Dark Water Rising by Marian Hale, Seth\'s

¶ … Dark Water Rising by Marian Hale, Seth's family moved to Galveston, TX. In early September 1900 the town was nearly wiped out by a storm that killed nearly 8,000 inhabitants. The novel set just before the storm.

At seventeen years old, Seth is discontented with his life. His mother forces him to look after his annoying siblings including a sister and his younger brothers. His father wants him to go to college instead of following his dream of becoming a carpenter. However, things start off well. After all, the townspeople seem to be very much relying on common sense when one of them remarked to Seth's dad that "The first medical college in Texas (Hale, 2006, p. 4)." While the family hopes for him to go to medical school, his uncle Nate finds him a summer job as a carpenter's helper. Seth meets a girl he likes and finds Galveston is a fun place to live.

The book's author makes it clear that his family expectations create great tensions for Seth. Through his eyes, the reader gets a glimpse of race relations in turn of the century as Seth works with a Black youth on a construction job. The subplots that Hale creates fit very smoothly within the larger story of the horrific hurricane with its physically and emotionally demanding devastation. Seth in addition to the other characters develop nicely dovetail with the historical facts of the "Hurricane Katrina" of its day. The pace is quick with sharp and focused plot and character development that gives a tight, yet easy to understand story. Truly, the reader cares about Seth and his family and friends.

This reader felt the protagonist's concern over his loved ones during the horrible hours when no one knew who survived. Through Seth's eyes, one sees the destruction caused by one of the worst hurricanes ever recorded in U.S. history. Hale has therefore captured the essence of this a natural disaster by using various personal accounts and journals and the combining them into the story of Seth's live in Galveston, Texas in and around the time of the August 1900 hurricane.

If I was the author, I would have changed a few story elements. While the surrounding elements of the hurricane add excitement, it is always better to include more details about the characters. The more we are involved in the lives of the characters (creatively done of course), the more we care about them as people. Otherwise, without this connection, the novel is just another book written around history. The ending I would have made would have tied the elements of environment and man together more tightly.

The most important and hopeful thing for me was Seth's relationship with the African-American boy that he worked with. What happened that was the most important was that Seth discovered that people are the same under the skin and that there is nothing really substantial that divides up. We are all human and Seth's principles will be shaped for all his life with the experience of this very special friendship.