending!?!

I loved this book up until the ending left me hanging and I shouted, “WHAT!?!?!?!” I needed so much more. Some of the resolutions were beautiful and the characters deep and complex like real humans.

Loved it!

Did not want it to end. Loved all the well developed characters! The
Narrator was excellent.

Creative writing textbook?

This could be a textbook in a college writing class where students get the opportunity to take developed characters and from a dramatic moment, write the denouement. It could be really fun.

I enjoyed the story and was excited to hear where the interesting characters ended their journeys but the story did not give us that. Everything had been pretty well thought out and progressions from scene to scene flowed well.

Luxury's sharp edge plus even sharper love stories

Such a compelling portrait of beautiful, brutal America! What would happen if you got to luxuriate in a one-percenter's little folly, but weren't one of them? Who do you, and your integrity, become when something goes wrong? The newest novel from the fiercely intelligent Kate Christensen (one of this country's most consistently interesting writers) gives us several unlikely heroes who are just like us: smart, talented women and men struggling to survive in the new America and the turbulent wake of international corporate power.

The turquoise waters are delightful, but like anything in excess they also hide danger and despair. The tension here is not mortal: it is, like all of Christensen's books, moral. And so wonderfully complex. She refuses to deal in easy stereotypes: no one is simply good or bad. She lures us into this cruise with a delightfully stylish premise, all exquisite food and glamorous settings and vivid characters. Then she turns it all on its head to follow the money. And while chaos threatens, she deftly develops two of the most memorable romances I've ever enjoyed.



The narrator is very good, for male voices. I've given only 4 stars simply because there were so many interesting female characters, of all ages, that I found myself longing for a female voice, or at least a less rumbly male voice.

The last cruise

If your a cruiser, you will enjoy this book . There is a storyline involving a few passengers , but the bulk of the story is about the food and entertainment departments and all the issues they face in serving the public . I enjoyed all the character development and the way things work behind the scenes when trouble occurs and the crew still has to do their job .
Barbara C