46 pages 1 hour read

Mitch Albom

The Stranger in the Lifeboat

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

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Chapters 7-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 7 Summary

Sea

In the diary Benji recounts their most recent adventure. Weak from hunger and thirst, they had just been challenged by a great storm that had threatened to overtake them. In the storm, Nina is hurled overboard and Yannis dives in to rescue her. The others try to row the boat in the general direction they had gone overboard, but to no avail; Nina and Yannis are lost, never to be found again.

The next morning Geri determines that they no longer have enough people to successfully keep bailing water—as the boat had been previously damaged—and that now they needed to try and patch the boat. Risking the sharks, she dives in the water to patch up the boat, and in the process also realizes that there are barnacles and seaweed growing on the bottom. They realize that this is both a blessing and a curse: fish are being attracted to the boat, but that is also what is attracting the sharks. Late that night the survivors are dazzled by the sight of bioluminescent plankton. Benji speaks with Jean Philippe one last time, and the next morning wakes up to discover that Jean Philippe is the latest victim to disappear.

Land

The commissioner speaks with LeFleur, asking his thoughts on whether or not somebody could actually have survived and made it onto the lifeboat that had recently washed ashore.