Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Melodramatic, Nostalgic, Volatile
Hey, we get it. A book about being lost at sea is gonna be melodramatic. Fair enough.
Even so, there are moments in The Great Wide Sea that are super emotionally charged. Our favorite example is when Ben and his rescuers sail back to find his brothers, and he screams into the ocean:
"I'm coming back. I'm bringing help. I love you. Don't die. For God's sake, don't die." (39.26)
Yeah. Don't read this book if you want to stay relaxed and zen-like. It will rile you up.
One way in which the characters deal with both grief (over Christine Byron's death) and bad situations (like being stranded in the middle of nowhere) is by sharing old family stories.
Along the same lines, there's Ben's "golden day," which is, in his memory:
A day with sunshine sparkling around our eyes. With glitter in the sand and with water dancing blue and clear around the edges. The perfect day. (18.3)
There's a real tenderness in these memories.
That said, Ben, like his father—and the sea itself—has wild mood swings. That's where the volatility comes in. Chapter 18, in which Ben describes the golden day, has him feeling "so soft inside" (18.30).
But just a short time later, in Chapter 20, Ben goes bananas when his dad disappears. (And right after that, the big storm hits.) The book's uneven tone really drives home the idea that life can change dramatically from one minute to the next.