At its core, We, the Drowned is a story about people, but in execution, it’s more a story about Marstal, Denmark. By following the adventures of the residents across four generations, it takes the reader from the age of sail into the World Wars, slowly transforming the city of Marstal and its inhabitants as it goes. The title is essentially a reference to Marstal being a port town, and the fact that many of its working men are sailors. As such, much of the book takes place at sea or in ports.
Ordinarily, I would dislike a story whose entire plot is essentially “keep reading to find out what happens”. However, in the instance of We, the Drowned, I very much enjoyed the experience, as the book reads more like a series of short stories than one single epic. It goes from fathers to sons to grandsons, daughters and granddaughters. Sometimes the stories are schoolchildren in the town, suffering under the same harsh schoolmaster that their parents did, and other times it’s a man sailing across the world to the Pacific to find his lost father. In effect, I enjoyed the way that it felt as though I was listening to an elder recount the tales of past generations, and how they all related to one another.
On the downside, some of the writing left me frustrated or confused. There is a significant amount of violence against women that is rather bizarre in its presentation. For example, on multiple occasions in the story, a woman will show interest in a man, but instead of the man responding with excitement, he reacts with anger and violence, as though she had somehow personally attacked him. Maybe I’m the wrong generation, or from the wrong culture, but it just felt completely inexplicable.
I do recommend this story to anyone with an interest in historical fiction. Overall, it is fun and engaging, or sometimes heartbreaking, and it’s worth the time to get to know the people of Marstal.
