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Friday, September 4, 2015

Avoid The Shore

 As those of you who read this blog know, it's rare that I meet a book I don't like. And I don't think I've ever given a book a negative review on this blog, but since I received this book for free from Blogging for Books, I need to give it an honest review. 


First let me say, that there are things to admire about The Shore by Sara Taylor. The characters are complex and the dialogue keeps the action moving along. It's ambitious book of interconnected stories with different voices in each chapter. Taylor has a knack for capturing a character's unique voice and period of time. The female characters are strongly portrayed. She has kindly printed a family tree of these two related families in the front of the book.  The setting of the small islands (The Shore) just off the Chesapeake Bay is a constant strong character threading through this debut novel.  So you can see, I appreciated this young writer's mastery of her skills. I was actually in awe of her talent, but the story was just too harsh for me. Normally (you can see other reviews where I demonstrate this), I appreciate novels that shine a light on a dim situation. I don't require a happy ending in my fiction. But this was just too desolate.  Many its all the bad news I've been hearing lately - murders, refugees, children suffering - but this book was just dismal. I need a glimmer of redemption in my novels. I found little here.  I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

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