McCunn, Ruthanne Lum Sole Survivor

Exceptionally powerful World War 2 survival at sea tale. According to the author, Sole Survivor is a “fictional re-creation” of the extraordinary experiences of Chinese steward Poon Lim’s 133 days adrift aboard a small life raft after his ship, the Ben Line freighter BENLOMOND, was sunk by a German U-boat 750 miles off the coast of South America in late November 1942. Poon Lim’s story is an amazing one, and one that McCunn captures quite well. “The essence of being a seaman,” Lim’s brother tells him in a flashback, “ is to live life in the present to make both the past and the future disappear.” The Chinese steward uses this philosophy to stay alive and survive his ordeal. His frail craft eventually – in real life and in this novel – drifts all the way to the mouth of the Amazon River, where he is rescued by Brazilian fishermen. To this day, Poon Lim’s is the longest recorded survival at sea after a shipwreck. McCunn’s novel is also of interest for her vivid descriptions of the difficult lives endured by Chinese merchant mariners serving aboard Western ships and of the routine racism they endured at the hands of their employers and fellow non-Asian shipmates.