James Cameron's film of Titanic (in either its original or 3D versions) is a bladder-challenging 194 minutes. But for anyone who wants a story about the Titanic and does not have more than three hours to spend there is an alternative: Every Man For Himself.
This is a novel about the Titanic by Beryl Bainbridge that follows the four days of the ship's maiden voyage overe 214 pages (at least it does in my paperback version). The writing is brilliant and the special effects are superb.
This is the moment of collision:
"...suddenly the room juddered; the lights flickered and Ginsberg's cigarette case, whch sat at his elbow, jolted to the floor. It was the sound accompanying the juddering that startled us, a long drawn-out tearing, like a vast length of calico slowly ripping apart. Melchett said, "We're in collision with another ship", and with that we threw down our cards, ran to the doors, sprinted through the Palm Court and out on to the deck. A voice called "We've bumped an iceberg - there it goes", but though I peered out into the darkness I could see nothing."
Philip Pullman has commented on the close similarity between novelists and film makers in that unlike a stage play you can direct the eyes of your watchers/readers, and reading a passage like this you can how true it is.
The final image in the book is breathtaking:
"Dawn came and as far as the eye could see the ocean was dotted with islands and fields of ice. Some floated with tapering mast-heads, some sailed with monstrous bows rising sheer to the pink-flushed sky, some in the shapes of ancient vessels. Between this pale fleet the little lifeboats rocked. ... Beyond, where the sun was beginng to show its burning rim, smoke blew from a funnel."
The book won the 1996 Whitbread Novel Award, and in case you're interested the title of the book has a usage in the story quite different from what it might suggest given the subject matter.
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