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Adrift in the Sound
In 1973, frazzled Seattle street artist Lizette Karlson tries to pull herself together and turns to the Franklin Street Dogs for help. This low-life tavern softball team is a horrifying choice for a fractured spirit like Lizette, who's only trying to stay warm and make it through another rainy night. The Dogs think she’s a head case and don't realize that while Lizette’s beautiful, talented, and a bit off kilter—she’s also cunning and dangerous.
Lizette wants to make it with top-Dog, Rocket. He's fixed on next door neighbor Sandy Shore, the little snake dancer who strips for soldiers coming home at the end of the Vietnam War. Everybody sleeps with everybody—whatever gets you through the night—it’s a sexual free-for-all until Sandy turns up pregnant and the scene go haywire.
After witnessing a murder and getting kicked out by the Dogs, Lizette is on the run again, crisscrossing Puget Sound. She hides out on Orcas Island and paints in a secluded cabin owned by her childhood friend Marian, a gifted midwife who recently inherited her family's ranch. On the island, Lizette works with Lummi tribal leaders Poland and Abaya, who stick to their cultural values, guard their family secrets and offer her unconditional love. Along the way, Lizette sorts out crippling secrets in her own past, unwittingly makes a splash in the New York art world—and finds the only thing that really matters.
If you lived through the free-love 60s, if you've ever wondered what happened the day after the music died, ADRIFT IN THE SOUND picks up the beat and offers unforgettable insights into a turbulent time in American history. It's a story about fighting the tides, surviving the storm, and swimming for shore.
Readers are calling ADRIFT IN THE SOUND an important exploration of the resilience of the human spirit in a radically changing world. In both lyrical prose and gritty street language, Kate Campbell rocks our understanding of contemporary history and challenges our fiercely held beliefs. She reshapes old myths and creates new folktales to delight our imaginations.
Lizette wants to make it with top-Dog, Rocket. He's fixed on next door neighbor Sandy Shore, the little snake dancer who strips for soldiers coming home at the end of the Vietnam War. Everybody sleeps with everybody—whatever gets you through the night—it’s a sexual free-for-all until Sandy turns up pregnant and the scene go haywire.
After witnessing a murder and getting kicked out by the Dogs, Lizette is on the run again, crisscrossing Puget Sound. She hides out on Orcas Island and paints in a secluded cabin owned by her childhood friend Marian, a gifted midwife who recently inherited her family's ranch. On the island, Lizette works with Lummi tribal leaders Poland and Abaya, who stick to their cultural values, guard their family secrets and offer her unconditional love. Along the way, Lizette sorts out crippling secrets in her own past, unwittingly makes a splash in the New York art world—and finds the only thing that really matters.
If you lived through the free-love 60s, if you've ever wondered what happened the day after the music died, ADRIFT IN THE SOUND picks up the beat and offers unforgettable insights into a turbulent time in American history. It's a story about fighting the tides, surviving the storm, and swimming for shore.
Readers are calling ADRIFT IN THE SOUND an important exploration of the resilience of the human spirit in a radically changing world. In both lyrical prose and gritty street language, Kate Campbell rocks our understanding of contemporary history and challenges our fiercely held beliefs. She reshapes old myths and creates new folktales to delight our imaginations.
340 pages, Paperback
First published May 22, 2012
2 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
Kate Campbell
2 books22 followersKate Campbell grew up in San Francisco, and has lived throughout California and the West. A working journalist, her environmental and political writing appears regularly in newspapers and magazines. Kate holds a degree in journalism from San Francisco State University and has studied creative writing at American River College and the University of California, Davis. She lives in Sacramento and, in addition to writing fiction and poetry, publishes the Word Garden blog at https://kcamp300.wordpress.com/
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
March 2, 2013
ADRIFT IN THE SOUND – Kate Campbell
ABSOLUTELY MARVELOUS WRITING!
This story was a privilege to read—a true gift. Thank you, Kate.
Right off, the floor fell away and I was adrift—no stopping, no turning back. It was like walking through a doorway and it was forty years ago.
This gripping story of personal struggle is set against the turbulence of the seventies. But this is no Love In. This is hard-boiled, in-your-face writing, and Kate Campbell pulls no punches. It reads like memoir, but really it is fiction shot through with the stinging clarity of truth.
If you lived through the era, you’ll recognize the characters—adrift on the emotional roller coaster that racked and paralyzed the nation. This is the story of all of us—those who “made” it, those who fell and those struggling today with truth and justice in their search for the American Way.
= = = = = = = = = =
3/1/2013
NOW TRY: BETWEEN THE SHEETS by Thomas T. Thomas and Kate Campbell
A Peek Behind the Curtain—A Journey of Discovery!
Ever wanted to be the fly on the wall? Here’s your chance.
Between the Sheets chronicles the dialogue between writer (Kate Campbell) and editor (Thomas T. Thomas) concerning Kate’s first novel, Adrift in the Sound—which was a fabulous read. Dorothy called it, “Best book I’ve read in a long time.”
Of course, immediately after finishing Adrift, I jumped Between the Sheets, as it were, for an opportunity to find out just how this amazing story evolved into the light of day. The collection of emails between writer and editor discloses more than I’d anticipated. You’ll be privy to a candid, honest discussion, where lives (albeit literary) hang in the balance.
Thomas is a wonderful editor and spirit guide. We would all be fortunate to have him covering our back.
Between the Sheets is a must-read for writing students and seasoned writers, alike.
Writing is a journey of discovery. While yearning for the end—the publishing of our new baby—we bask in the process along the way—whiling away in solitary hours writing, editing, turning over stones, trying on hats, anticipating the next surprise waiting around the corner.
Conjuring a story may not be magic, but we certainly hope the final result will be.
ABSOLUTELY MARVELOUS WRITING!
This story was a privilege to read—a true gift. Thank you, Kate.
Right off, the floor fell away and I was adrift—no stopping, no turning back. It was like walking through a doorway and it was forty years ago.
This gripping story of personal struggle is set against the turbulence of the seventies. But this is no Love In. This is hard-boiled, in-your-face writing, and Kate Campbell pulls no punches. It reads like memoir, but really it is fiction shot through with the stinging clarity of truth.
If you lived through the era, you’ll recognize the characters—adrift on the emotional roller coaster that racked and paralyzed the nation. This is the story of all of us—those who “made” it, those who fell and those struggling today with truth and justice in their search for the American Way.
= = = = = = = = = =
3/1/2013
NOW TRY: BETWEEN THE SHEETS by Thomas T. Thomas and Kate Campbell
A Peek Behind the Curtain—A Journey of Discovery!
Ever wanted to be the fly on the wall? Here’s your chance.
Between the Sheets chronicles the dialogue between writer (Kate Campbell) and editor (Thomas T. Thomas) concerning Kate’s first novel, Adrift in the Sound—which was a fabulous read. Dorothy called it, “Best book I’ve read in a long time.”
Of course, immediately after finishing Adrift, I jumped Between the Sheets, as it were, for an opportunity to find out just how this amazing story evolved into the light of day. The collection of emails between writer and editor discloses more than I’d anticipated. You’ll be privy to a candid, honest discussion, where lives (albeit literary) hang in the balance.
Thomas is a wonderful editor and spirit guide. We would all be fortunate to have him covering our back.
Between the Sheets is a must-read for writing students and seasoned writers, alike.
Writing is a journey of discovery. While yearning for the end—the publishing of our new baby—we bask in the process along the way—whiling away in solitary hours writing, editing, turning over stones, trying on hats, anticipating the next surprise waiting around the corner.
Conjuring a story may not be magic, but we certainly hope the final result will be.
January 7, 2013
"Adrift in the Sound" is a real treat in the uncharted waters of Indy-literature.
The book is meticulously crafted; the writing is so much more refined than a lot of the Indy-lit I've encountered. Kate Campbell is a talented story teller with a remarkable gift for visual description. The heroine of the story, Lizette, is so well developed that the reader feels like he (or she) is reading about a real person.
Lizette seems hell-bent on self destruction on so many levels that the reader has to wonder if she's going to make it to the end of the story alive. Campbell does a phenomenal job of bringing us inside Lizette's mind, without actually telling us what she's thinking. However, even as the reader gets to know the character, there's always another layer underneath that surprises.
Definitely a worthwhile read, "Adrift in the Sound" should be a welcome addition to anyone's must-read list.
The book is meticulously crafted; the writing is so much more refined than a lot of the Indy-lit I've encountered. Kate Campbell is a talented story teller with a remarkable gift for visual description. The heroine of the story, Lizette, is so well developed that the reader feels like he (or she) is reading about a real person.
Lizette seems hell-bent on self destruction on so many levels that the reader has to wonder if she's going to make it to the end of the story alive. Campbell does a phenomenal job of bringing us inside Lizette's mind, without actually telling us what she's thinking. However, even as the reader gets to know the character, there's always another layer underneath that surprises.
Definitely a worthwhile read, "Adrift in the Sound" should be a welcome addition to anyone's must-read list.
November 24, 2012
Adrift in the Sound: Kate Campbell
Some people cannot find their way in this world and often get lost in their own thoughts. Lizette witnesses a murder, which let her broken in more ways than one. Finding her way back home to her father only left her empty and more alone. Confronting him about his past caused him to send her away. Drifting about and going through the motions she winds up in a poor area, with other drug users and lives her life as if she’s in a misty or clouded fog.
The year is 1973 and the date is February 2. Lizette Karlson has been drifting through life for so long that when she reenters her parent’s home, her father, anthropologist, Einar Karlson, she brings along with her the past, her own package and memories of being attacked and raped. Lizette remembers her mother, the smell of the paints she used on her pallets, her art studio and the special cookies her mother made. Lizette has serious mental problems, which her father chooses to ignore or just cast aside and not deal with. Lizette is an outcast and leaving her father’s home she returns to the life she led before with friends like Rocket, Sandy and the baseball hopefuls the Dogs. Junkies, losers and castoffs create this powerful picture of people just trying to survive anyway they can. Lizette has nowhere to go and leaves for two different places.
One, where Norwegian fisherman lived n the past and this is where our story picks up when she reenters that world with Sandy and her friends. Although Sandy would prefer to her to leave she cleans her house, tries to help out but Lizette appears to be unstable and most would rather have her gone. Making noises and pretending to be a bird she eventually leaves and heads for the shack she mentioned to her father in the short period of time she was there. Her friend Marion offers her a place to stay and hopefully a way to reconnect with life. Lizette cleans the house of the Rocket and the Dogs but no matter how hard she tries her behavior is odd and they want her to leave. As a result she finds her way into the street, lives with some vagrants and then hides out in Rocket’s again before finding her way to Marian’s. Marian takes her in, cleans her up, feeds and hopefully will get her to take her meds and find her way back into the art world and away from the drugs and alcohol of Rocket and his friends. Concerned about her two closest Native American friends Poland and his wife Abaya finds their friendship a comfort and hopefully along with Marian will find her way back to her art and the world. This is the era when the Viet Nam War and the Hippie movement were often in the headlines and Lizette, lived between a delicate balance of reality and mental frailty. Lizette has her own opinions and which conflict with others and alienates her from her family and friends. Meeting Abaya and Poland you learn more about the Native American culture, their feelings and wanted a potlatch which is defined as: A ceremonial feast among certain Native American peoples of the northwest Pacific coast, as in celebration of a marriage or accession, at which the host distributes gifts according to each guest's rank or status. Between rival groups the potlatch could involve extravagant or competitive giving and destruction by the host of valued items as a display of superior wealth.” She wanted this after the death of several in their tribe.
An accident happens and Marian’s dog is injured and the true colors about her boyfriend and others are revealed as Lizette seems to be making her way back into the real world wanting to help out, working with Poland and his wife and then taking care of Tucker. Marian is a midwife and along with Lummi and the others Lizette works hard and needs to sort out her past and learn to understand her present. But, can she. Talking to the animals, making bird noises and acting crazy will she ever see the real light of life or day?
Lizette and the other characters each have their own issues, secrets and pasts to deal with. But, an accident takes the life of one person yet the others seem to move on. With Rocket and the Dogs staying with Marian, Fisher, Poland and his wife helping with a newborn named Violet, things seem to be coming together but not for Lizette. When her agent takes her work to a gallery and they make a huge offer why doesn’t she accept the fact that she’s talented and have the showing? Lizette meets with Dr. Finch to renew her medication and get it adjusted and comes full circle with her feelings with her father and makes them known to him at the same time.
But, when things start to spiral out of control and the welfare department comes looking for Lizette just how will she react? The people on Orca Island are a closely- knit family and then something happens to change her feelings about her father. Learning the truth about her mother, what she did with her paintings and the secrets that were buried when she died, Lizette has to decide whether to welcome her father back in her life, accept the fact that she just might be a success and decide what she wants to do with her life.
The Indian culture and their customs so vividly described as they all participate in the Potlatch and we learn more about their stories and legends that many tell as Lizette takes her first steps back into the world with Violet at her side. Just what happens to the Dogs, Rocket and the rest you will have to read and learn for yourself. Relationships ended and old one redefined author Kate Campbell give the reader many interesting thoughts to think about by bringing these unique and special characters into our lives in this outstanding novel; Adrift in the Sound. Lizette Karlson just might learn the true meaning of trust, friendship, and loyalty and learn to have faith in herself while she searches for you and what she is and where she wants to go.
Fran Lewis: Reviewer
Some people cannot find their way in this world and often get lost in their own thoughts. Lizette witnesses a murder, which let her broken in more ways than one. Finding her way back home to her father only left her empty and more alone. Confronting him about his past caused him to send her away. Drifting about and going through the motions she winds up in a poor area, with other drug users and lives her life as if she’s in a misty or clouded fog.
The year is 1973 and the date is February 2. Lizette Karlson has been drifting through life for so long that when she reenters her parent’s home, her father, anthropologist, Einar Karlson, she brings along with her the past, her own package and memories of being attacked and raped. Lizette remembers her mother, the smell of the paints she used on her pallets, her art studio and the special cookies her mother made. Lizette has serious mental problems, which her father chooses to ignore or just cast aside and not deal with. Lizette is an outcast and leaving her father’s home she returns to the life she led before with friends like Rocket, Sandy and the baseball hopefuls the Dogs. Junkies, losers and castoffs create this powerful picture of people just trying to survive anyway they can. Lizette has nowhere to go and leaves for two different places.
One, where Norwegian fisherman lived n the past and this is where our story picks up when she reenters that world with Sandy and her friends. Although Sandy would prefer to her to leave she cleans her house, tries to help out but Lizette appears to be unstable and most would rather have her gone. Making noises and pretending to be a bird she eventually leaves and heads for the shack she mentioned to her father in the short period of time she was there. Her friend Marion offers her a place to stay and hopefully a way to reconnect with life. Lizette cleans the house of the Rocket and the Dogs but no matter how hard she tries her behavior is odd and they want her to leave. As a result she finds her way into the street, lives with some vagrants and then hides out in Rocket’s again before finding her way to Marian’s. Marian takes her in, cleans her up, feeds and hopefully will get her to take her meds and find her way back into the art world and away from the drugs and alcohol of Rocket and his friends. Concerned about her two closest Native American friends Poland and his wife Abaya finds their friendship a comfort and hopefully along with Marian will find her way back to her art and the world. This is the era when the Viet Nam War and the Hippie movement were often in the headlines and Lizette, lived between a delicate balance of reality and mental frailty. Lizette has her own opinions and which conflict with others and alienates her from her family and friends. Meeting Abaya and Poland you learn more about the Native American culture, their feelings and wanted a potlatch which is defined as: A ceremonial feast among certain Native American peoples of the northwest Pacific coast, as in celebration of a marriage or accession, at which the host distributes gifts according to each guest's rank or status. Between rival groups the potlatch could involve extravagant or competitive giving and destruction by the host of valued items as a display of superior wealth.” She wanted this after the death of several in their tribe.
An accident happens and Marian’s dog is injured and the true colors about her boyfriend and others are revealed as Lizette seems to be making her way back into the real world wanting to help out, working with Poland and his wife and then taking care of Tucker. Marian is a midwife and along with Lummi and the others Lizette works hard and needs to sort out her past and learn to understand her present. But, can she. Talking to the animals, making bird noises and acting crazy will she ever see the real light of life or day?
Lizette and the other characters each have their own issues, secrets and pasts to deal with. But, an accident takes the life of one person yet the others seem to move on. With Rocket and the Dogs staying with Marian, Fisher, Poland and his wife helping with a newborn named Violet, things seem to be coming together but not for Lizette. When her agent takes her work to a gallery and they make a huge offer why doesn’t she accept the fact that she’s talented and have the showing? Lizette meets with Dr. Finch to renew her medication and get it adjusted and comes full circle with her feelings with her father and makes them known to him at the same time.
But, when things start to spiral out of control and the welfare department comes looking for Lizette just how will she react? The people on Orca Island are a closely- knit family and then something happens to change her feelings about her father. Learning the truth about her mother, what she did with her paintings and the secrets that were buried when she died, Lizette has to decide whether to welcome her father back in her life, accept the fact that she just might be a success and decide what she wants to do with her life.
The Indian culture and their customs so vividly described as they all participate in the Potlatch and we learn more about their stories and legends that many tell as Lizette takes her first steps back into the world with Violet at her side. Just what happens to the Dogs, Rocket and the rest you will have to read and learn for yourself. Relationships ended and old one redefined author Kate Campbell give the reader many interesting thoughts to think about by bringing these unique and special characters into our lives in this outstanding novel; Adrift in the Sound. Lizette Karlson just might learn the true meaning of trust, friendship, and loyalty and learn to have faith in herself while she searches for you and what she is and where she wants to go.
Fran Lewis: Reviewer
January 3, 2013
Adrift in the Sound
By Kate Campbell
2012
Reviewed by Angie Mangino
Rating: 5 stars
Having reviewed Between the Sheets, an inside look of the editing process of publishing Adrift in the Sound, this reviewer began reading with very high expectations for excellence in Campbell’s novel.
She did not disappoint!
The protagonist, Lizette Karlson, captures readers immediately.
“’SO … YOU’RE HERE.’ Einar Karlson spoke to her through the screen door on the back porch. ‘When did you get out?’”
Immerged immediately in the story, readers hunger for answers that Campbell progressively supplies as the story unfolds, offering the right amount of hints and circumstances to keep them absorbed in the story.
Set in Seattle in 1973, with realistic characters that portray the unsettling times as they were then, how will Lizette survive? Or will she? What really matters?
Campbell leads readers to an ending that both satisfies and challenges.
By Kate Campbell
2012
Reviewed by Angie Mangino
Rating: 5 stars
Having reviewed Between the Sheets, an inside look of the editing process of publishing Adrift in the Sound, this reviewer began reading with very high expectations for excellence in Campbell’s novel.
She did not disappoint!
The protagonist, Lizette Karlson, captures readers immediately.
“’SO … YOU’RE HERE.’ Einar Karlson spoke to her through the screen door on the back porch. ‘When did you get out?’”
Immerged immediately in the story, readers hunger for answers that Campbell progressively supplies as the story unfolds, offering the right amount of hints and circumstances to keep them absorbed in the story.
Set in Seattle in 1973, with realistic characters that portray the unsettling times as they were then, how will Lizette survive? Or will she? What really matters?
Campbell leads readers to an ending that both satisfies and challenges.
November 20, 2012
This debut novel by Kate Campbell has it all; love, murder, suspense and sex, drugs and rock n roll. It's a crazy mix of all kinds of chaos and in the end you close the book satisfied with a good dramatic story.
This book is recommended for older audiences. Teens should definitely not read this in my opinion! It's a little risque but we did go back in time to a very different period. I liked the characters especially Lizette. You really root for her throughout the whole story.
I've read so many futuristic novels, that reading this was a fresh change of pace. I wasn't a kid of the 70's, but I like reading about that setting. Kate gives a gritty and raw tale of a girl who is just trying to make it in the real world.
This book is recommended for older audiences. Teens should definitely not read this in my opinion! It's a little risque but we did go back in time to a very different period. I liked the characters especially Lizette. You really root for her throughout the whole story.
I've read so many futuristic novels, that reading this was a fresh change of pace. I wasn't a kid of the 70's, but I like reading about that setting. Kate gives a gritty and raw tale of a girl who is just trying to make it in the real world.
November 20, 2012
It’s early 1973. The time of anti-war protesters, free love and dope.
Lizette is homeless and looking for a place to get warm. She winds up at Sandy’s place. Sandy is a snake dancer and srtips for a living. She lets Lizette stay as long as she cleans the house and takes care of her snake.
Next door is the crash pad for Rocket and some of the guys from his softball team, The Franklin Streetdogs. We’ll never know if they could be any good as all the guys do is get high and eat anything and everything.
Lizette spends her time between Sandy’s and Rocket’s. She is crushing on Rocket and he kind of likes her too, feels sorry for her. Her weird chirps and gestures don’t bother him, but the guys want her gone.
So Lizette finds herself out on the street again and this neighborhood is dangerous.
She can’t go home. Because of her mental problems, she’s estranged from her father. He can’t cope with her.
“My dad doesn’t want me,” she whispered. “He told me to get out. No one wants me.”
After she witnesses a murder and is viciously attacked and raped, she decides to head to her friend Marian’s place on Orcas Island. It’s the perfect place to hide and heal.
Marian is happy to see her and helps her get back on her meds and eating properly. She is eating for two now.
Lizette starts painting again and awaits the arrival of her baby.
This is only a small part of the story. There is so much to experience.
I really enjoyed learning about Orcas Island and meeting Poland and Abaya, the Lummi tribal leaders. They encourage Lizette and support her.
I liked Rocket. Not sure why. I have a feeling the author had something to do with that:)
Lizette is a sad character. She can also be sly and manipulative and surprisingly outspoken.
While doing my review research, checking my post-it notes in the book, I went back to the beginning and started reading to refresh my memory. Before I knew it I was at Chapter 12. Well, I had to keep going, and I read the whole book – to the end – again.
I got a lot more out of it the second time, enjoyed it even more, as I wasn’t taking notes for my review. I really got the full effect.
Kate’s writing is superb, her research shows in the details, and her characters, the ones I liked and the ones not so much, kept me captivated.
Adrift in the Sound tells of life in the early 1970′s, a time not often told about. The era of the hippie is ending and the time of the yuppie is coming soon. I was too young to experience it as an adult. I feel I experienced some of it with Lizette and the other characters.
I wasn’t kidding about reading this twice. When I told my sister about it, she laughed. She said I should see my face, I was so animated. That was when I knew my rating was going to be 5 Stars.
Lizette is homeless and looking for a place to get warm. She winds up at Sandy’s place. Sandy is a snake dancer and srtips for a living. She lets Lizette stay as long as she cleans the house and takes care of her snake.
Next door is the crash pad for Rocket and some of the guys from his softball team, The Franklin Streetdogs. We’ll never know if they could be any good as all the guys do is get high and eat anything and everything.
Lizette spends her time between Sandy’s and Rocket’s. She is crushing on Rocket and he kind of likes her too, feels sorry for her. Her weird chirps and gestures don’t bother him, but the guys want her gone.
So Lizette finds herself out on the street again and this neighborhood is dangerous.
She can’t go home. Because of her mental problems, she’s estranged from her father. He can’t cope with her.
“My dad doesn’t want me,” she whispered. “He told me to get out. No one wants me.”
After she witnesses a murder and is viciously attacked and raped, she decides to head to her friend Marian’s place on Orcas Island. It’s the perfect place to hide and heal.
Marian is happy to see her and helps her get back on her meds and eating properly. She is eating for two now.
Lizette starts painting again and awaits the arrival of her baby.
This is only a small part of the story. There is so much to experience.
I really enjoyed learning about Orcas Island and meeting Poland and Abaya, the Lummi tribal leaders. They encourage Lizette and support her.
I liked Rocket. Not sure why. I have a feeling the author had something to do with that:)
Lizette is a sad character. She can also be sly and manipulative and surprisingly outspoken.
While doing my review research, checking my post-it notes in the book, I went back to the beginning and started reading to refresh my memory. Before I knew it I was at Chapter 12. Well, I had to keep going, and I read the whole book – to the end – again.
I got a lot more out of it the second time, enjoyed it even more, as I wasn’t taking notes for my review. I really got the full effect.
Kate’s writing is superb, her research shows in the details, and her characters, the ones I liked and the ones not so much, kept me captivated.
Adrift in the Sound tells of life in the early 1970′s, a time not often told about. The era of the hippie is ending and the time of the yuppie is coming soon. I was too young to experience it as an adult. I feel I experienced some of it with Lizette and the other characters.
I wasn’t kidding about reading this twice. When I told my sister about it, she laughed. She said I should see my face, I was so animated. That was when I knew my rating was going to be 5 Stars.
January 18, 2013
I am so glad I stumbled on this novel! Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. This very well may be the best independently published novel I read this year!
Elizebeth "Lizette" Karlson is an artist like her deceased mother was at one time. The origins of Lizette's recluse lifestyle and fragile mental state unfold in a story that takes place during the early 1970s, a period when the United States was ripped apart by a distant war in Vietnam and a fractured society. The setting is the San Juan Islands in the Puget Sound, a place where peaceful nature abounds and native people cling to spirits of their ancestry.
"Adrift in the Sound" is a story of reconciliation and coming to grips with both the past as well as the here and now. Flawlessly written in a flowing style of descriptive prose, Kate Campbell introduces each character at a pace allowing the reader to come to know them. The lifestyle of the young, seemingly lost generation that Lizette gravitates toward is raw and gritty. Her friend Sandy is a stripper who courts a boa constrictor as part of her act. Hard drugs are the focus in the lives of the young men living next door.
Lizette's relationship with her father and the role her mother played in her life are sprinkled in along with the rest of the story. Campbell uses symbolism and metaphor by tying the lives of the native people living on Orcas Island to the land and the creatures of the sea, in particular a large Orca, dubbed "Looney," that hunts in the sound.
Though dark at times, this story has a warm glow to it that comes in the form of Lizette's family friends, Native Americans with roots to Lummi and Salish peoples of the Pacific Northwest. "Adrift in the Sound" is ideally suited to readers participating in book clubs. Campbell includes some discussion questions at the end of this wonderfully written, thought provoking story.
Elizebeth "Lizette" Karlson is an artist like her deceased mother was at one time. The origins of Lizette's recluse lifestyle and fragile mental state unfold in a story that takes place during the early 1970s, a period when the United States was ripped apart by a distant war in Vietnam and a fractured society. The setting is the San Juan Islands in the Puget Sound, a place where peaceful nature abounds and native people cling to spirits of their ancestry.
"Adrift in the Sound" is a story of reconciliation and coming to grips with both the past as well as the here and now. Flawlessly written in a flowing style of descriptive prose, Kate Campbell introduces each character at a pace allowing the reader to come to know them. The lifestyle of the young, seemingly lost generation that Lizette gravitates toward is raw and gritty. Her friend Sandy is a stripper who courts a boa constrictor as part of her act. Hard drugs are the focus in the lives of the young men living next door.
Lizette's relationship with her father and the role her mother played in her life are sprinkled in along with the rest of the story. Campbell uses symbolism and metaphor by tying the lives of the native people living on Orcas Island to the land and the creatures of the sea, in particular a large Orca, dubbed "Looney," that hunts in the sound.
Though dark at times, this story has a warm glow to it that comes in the form of Lizette's family friends, Native Americans with roots to Lummi and Salish peoples of the Pacific Northwest. "Adrift in the Sound" is ideally suited to readers participating in book clubs. Campbell includes some discussion questions at the end of this wonderfully written, thought provoking story.
January 7, 2013
Lizette is a lost soul with severe mental issues. While living on the streets of Seattle, she is attacked and spends time in a hospital mental ward. This is not her first visit. Upon release, she goes first to her father’s house, then to a group of crazy drug-addled friends, and then to a ranch on Orcas Island where she spent much of her childhood. There she can heal and pursue her love of painting in peace. But of course, that’s not exactly what happens. The story is wound around the drug culture of the 1970s, Native American life on the island, and the fate of an orca named Looney. It’s a good, multi-layered story with engaging characters and an interesting plot. It’s also occasionally confusing and could use a thorough proofreading, but that seems to be the case with most books that I read these days.
February 17, 2013
This book has beautiful, descriptive, lyrical writing. It reads like poetry at times. Which is a clanging contrast to the violent, disturbing and at times shocking story. It truly was a world I know nothing of but I'm very glad that I do now.
Set in Seattle in the 1970's, it deal's with drugs, hippy lifestyles, free love, Native American stories, soldiers after the Vietnam war, baseball, art, killer whales, rape, murder, unplanned pregnancy & mental illness. Phew! The main character Lizette is fascinating, an unlikely heroine but I was on her side all the way.
Overall this is an absorbing and challenging read. The story has lots of layers and each layer is slowly but carefully and skilfully revealed as you move through the book.
Recommended for all those who like books that make them think.
Note : I received an arc from the author in return for an unbiased review.
Set in Seattle in the 1970's, it deal's with drugs, hippy lifestyles, free love, Native American stories, soldiers after the Vietnam war, baseball, art, killer whales, rape, murder, unplanned pregnancy & mental illness. Phew! The main character Lizette is fascinating, an unlikely heroine but I was on her side all the way.
Overall this is an absorbing and challenging read. The story has lots of layers and each layer is slowly but carefully and skilfully revealed as you move through the book.
Recommended for all those who like books that make them think.
Note : I received an arc from the author in return for an unbiased review.
February 25, 2013
For a first novel, Kate Campbell writes a masterpiece. The free love 70s evoked memories of that era. Protagonist Lizette is well-developed throughout a complicated but effective plot that involves witnessing a murder. Intriguing setting, clever use of metaphor and symbolism, colorful prose, convincing dialogue, and mythical themes make this story come to life. From Looney the Orca whale to Lizette’s father, the minor characters strengthen the story. In “Adrift in the Sound,” Campbell manages to challenge the reader’s paradigms and cultivate new ones by story’s end.
November 23, 2013
A 5-star literary gem
‘Adrift in the Sound’ left this reader adrift in America’s turbulent 1970’s – and it left me craving more! Truly a literary gem.
The book’s splurge asks if you’ve ever wondered what happened the day after the music of the free-love 60’s died. Well this novel answers that through the eyes of Seattle street artist Lizette who forms liaisons with an array of misfits and colorful characters as she comes to terms with her past and makes her way in a sometimes dangerous world.
This beautifully crafted tale is highly recommended!
‘Adrift in the Sound’ left this reader adrift in America’s turbulent 1970’s – and it left me craving more! Truly a literary gem.
The book’s splurge asks if you’ve ever wondered what happened the day after the music of the free-love 60’s died. Well this novel answers that through the eyes of Seattle street artist Lizette who forms liaisons with an array of misfits and colorful characters as she comes to terms with her past and makes her way in a sometimes dangerous world.
This beautifully crafted tale is highly recommended!
July 22, 2012
Still reading but really enjoying it.
March 3, 2013
I finished this book last night, and I am happy I signed up to review it. This is a pleasant novel.
The story is based around coming to terms with the past and learning to live in the current so you can survive your future. The book is well written enough to keep me entertained but also reflect on my own life.
Lizette Karlson, the main character, entraps the reader. She's is written in a way that you can believe and relate to her. After witnessing a murder, Lizette is on the run, and finds that instead of running away she's running to be found.
I enjoyed the book, also, because it is written in the Seattle and surrounding area; this is my home! I was able to envision all that she wrote about.
I really enjoyed this book.
The story is based around coming to terms with the past and learning to live in the current so you can survive your future. The book is well written enough to keep me entertained but also reflect on my own life.
Lizette Karlson, the main character, entraps the reader. She's is written in a way that you can believe and relate to her. After witnessing a murder, Lizette is on the run, and finds that instead of running away she's running to be found.
I enjoyed the book, also, because it is written in the Seattle and surrounding area; this is my home! I was able to envision all that she wrote about.
I really enjoyed this book.
March 2, 2013
I loved this book. It was well written and the characters were believable, likeable and interesting.
July 24, 2013
Lizette is a gifted abstract painter with severe personality issues--perhaps bi-polar--although I don't believe this was stated. Pressured to achieve as a child, when her artist mother committed suicide something snapped inside Lizette. Estranged from her father, she drifts into bad company, and makes unwise life-choices. The story follows Lizette as she struggles with mental illness and searches for meaning in her life. Although set in the Seventies, no attachment with that era is required to connect with this story.
I read because I love to lose myself in another world and experience life vicariously through someone else's eyes. Also, as an aspiring writer, I read to learn. For me, reading Adrift in the Sound was tantamount to attending a fiction writing master class.
Tactile scene settings sucked me into a story as multi-layered as one of Lizette's beautifully described oil paintings. Ms. Campbell colors her scenes with fine details, often transforming the settings into another character to add emotion. For example, after an argument with her father, Lizette turns her back on him and the house and takes the path in the rain toward the small cabin her mother used as her artists's studio. Lizette perceives the cabin like this: "Two big windows stared into the tangled garden, watching the house through rain-streaked eyes." Or her view of the car ferry that will take her to Orcas Island in the Puget Sound, where much of the story unfolds: "The wide-bodied boat nudged the dock, bounced against the pylons, settled into its berth like a lumbering beast nestling into a safe burrow." Or the way the ocean appears to her: "The afternoon sun scattered silver sequins across the water." I confess I have a ton more highlights on my Kindle; so many I had to stop myself. Unable to choose which to use in the review, I simply chose the first three--they're all exceptional.
Lizette's world is populated by a cast of complex, multi-faceted characters. Many are unpleasant. All were real to me. A brutal sexual assault early in the story permanently scars Lizette and scarred this reader along with her. It happened because she takes crazy chances and trusts the wrong people. But don't see her as a weakling. On a number of occasions she does significant harm to those whom she perceives as a threat. Although, as I watched Lizette become a danger to others, I was never quite sure of her intentions. That's a measure of how off-balance the author kept me, and how hard I was rooting for Lizette.
Lizette's affinity for the native Indians who live on Orcas and form her support group provides more wonderful characters whose lifestyle grounds the story in history and in nature. I have no connection with Native Indians or their customs, but I found their lives and beliefs and plain commonsense added to the palette of an already colorful story.
The novel is a deep, slow burn, and not without humor. One particular scene involving a large snake and an unpleasant junkie had me laughing so loud I woke my wife (I read at night). A larger-than-life character--self-described poet, Toulouse--is described in the eyes of Lizette's friend, Marian thusly: "Toulouse moved off with a flourish, tipping a goodbye from the rim of his foolish hat. Marian watched him go, his self-importance shoved up his ass like a mop handle."
Complex, troubled, and gifted, Lizette connects with the natural world on such a deep level that she pulled me along until I stood beside her marveling at the natural beauty of an ocean wave, or the fearsome power of the killer whales as they hunt in the Sound, or the subtle simplicity of an old Indian woman dancing in a mask of feathers and bear skin. She broke my heart as we watched a seal taken by a predator, or a pet dog injured. I know, as she does, it's natural. You can't interfere, you can't help--but still, you share the stab of her guilt.
With more "Oh, didn't see that coming" moments than I had any right to expect, Adrift in The Sound is the best book I've read in a long time.
Check it out. You won't regret it.
This review was originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. I may have received a free review copy.
I read because I love to lose myself in another world and experience life vicariously through someone else's eyes. Also, as an aspiring writer, I read to learn. For me, reading Adrift in the Sound was tantamount to attending a fiction writing master class.
Tactile scene settings sucked me into a story as multi-layered as one of Lizette's beautifully described oil paintings. Ms. Campbell colors her scenes with fine details, often transforming the settings into another character to add emotion. For example, after an argument with her father, Lizette turns her back on him and the house and takes the path in the rain toward the small cabin her mother used as her artists's studio. Lizette perceives the cabin like this: "Two big windows stared into the tangled garden, watching the house through rain-streaked eyes." Or her view of the car ferry that will take her to Orcas Island in the Puget Sound, where much of the story unfolds: "The wide-bodied boat nudged the dock, bounced against the pylons, settled into its berth like a lumbering beast nestling into a safe burrow." Or the way the ocean appears to her: "The afternoon sun scattered silver sequins across the water." I confess I have a ton more highlights on my Kindle; so many I had to stop myself. Unable to choose which to use in the review, I simply chose the first three--they're all exceptional.
Lizette's world is populated by a cast of complex, multi-faceted characters. Many are unpleasant. All were real to me. A brutal sexual assault early in the story permanently scars Lizette and scarred this reader along with her. It happened because she takes crazy chances and trusts the wrong people. But don't see her as a weakling. On a number of occasions she does significant harm to those whom she perceives as a threat. Although, as I watched Lizette become a danger to others, I was never quite sure of her intentions. That's a measure of how off-balance the author kept me, and how hard I was rooting for Lizette.
Lizette's affinity for the native Indians who live on Orcas and form her support group provides more wonderful characters whose lifestyle grounds the story in history and in nature. I have no connection with Native Indians or their customs, but I found their lives and beliefs and plain commonsense added to the palette of an already colorful story.
The novel is a deep, slow burn, and not without humor. One particular scene involving a large snake and an unpleasant junkie had me laughing so loud I woke my wife (I read at night). A larger-than-life character--self-described poet, Toulouse--is described in the eyes of Lizette's friend, Marian thusly: "Toulouse moved off with a flourish, tipping a goodbye from the rim of his foolish hat. Marian watched him go, his self-importance shoved up his ass like a mop handle."
Complex, troubled, and gifted, Lizette connects with the natural world on such a deep level that she pulled me along until I stood beside her marveling at the natural beauty of an ocean wave, or the fearsome power of the killer whales as they hunt in the Sound, or the subtle simplicity of an old Indian woman dancing in a mask of feathers and bear skin. She broke my heart as we watched a seal taken by a predator, or a pet dog injured. I know, as she does, it's natural. You can't interfere, you can't help--but still, you share the stab of her guilt.
With more "Oh, didn't see that coming" moments than I had any right to expect, Adrift in The Sound is the best book I've read in a long time.
Check it out. You won't regret it.
This review was originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. I may have received a free review copy.
September 16, 2014
I've tried to read this book multiple times, and barely made it to chapter six. The language and situations don't bother me, but the extreme hopelessness and consistently poor decisions made by the characters do. The book must get better, judging from all the excellent reviews (which is why I picked it up in the first place), but I've put in a lot of effort to get this far and I just can't do any more. I'm giving the book three stars for potential, as well as benefit of the doubt since I didn't get very far, but I'd say it's more like one or two stars from my experience.
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