We Are Pirates

Daniel Handle

I struggled with this book.  I wanted so much to like it, to "get" it.  The writing style felt jerky and incoherent.  This helped set the atmosphere of the book, but seemed overly confused at times. The family dynamics were portrayed well, especially between the angsty Gwen and her self centered father.  Gwen felt smothered and abandoned at the same time by her parents, neglected and betrayed by her peers.  She ended up obsessed with a fantasy, introduced by an unreliable, dementia ridden older man.  She felt this fantasy gave her a purpose.  She believed in this purpose so strongly, she influenced others around her to join in.  

What started as a swashbuckling adventure, turned into a warning tale of teen psychopathy.  This story was much than the clash between adolescent struggles and a rudderless mid-life.  As normal as the Needle family may have seemed on the surface, they each had a darkness that manifested in different ways.  I found little to redeem the father.  The mother was used as a prop for Gwen's rebellion.  And the violence that erupts so quickly once the "pirates" are out on the open water, seemed out of sync with the first half of the book.  The relationship between Gwen and Amber was intense, but there was no foreshadowing of the ease they would display in committing bloody, violent crimes.  Again, I struggled. The premise of the novel was unique and caught my interest, but I couldn't connect with the characters enough to make me want to find out how it all works out in the end.