Stowaway: Week of 9/30/13

Prompt:  Describe the setting – when and where what you are reading takes place.
Pages read: 0-68

    The setting of Stowaway is the vast, wide open ocean.  There's not a specific ocean because they are on a voyage right now to discover new and uncharted lands, but right now the crew of the Endeavor (the ship that the main character Nick Young is traveling on) is headed towards King George's Land. The Endeavor, the ship that Nick is aboard, is where all the action takes place in the story, and the sea is a secondary setting compared to being aboard the ship.  In the beginning Nick Young boards the ship secretly, hence the name Stowaway, so the author goes in great detail about his drab living conditions, which all describe the setting of a ship very well.  I can clearly picture the living conditions in the Endeavor, which I would describe as dreary and dull, and a bit lonesome. The setting has quite a lot of an adventurous tone in it to keep me hooked on reading Stowaway. 
     
    Stowaway takes place in the mid-1700's.  1769 to be exact.  This book is formatted as a log that the main character is writing in, so the date is at the top of the page, and at the beginning of a new entry.  Right now, it is March 22, 1769 (my birthday!) and the crew still has not seen land.  In the ocean, which is described as "an unnatural color" and "filled with exotic creatures" the main character says times flies by when you are sailing, so it has already been a year since they "set sail". I think the author does a good job of describing the time period because she uses words that they would say in the 1700's and the government is outdated compared to today (for example this is pre-Revolutionary War).  Another interesting thing about this book is that each "entry" has the latitude and longitude of the Endeavor.  Although those degrees really don't make sense to me, if I looked on a map they would help me visualize the scene better.

    This is one of my favorite settings in a book because the idea of being away at sea and going on a grand adventure seems to be very comforting to read about, and also extremely interesting.  I have always loved this setting, and I remember only wanting to read sea-faring stories when I was a bit younger, my favorite of all time being Treasure Island.  I guess that is what drew me to reading Stowaway.  I could infer that the book had a voyage on a ship of some sort by the cover (which by the way is very beautiful, it even has a map) so sometimes I do judge books by their cover... Overall, this book is starting out to be very engrossing, and the setting only adds to my interest, and possible addiction.