THE NAVIGATOR

by Morris West ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1976

Striking out now for greater depth after treading water you might say in The Salamander and Harlequin, Morris West offers us an adventure story which is at the same time a voyage to interior zones. His oversize hero is one Gunnar Thorkild, half-European, half-Polynesian, heir to the ancient and mysterious gifts of navigation and, on the other hand, scholar of some renown at the University of Hawaii. In order to prove his assert on that there exists, somewhere in the southern Pacific, an uncharted island known only to the Polynesian chiefs, Thorkild and some followers undertake a journey from which they never return. The assortment of wayfarers is, like the standardized bomber crew, a democratic one--white, black, oriental, young, old, rich, poor, Jew, Christian, atheist, artist, craftsman, technicians (doctor, botanist) and, as it turns out, the weak, the strong, the sick, the well, ultimately--the survivors. The trip is almost like a windjammer cruise. But the secret island happens to be a snare, a burial place which exacts total surrender for the knowledge it yields. Those who survive (and there is hope with the newborn) have no choice but to submit to the inevitable cycle of human existence. True, West's lowering Kon-Tiki is not all that compelling but it is better than serviceable entertainment.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1976

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1976

Categories: FICTION