Captives, by Tom Pow
Pow, Tom (2007). Captives. New Milford, CT: Roaring Brook Press. 185 pages.
Lame, lame, lame. I really expected more from this novel if only based on its premise: two families (one British and one American) are kidnapped while on vacation in the Caribbean and are held captive by a group of socialist terrorists bent on extracting an American mining company from its island. The novel’s main character is Martin, the teenaged son of the British family, and a witness but not strong participant in the captivity narrative. After Martin’s father’s memoir of the family’s experience is published (illustrated by drawings Martin’s mother did while in captivity), Martin finally reads and questions his father’s version of the events.
Pow is clearly trying to garner sympathy for the band of activists who kidnap the families; however, these characters emerge more as stereotypically principled, Latin savages than real characters. Their captivity ends in tragedy for the American family, and Martin’s perspective of the narrative is taken up with mooning over the American family’s nubile teen daughter. Told in two parts: Martin’s father’s “published” memoir and what is supposed to be Martin’s own view of the experience, Martin’s perspective is more American-daughter-centric and reads more like the fantasies of an overly romantic victim. I was initially intrigued by the idea of the twice-told story and the inconsistencies that would emerge between the father’s and son’s narratives; however, Martin’s story read more like an elaboration of his father’s rather than the rebuke and symbol of their relationship than it could have been.