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I found myself getting extremely frustrated with this novel right up to the end (aka chapter 54). I would read something that would make no sense, run to Leigh's room, demand that she explain it to me, and she would respond saying "It will all make sense in the end." By the end of chapter 54 I still felt like my questions hadn't been answered. 

When I would begin a chapter was confused about whether it was a flash-back or the present. Naslund would describe a scene but it wouldn't be until 2 paragraphs later that I would actually understand what was going on. I can see how this anticipation could be excited for some people but for me it was just very distressing. 

My initial reaction to the novel was to connect it to the story about the Uruguayan rugby team and the Doner Party. Families and friends were more likely to survive because they cared about each other and wouldn't resort to eating each other. Una, Kit, and Giles were about to survive by allying with each other. 

Despite my criticisms this novel works well as a finale for the course because it emphasizes human choice and how it effects our lives. Una makes many extremely choices throughout the short excerpts that we read. She leaves home dresses as a man and joins a ships crew. She chooses to ate other human beings in order to stay alive. She is constantly choosing between Kit and Giles and how she loves more. She chooses to marry Kit. This novel does a good job of showing how people's circumstances drastically effect their choices.

(Not that this question has a definite answer butt: Do you think the myth that women are bad luck on ship is true? Can Una be blamed for the whale's attack on this ship?)