The story is broken into three sections with different timelines and points of view. Sea is told while the survivors are on the lifeboat, land is told a year and a half after the Galaxy sank, and News is told before the yacht set sail. Whoa! What a story! At first, I was afraid this might not end up being so great. The story seemed so far-fetched, but I really should have known better. Before long, that crazy story just burst into life, the tension amped up, and I was holding my breath, eyes wide as saucers. Suddenly what seemed far-fetched just a moment before now held me absolutely rapt. I don’t know how he does it, but this is my eighth Albom novel and, incredibly, they just keep getting better and better! He somehow knows how to reach our very core, touching something deep within us. Our hearts? Our souls? With mere words he’s able to tap into the innocence—that ability to suspend belief—that we all had as children. In The Stranger in the Lifeboat, Benji Keaney is a complex character who harbours a guilty secret: was he complicit in the explosion that sank the luxury cruise ship on which he served as a lowly crew member? Benji comes across as a decent human being. His journal exhibits his great love for his wife, Annabelle. His admiration and respect for fellow life raft member, Geri, showed that his heart was in the right place: he wanted to help the other passengers survive, even though he could not bring himself to "believe" or have faith that The Lord (the last character in this novel that was pulled from the ocean) was always with him, even in his darkest hours.

Faith is a cornerstone of my life. Finding connection within fiction that explores humanity at its most vulnerable within a belief or the struggle to relate to belief help me explore my own limitations. How would I respond under similar circumstances? Money - paper from a tree, or, now, a typed number in an online bank account - determines your worth in this world. Money is power. Power ultimately corrupts and oppresses those who "have not." The Oppressed eventually overthrow the Oppressors, there are bloody revolutions, etc., etc., etc..... We humans repeat this vicious cycle endlessly, because we can't seem to focus on anything else other than conflict and personal gain. When Yannis mentions science, the stranger says that, “science explained away the sun…the stars…all the creatures…and my greatest creation…you.” What is he saying about the role of science in the life of humans? What should the relationship be between science and faith? When does each serve humans best?The point of the book is that "god" exists and is watching, and that there is a heaven. Pretty much the theme of his previous books. He writes like a literary Spielberg: with great impact and emotion, and without being afraid of pathos.”— Brigitte (Germany) In The Stranger in the Lifeboat, Albom keeps us guessing until the end: Is this strange man really who he claims to be? What actually happened to cause the explosion? Are the survivors in heaven, or are they in hell? The story is narrated by Benji, one of the passengers, who recounts the events in a notebook that is discovered—a year later—when the empty life raft washes up on the island of Montserrat. It falls to the island’s chief inspector, Jarty LeFleur, a man battling his own demons, to solve the mystery of what really happened. Geri Reede- 39yo Olympic swimmer, short blonde hair, assertive, sea worthy, confident. Guest on yacht.

A STRANGER IN THE LIFEBOAT is an evocative and intriguing story exploring that sometimes the answer to a call for help is ‘no.’ Sometimes the answer is not what you wanted. Maybe we are asking the wrong questions.

It’s not Albom’s most emotionally moving book, despite its lofty material, but it is a well-paced mystery that considers important theological questions. Albom cites a handful of people in his life for inspiring parts of the answers to these questions, including his late Detroit pastor. The Stranger in the Lifeboat” is no different. As each of the survivors of the lifeboat grapples with the seeming inevitability of their death, the regrets of their life and whether to trust the strange man in their raft who calls himself the Lord, they also grapple with greater themes of faith and forgiveness. In some senses this, and other books from Albom, are probably rather odd to some believers and unbelievers. Within that caveat I found this a convincing story I guess. Was it an enjoyable read - yes. Was it thought provoking - maybe. I would certainly read another by this author in the future and fans of his will be very pleased by this story I think. An inspirational novel about a disaster and an answered prayer by the author of The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2003). When Nina implores the stranger to ease their worry, he says, “worry is something you create…to fill a void.” What might he mean by this? Why else might humans worry? In what ways is worry a valuable part of being human or something that is unhealthy?

I found the story gripping where you kept wanting to continue. It does reference a "god" type of character, and I'm not a believer as I'm of scientific method, but I'm aware of the possibility just per science no proof. In spite of that, it was still interesting, and I understand the main point of the book = "god" is always with you, and deceased loved ones spirits continue on in "heaven. " In my opinion, this makes this partly a fantasy book. It didn't take me long to get into this book and after that I was caught up in the story however odd it may seem. It is not a long read and is crisply written. From time to time I found myself wondering just where this might be going. Some of the threads seemed rather odd in the circumstances. That said I had some thoughts quite early on about a possible outcome and wasn't far off the truth I guess. It's one of those books where it would be a shame to reveal more. I sometimes wonder if the latter group isn't right: we humans seem, in our worst moments, to resemble a germ or virus that has devoured so much of the beauty in this world.) Despite centuries of documented wars and other misdeeds to serve as examples to guide us down a different path, we humans have become even more greedy, more materialistic and impossibly desensitized to each other's fates.

Three woman who join together to rent a large space along the beach in Los Angeles for their stores—a gift shop, a bakery, and a bookstore—become fast friends as they each experience the highs, and lows, of love. Billionaire James Lambert decides to set sail on his luxury yacht called the Galaxy with some of the richest and famous and influential people in the world. But something goes wrong, and the yacht explodes. The stranger in the lifeboat is story of the 9 of the survivors on a life raft when they see a person in a water. They bring if onto the raft and they find out that this person is GOD. After a deadly ship explosion, nine people are stranded in a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean. With limited water, food and emergency supplies, the strangers become desperate for help, but there appears to be no land in sight. When three days pass, the travelers come across a lone man in the ocean, and pull him into their lifeboat as well, saving him from the waves. During introductions the man says “I am the Lord” and promises that all passengers will be rescued when they “believe He is who He says He is”.

We meet these imperiled castaways drifting at sea. They were all guests or workers on a massive yacht owned by billionaire Jason Lambert. He had gathered technology pioneers, corporate leaders, glitzy celebrities and even former presidents for a week-long adventure to “spur each other to change the world” — a cruise version of Davos. While this story has all the elements of a “whodunnit,” the real question surfaces when they pull a 10th survivor into the lifeboat --- one claiming to be God himself. But is this bizarre, unkempt man who he claims to be? Is he, in fact, God? The question carries weight, as the man tells his fellow passengers that he will only save them once everyone aboard believes that he is who he says he is. Mitch Albom books are always thought provoking. The story follows the journey of nine people on the rafts battle for survival and the attempts of those on land to uncover what had happened at sea. This is a short novel that's intriguing with so much depth. The book is arranged into three parallel storylines: 1) from one of the survivors. 2) the inspector investigating what happened 3) from the media reporting about the yacht. This is another fantastic read by the fabulous Mitch Albom who's books never disappoint. After waking from a powerful dream about being saved to find himself still in the lifeboat, Benji feels “the enormity of death begin to hit.” What might this mean? What physical and psychological effects might it have? In what ways might such profound awareness be of value to people? In a Nutshell: Intriguing concept, detached implementation. Add to this a reader with zero philosophical understanding and the result is utter confusion.The mysterious character that supposedly found the lifeboat, Rom Rosh, was actually Benji. He had survived and washed up on Montserrat. I thought that character might have been god. Rum Rosh is Hebrew from Psalms, and means "God lifted my head." Jean Philippe- Haitian cook working on yacht (obviously due to the authors love of Haiti he included a Haitian character, and he had input on the book from real Haitian teens).