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The Drowning House
A gripping suspense story about a woman who returns to Galveston, Texas after a personal tragedy and is irresistibly drawn into the insular world she’s struggled to leave.
Photographer Clare Porterfield's once-happy marriage is coming apart, unraveling under the strain of a family tragedy. When she receives an invitation to direct an exhibition in her hometown of Galveston, Texas, she jumps at the chance to escape her grief and reconnect with the island she hasn't seen for ten years. There Clare will have the time and space to search for answers about her troubled past and her family's complicated relationship with the wealthy and influential Carraday family.
Soon she finds herself drawn into a century-old mystery involving Stella Carraday. Local legend has it that Stella drowned in her family's house during the Great Hurricane of 1900, hanged by her long hair from the drawing room chandelier. Could Stella have been saved? What is the true nature of Clare's family's involvement? The questions grow like the wildflower vines that climb up the walls and fences of the island. And the closer Clare gets to the answers, the darker and more disturbing the truth becomes.
Steeped in the rich local history of Galveston, The Drowning House portrays two families, inextricably linked by tragedy and time.
"The Drowning House marks the emergence of an impressive new literary voice. Elizabeth Black's suspenseful inquiry into dark family secrets is enriched by a remarkable succession of images, often minutely observed, that bring characters, setting, and story sharply into focus." —John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Photographer Clare Porterfield's once-happy marriage is coming apart, unraveling under the strain of a family tragedy. When she receives an invitation to direct an exhibition in her hometown of Galveston, Texas, she jumps at the chance to escape her grief and reconnect with the island she hasn't seen for ten years. There Clare will have the time and space to search for answers about her troubled past and her family's complicated relationship with the wealthy and influential Carraday family.
Soon she finds herself drawn into a century-old mystery involving Stella Carraday. Local legend has it that Stella drowned in her family's house during the Great Hurricane of 1900, hanged by her long hair from the drawing room chandelier. Could Stella have been saved? What is the true nature of Clare's family's involvement? The questions grow like the wildflower vines that climb up the walls and fences of the island. And the closer Clare gets to the answers, the darker and more disturbing the truth becomes.
Steeped in the rich local history of Galveston, The Drowning House portrays two families, inextricably linked by tragedy and time.
"The Drowning House marks the emergence of an impressive new literary voice. Elizabeth Black's suspenseful inquiry into dark family secrets is enriched by a remarkable succession of images, often minutely observed, that bring characters, setting, and story sharply into focus." —John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
290 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 15, 2013
575 people are currently reading
2653 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Black
2 books17 followersElizabeth Black is a professional fund-raiser for a national nonprofit organization and holds degrees from Vassar, Yale, and the University of London. She has published poetry in Kansas Quarterly, KARAMU, and Southern Humanities Review. The Drowning House is her first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 462 reviews
January 27, 2013
The book jacket synopsis describes a story about a heartbroken woman returning home to Galveston after suffering an unspeakable tragedy and the deterioration of her marriage, and a hundred-year-old mystery about Stella, who lived in the old mansion across the street and was found hanging with her hair wrapped around the chandelier in the aftermath of a devastating hurricane in 1900.
I made it to page 132 before abandoning it. Up to page 132 there are infrequent references to Stella, so infrequent in fact that when her name would pop up, I would stop and say who is Stella? Clare, the woman returning home, was a sympathetic character but most of the book up to page 132 involves her wandering about the island of Galveston, rifling through photos at the town archive (for a photography project she's doing), trying to track down her old boyfriend who happens to be the son of the man who owns the house where Stella drowned. We are constantly told how small and tight Galveston is and yet, she cannot find this old boyfriend before page 132. There is one entire chapter devoted to Clare following a couple with a baby through a store. I still don't think I know who the character Jules is. And I just read a reference to Michael and I can't remember who he is either - maybe her husband? Who knows.
I could go on. And on. This was a disappointing read. The author has a lovely writing style, the pieces for a good story are all there, but they just weren't arranged well enough to keep this reader intrigued enough to continue.
I made it to page 132 before abandoning it. Up to page 132 there are infrequent references to Stella, so infrequent in fact that when her name would pop up, I would stop and say who is Stella? Clare, the woman returning home, was a sympathetic character but most of the book up to page 132 involves her wandering about the island of Galveston, rifling through photos at the town archive (for a photography project she's doing), trying to track down her old boyfriend who happens to be the son of the man who owns the house where Stella drowned. We are constantly told how small and tight Galveston is and yet, she cannot find this old boyfriend before page 132. There is one entire chapter devoted to Clare following a couple with a baby through a store. I still don't think I know who the character Jules is. And I just read a reference to Michael and I can't remember who he is either - maybe her husband? Who knows.
I could go on. And on. This was a disappointing read. The author has a lovely writing style, the pieces for a good story are all there, but they just weren't arranged well enough to keep this reader intrigued enough to continue.
April 30, 2013
I didn't want to HIDE my review, but there are some spoilers here, so STOP reading now if you don't want to see them.
I so wanted to love this book. I am fascinated with the 1900 Great Hurricane, and my husband is from Galveston (a BOI) so we spend a lot of time there. I wish Elizabeth Black would have sent this out for some sort of reading focus group (if they even exist) and then tweaked her story a bit. It really could have been a great book, but it's just not.
Elizabeth's Black's writing style is great, but there were so many gaps in this book that I found odd and just left me with questions. For example, I never understood why Clare was so fixated on Stella. Stella wasn't even a member of her family (ha! or was she?). Why did she care? And I couldn't really figure out exactly what this "exhibition" was that Clare was supposed to be working on. That could have a) been better developed, or b) left out completely. I began to suspect that Will was Clare's father pretty early on in the story. Normally I'm not that perceptive, but this seemed obvious. About three-quarters of the way through the book, when Clare moves into Will's house, there is a reference that she's "been on the island now for two weeks." What? Only two weeks? It seemed like she'd been there about two months. And why was the setting the 1990s? I couldn't ever really figure that out. Why such a random point in time? Why didn't she pick the 1960s? or the 1970s? or present day? Why the 1990s? Finally . . . I couldn't wrap my head around Eleanor just snapping one day and killing Will? Seriously? That seemed a little random to me.
I'd love to ask Elizabeth Black a lot of questions about this book.
I so wanted to love this book. I am fascinated with the 1900 Great Hurricane, and my husband is from Galveston (a BOI) so we spend a lot of time there. I wish Elizabeth Black would have sent this out for some sort of reading focus group (if they even exist) and then tweaked her story a bit. It really could have been a great book, but it's just not.
Elizabeth's Black's writing style is great, but there were so many gaps in this book that I found odd and just left me with questions. For example, I never understood why Clare was so fixated on Stella. Stella wasn't even a member of her family (ha! or was she?). Why did she care? And I couldn't really figure out exactly what this "exhibition" was that Clare was supposed to be working on. That could have a) been better developed, or b) left out completely. I began to suspect that Will was Clare's father pretty early on in the story. Normally I'm not that perceptive, but this seemed obvious. About three-quarters of the way through the book, when Clare moves into Will's house, there is a reference that she's "been on the island now for two weeks." What? Only two weeks? It seemed like she'd been there about two months. And why was the setting the 1990s? I couldn't ever really figure that out. Why such a random point in time? Why didn't she pick the 1960s? or the 1970s? or present day? Why the 1990s? Finally . . . I couldn't wrap my head around Eleanor just snapping one day and killing Will? Seriously? That seemed a little random to me.
I'd love to ask Elizabeth Black a lot of questions about this book.
December 21, 2012
I elected to read this book because I love the city of Galveston and the rich history of the island. I looked forward to a mystery surrounding the 1900 hurricane. Instead I read a sad tale of dysfunctional families and unfinished stories.
Black is advertised as an exciting new literary voice. I can see why Gay Talese is excited about the writing of this first time novelist. Her writing is compelling and lyrical. Her writing style is the sort that critics and publishers of literary fiction seem to love. She writes in a way that leaves the reader in the dark much of the time. The writing is interesting enough to keep me reading in spite of my disappointment.
I give any book that I can make it through to the end at least 3 stars. I did not really enjoy this book after I figured out where the story was going. I found the characters strange and often disturbing. In most cases they were not developed in a way I found satisfying. Some of the characters struck me as totally unnecessary to the story.
There were also a few story lines that really had nothing to do with moving the plot forward. In fact there were story lines that seemed totally undeveloped. In the end I had no idea what the plot actually was. I was completely unsatisfied by the whole thing. It did not bring back my great memories of visiting Galveston. I truly did not feel that this story did Galveston justice.
Black is advertised as an exciting new literary voice. I can see why Gay Talese is excited about the writing of this first time novelist. Her writing is compelling and lyrical. Her writing style is the sort that critics and publishers of literary fiction seem to love. She writes in a way that leaves the reader in the dark much of the time. The writing is interesting enough to keep me reading in spite of my disappointment.
I give any book that I can make it through to the end at least 3 stars. I did not really enjoy this book after I figured out where the story was going. I found the characters strange and often disturbing. In most cases they were not developed in a way I found satisfying. Some of the characters struck me as totally unnecessary to the story.
There were also a few story lines that really had nothing to do with moving the plot forward. In fact there were story lines that seemed totally undeveloped. In the end I had no idea what the plot actually was. I was completely unsatisfied by the whole thing. It did not bring back my great memories of visiting Galveston. I truly did not feel that this story did Galveston justice.
January 27, 2013
Here is a story that had a lot of potential, but words got in the way. Elizabeth Black managed to describe every little detail and emotion possible in a book's setting.
Here is a sample: "There was no sidewalk in the sense that most people understand it. Smooth concrete might extend for thirty feet, only to erupt suddenly where old, broken slabs thrust upward like the prows of sinking ships, the spaces between them lively with weeds. There were stretches of homemade pebble aggregate pocked with bits of colored glass. There were places where the sidewalk disappeared, where you made your way through moss and dirt on stepping-stones. It was only after I had lived in other places that I understood how eccentric tis mixture of surfaces was and how expressive of the Island's intractability." This is where I pulled out my bookmark and closed the book for good.
Here is a sample: "There was no sidewalk in the sense that most people understand it. Smooth concrete might extend for thirty feet, only to erupt suddenly where old, broken slabs thrust upward like the prows of sinking ships, the spaces between them lively with weeds. There were stretches of homemade pebble aggregate pocked with bits of colored glass. There were places where the sidewalk disappeared, where you made your way through moss and dirt on stepping-stones. It was only after I had lived in other places that I understood how eccentric tis mixture of surfaces was and how expressive of the Island's intractability." This is where I pulled out my bookmark and closed the book for good.
February 16, 2013
This review contains spoiler alerts.
When I picked it up, I figured I would love this book -- but what I read about the book on the inside front flap was very different from what the book turned out to be.
At first I thought, Okay, so here's a narrator with serious marriage issues (separated from husband after loss of their child). I was on board; the passage about the death of their daughter was very moving. And then I realized she had mommy issues, very complicated daddy issues, long-lost boyfriend issues and childhood abuse issues.
In the middle of all of this is the intriguing story of a woman who supposedly drowned during a Galveston hurricane in the early 1900s and ended up hanging by her hair from a chandelier. Let's call these long-lost mysterious figure issues.
I was trying to imagine the "elevator pitch" for this book that landed it a top publisher, and I really couldn't. At its heart, that has to be the basic flaw of this book. What happens in the book? Um, she leaves her husband/returns to Galveston/meets random people at a party/works half-heartedly on a photo exhibit/researches drowned lady/looks for lost boyfriend/remembers awful things from childhood/moves to a different house/mourns her daughter/is mean to her mother/makes amends with her sister... and that's only a tiny snippet of the story.
The writing in this book is excellent -- by which I mean word choice, subtlety, syntax, etc. That just wasn't enough, in this case, for me to like the story.
It seemed like although interesting plot elements were there (enough for, really, a few books), these kept being pushed to the background of the story in favor of far less interesting things. The tragic death of the daughter and failure of the marriage could have been a book unto itself. Relationship with Jules (apparently her agent, though his name was mentioned so rarely I lose track of him) should have been left out. Relationship with mother/father/family in Galveston could have been a book without any other distracting plot lines. Stella (mysterious drowned woman who is more symbolic than anything else in this story) would have made an interesting book. There are vague threats made by some characters (but too vague, enough that they didn't worry me a bit), and then someone actually smashes the windshield of her car with a tire iron. My goodness -- that would be terrifying. But not to the narrator, apparently. It gets a paragraph and that's it. For hundreds of pages she's looking for Patrick (although over and over it's stressed that Galveston is a small island...). Her past with Patrick is interesting -- though so improbable. There was a fire (started by a friend/acquaintance for unknown reasons), Patrick played the hero... and that's it. On to next point.
Well. I just read this over and can appreciate how muddled my review is... and that, I guess, is what I'll take away from the story.
When I picked it up, I figured I would love this book -- but what I read about the book on the inside front flap was very different from what the book turned out to be.
At first I thought, Okay, so here's a narrator with serious marriage issues (separated from husband after loss of their child). I was on board; the passage about the death of their daughter was very moving. And then I realized she had mommy issues, very complicated daddy issues, long-lost boyfriend issues and childhood abuse issues.
In the middle of all of this is the intriguing story of a woman who supposedly drowned during a Galveston hurricane in the early 1900s and ended up hanging by her hair from a chandelier. Let's call these long-lost mysterious figure issues.
I was trying to imagine the "elevator pitch" for this book that landed it a top publisher, and I really couldn't. At its heart, that has to be the basic flaw of this book. What happens in the book? Um, she leaves her husband/returns to Galveston/meets random people at a party/works half-heartedly on a photo exhibit/researches drowned lady/looks for lost boyfriend/remembers awful things from childhood/moves to a different house/mourns her daughter/is mean to her mother/makes amends with her sister... and that's only a tiny snippet of the story.
The writing in this book is excellent -- by which I mean word choice, subtlety, syntax, etc. That just wasn't enough, in this case, for me to like the story.
It seemed like although interesting plot elements were there (enough for, really, a few books), these kept being pushed to the background of the story in favor of far less interesting things. The tragic death of the daughter and failure of the marriage could have been a book unto itself. Relationship with Jules (apparently her agent, though his name was mentioned so rarely I lose track of him) should have been left out. Relationship with mother/father/family in Galveston could have been a book without any other distracting plot lines. Stella (mysterious drowned woman who is more symbolic than anything else in this story) would have made an interesting book. There are vague threats made by some characters (but too vague, enough that they didn't worry me a bit), and then someone actually smashes the windshield of her car with a tire iron. My goodness -- that would be terrifying. But not to the narrator, apparently. It gets a paragraph and that's it. For hundreds of pages she's looking for Patrick (although over and over it's stressed that Galveston is a small island...). Her past with Patrick is interesting -- though so improbable. There was a fire (started by a friend/acquaintance for unknown reasons), Patrick played the hero... and that's it. On to next point.
Well. I just read this over and can appreciate how muddled my review is... and that, I guess, is what I'll take away from the story.
February 16, 2013
This book was hyped for its dual story of Clare, a photographer who, after a personal tragedy, returns to Galveston to direct an exhibition and begins to question the story of a girl whose body was found after the 1900 Great Hurricane, her hair entangled in the family chandelier. Intriguing, right? Wrong. Elizabeth Black devotes her words to descriptions of Galveston rather than characters, dialogue, or plot. Her descriptions are beautiful but anything related to character and plot is vague and suggestive without actually revealing anything. The reader is left stumbling along, guessing at motives and actions and the author's intent. This story boils down to dysfunctional families with disturbing relationships and wraps up, though many questions are left unanswered, with a series of events told after-the-fact in the last 6-page chapter of the book. Very disappointing.
October 14, 2012
I'm reading The Drowning House for the second time, something I rarely do - at least in the realm of contemporary fiction, but this book merits a second go. This time I'm reading a little more carefully and acquainting myself with the things the author uses to capture the atmosphere of Galveston so evocatively. One example: in the opening pages the narrator, a photographer, is preparing for her return to the city of her youth where she will be curating an exhibition of Galveston photographs:
The Drowning House also captures this sensual intensity. And its fair to say that a similar dichotomy - between dereliction and longing, are a fitting metaphor for Claire's journey of self discovery.
It turns out, neither the book nor the picture are fictional. As stated here, http://www.pri.org/theworld/?q=node/2...
[image error]
What a pleasure it was to stumble on the photograph that Black describes so perceptively. It was, you might say, just like I pictured it.
This is an excellent book.
In a cardboard box, still unpacked, I found the Cartier Bresson volume and turned the pages until I came to a photo showing the interior of a once grand Galveston hotel. A sign tacked to the wall reminded borders to pay their rent in advance. On the landing was an elderly woman, her body shapeless in a flowered housecoat. Darkness poured out of the doorway behind her and rose up from the baseboards so that her face and body were split into light and shadow. It was one of several images of Galveston looking sad and shabby, images that had caused controversy when the book was first published. Others were different. Cartier-Bresson had also captured in his photographs the intense sensual appeal of the place. And I wondered if that was in fact what had disturbed people. The uneasy meeting of those two realities - the dereliction and the drowsy sunlit, self indulgent beauty of the island.
The Drowning House also captures this sensual intensity. And its fair to say that a similar dichotomy - between dereliction and longing, are a fitting metaphor for Claire's journey of self discovery.
It turns out, neither the book nor the picture are fictional. As stated here, http://www.pri.org/theworld/?q=node/2...
Originally conceived as a requiem for the faded city, The Galveston That Was instead helped resurrect the city. [The authors] captured the soul of the city in The Galveston That Was and, as a result, inspired a major and successful effort to restore Galveston's historic architectural treasures.
[image error]
What a pleasure it was to stumble on the photograph that Black describes so perceptively. It was, you might say, just like I pictured it.
This is an excellent book.
August 14, 2012
Elizabeth Black’s haunting suspense novel, “The Drowning House” follows photographer Clare Porterfield as she journeys back to her home of Galveston, Texas. Clare is tormented by the death of her young daughter in a tragic accident. Struggling to gain a foothold on life she accepts an invitation by wealthy businessman Will Carraday to direct an art exhibit chronicling the history of the island.
Back home after a decade away, Clare relives painful memories of her past that often circle around the Carraday family. In her research of the island she comes across the mysterious circumstances surrounding the supposed drowning death of Stella Carraday in the early 1900s. The further Clare digs into the Carraday family, the more she learns of her own family’s connection and a secret that has life-changing effects.
Elizabeth Black reveals Claire’s story with moments of such despair and raw emotion it is hard to imagine this is her debut novel. The story is captivating. Written in an almost gothic style full of lush descriptions that create a vision in the reader’s mind so vivid they can almost imagine themselves on the island in the thick of the story.
Back home after a decade away, Clare relives painful memories of her past that often circle around the Carraday family. In her research of the island she comes across the mysterious circumstances surrounding the supposed drowning death of Stella Carraday in the early 1900s. The further Clare digs into the Carraday family, the more she learns of her own family’s connection and a secret that has life-changing effects.
Elizabeth Black reveals Claire’s story with moments of such despair and raw emotion it is hard to imagine this is her debut novel. The story is captivating. Written in an almost gothic style full of lush descriptions that create a vision in the reader’s mind so vivid they can almost imagine themselves on the island in the thick of the story.
July 30, 2016
This book is filled with ghosts. It's no Turn of the Screw, where unaccountable figures appear and create an aura of dread, or "Ghosthunters", where intrepid investigators try to provoke taps and disembodied voices. This book is filled with the kind of spectres most everyone has to live with. Something terrible happened in the course of an ordinary day – was there anything you could have done to prevent it? Everyone else in the world proceeds through such commonplaces with no misfortune – how could it have gone so horribly for you? An accident in the past – also with terrible and unforeseen results, some immediate and some farther reaching – again, why? How? A figure from the past, once closer than anyone but not seen in years, seems to evade you – why? Has he, someone asks, been in touch in all the years since the last time you saw him? Well, no – but … No. He lingers just outside your field of vision, almost glimpsed, almost sensed. Another ghost.
There is a Galveston legend, according to this book, of a girl who ran off with her lover, not realizing a hurricane was about to strike; she died, and did so rather spectacularly. This old and dear friend, evading contact now, is almost as ephemeral as that girl's spectre. Or perhaps it is she who is almost as real and present as he is.
The Drowning House is the sort of book which makes it very easy to make assumptions about the author. It's such an intimate portrait of Galveston – she must have lived there, and probably was born there. It's about the loss of a child – it's so intimate and raw she must have lost a child. It's about the end of a marriage – not with the bang nor even the whimper but more with a sort of sad sigh – she must have seen a marriage end like this. The main character's own horrible childhood – the author must have experienced something like this for it to be so real. But, truly, this just serves to take away from the ability of the writer. Maybe Elizabeth Black is just like Clare, her main character; maybe she was born and raised in Moldavia and any resemblance to fictional persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. It doesn't matter. What matters is that she has created a beautiful book.
This was a Netgalley offering, read with thanks.
There is a Galveston legend, according to this book, of a girl who ran off with her lover, not realizing a hurricane was about to strike; she died, and did so rather spectacularly. This old and dear friend, evading contact now, is almost as ephemeral as that girl's spectre. Or perhaps it is she who is almost as real and present as he is.
The Drowning House is the sort of book which makes it very easy to make assumptions about the author. It's such an intimate portrait of Galveston – she must have lived there, and probably was born there. It's about the loss of a child – it's so intimate and raw she must have lost a child. It's about the end of a marriage – not with the bang nor even the whimper but more with a sort of sad sigh – she must have seen a marriage end like this. The main character's own horrible childhood – the author must have experienced something like this for it to be so real. But, truly, this just serves to take away from the ability of the writer. Maybe Elizabeth Black is just like Clare, her main character; maybe she was born and raised in Moldavia and any resemblance to fictional persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. It doesn't matter. What matters is that she has created a beautiful book.
This was a Netgalley offering, read with thanks.
January 7, 2013
Elizabeth Black is a poet. I suspected as much reading descriptions such as, "Around her, I felt as though every minute was already full, that all the air in any room that contained us both had already been used up." and "that the air and water are often so close to body temperature you sometimes feel, if it weren't for the accident of your skin, you could melt into either one." She can evoke all of the senses with her lovely words. Black describes Galveston so the reader experiences the island. This is worth reading the novel alone. And there is a relatable and painful story here that has many layers, perhaps too many layers. Death, abuse, addiction, marital infidelity, lies. Or Sex, Lies, and Photographs.
Clare Porterfield is a photographer who returns home after ten years to grieve after a personal tragedy. There are many characters, her mother, her sister, old neighbors and new. And an old mystery involving Stella Carrady, who is believed to have drowned during the Great Hurricane that hit Galveston in 1900. There is just a little too much going on to really develop some of the characters, and I felt like I didn't get to know some of them the way they deserved. Black is a talented writer, and her first novel is promising, and poetic.
Received by the publisher through Net Galley.
Clare Porterfield is a photographer who returns home after ten years to grieve after a personal tragedy. There are many characters, her mother, her sister, old neighbors and new. And an old mystery involving Stella Carrady, who is believed to have drowned during the Great Hurricane that hit Galveston in 1900. There is just a little too much going on to really develop some of the characters, and I felt like I didn't get to know some of them the way they deserved. Black is a talented writer, and her first novel is promising, and poetic.
Received by the publisher through Net Galley.
May 7, 2014
If you are a reader who loves the masterful use of language and the power of the well-placed word, this is the novel for you, and you will be shocked that you are reading a "first-time novelist." But this book isn't for everyone. It isn't a "thriller" will carefully planted leads, and it isn't a ghost story that will leave you on the edge of your seat. There are plenty of ghosts...but they aren't that kind.
It IS an incredibly beautiful story about identity, that which is determined by our origins and that which we determine for ourselves. It IS a tribute to getting past pain and loss, and it is an elegy to those who have been sacrificed at the altar of family secrets. And then there are the words...and they are beautiful. After I finished the novel, I wanted to order to volume of pictures alluded to in the novel (and the inspiration for part of the story), and I want to plan a first-time visit to Galveston. When a novel leaves me wanting more because of the sheer beauty of the words, it is lasting, and that is what makes quality.
So, to sum it up, this isn't the book that you will blaze through at incredible speeds and have a feeling of satisfaction at the end (swiftly followed by only the vaguest impression of what the book was about), but it IS the book that will leave you thinking about Galveston, its history, its future, and the secrets once hanging on chandeliers, now relegated to a broken down hotel room on the other side of town.
It IS an incredibly beautiful story about identity, that which is determined by our origins and that which we determine for ourselves. It IS a tribute to getting past pain and loss, and it is an elegy to those who have been sacrificed at the altar of family secrets. And then there are the words...and they are beautiful. After I finished the novel, I wanted to order to volume of pictures alluded to in the novel (and the inspiration for part of the story), and I want to plan a first-time visit to Galveston. When a novel leaves me wanting more because of the sheer beauty of the words, it is lasting, and that is what makes quality.
So, to sum it up, this isn't the book that you will blaze through at incredible speeds and have a feeling of satisfaction at the end (swiftly followed by only the vaguest impression of what the book was about), but it IS the book that will leave you thinking about Galveston, its history, its future, and the secrets once hanging on chandeliers, now relegated to a broken down hotel room on the other side of town.
November 7, 2017
FABulous, fabulous writing. Too bad the story couldn't hold up. Elizabeth Black was everywhere, just all over the place, and it made me sad to see all the strings fraying instead of wrapping up in a nice tight blanket. Still, the writing.
"And finally I had to accept that we would never recover the place that had been ours, the private territory of our adolescence. It too was gone."
"I went back to the kitchen and pulled open the cupboards and drawers, making the glasses ring and the silverware chatter."
Also she mentioned Nolan Ryan. Yes, he's a dick (for real) but I hugely admire his playing skills. Or at least the ones he used to have.
I'm gonna wait over here and watch for the next one because I think it will be even more marvelous. I hope there could be a sort of sequel one day where we actually do learn about Stella.
"And finally I had to accept that we would never recover the place that had been ours, the private territory of our adolescence. It too was gone."
"I went back to the kitchen and pulled open the cupboards and drawers, making the glasses ring and the silverware chatter."
Also she mentioned Nolan Ryan. Yes, he's a dick (for real) but I hugely admire his playing skills. Or at least the ones he used to have.
I'm gonna wait over here and watch for the next one because I think it will be even more marvelous. I hope there could be a sort of sequel one day where we actually do learn about Stella.
Want to read
January 15, 2013Book Review: The Drowning House by Elizabeth Black
The Drowning House by Elizabeth Black (Nan A. Talese; 288 pages; $25).
“If there was a sign, I missed it” begins Elizabeth Black’s highly publicized debut, The Drowning House. Yea, if there was a sticker on the front of this book proclaiming it tired and tedious, I, too, missed it.
Photographer Clare Porterfield has suffered a huge blow, and her hometown of Galveston has called her home. Clare battles some tough inner demons, as she grapples with her daughter’s death, a freak accident in the family backyard. She blames herself; strangely, she also blames her daughter, too eager to recreate the famous photo her mother took of her. With her marriage in shambles, Clare intends to put her heart and soul into her next project: directing an exhibition in Galveston, a place she has avoided for ten years.
She begins a monotonous search for her childhood friend, Patrick Carraday. Black drags out Clare’s pursuit so much that I began to doubt his existence entirely. Through Clare’s reminiscences of Patrick, it becomes clear they were playing with fire, literally, and were forced apart after a tragic accident.
Accidents seem to follow Clare around. So do family secrets. She does not share close relationships with either her mother or her sister. Her deceased father treated her with scorn and often stood outside her door as a child. There is an undercurrent of sexual abuse here, but Black holds back when she should have fleshed out this issue.
Clare cannot take command of the page. She is Black’s main protagonist, yet she pales in comparison to Stella Carraday, a beautiful young woman who drowned in her family’s home during the Great Hurricane of 1900. Local lore has made the story legendary: “Stella had been only seventeen when she drowned…So many strange things were said to have been discovered in the aftermath of the storm. A horse, thirsty and disoriented in a second-floor bedroom. Dead snakes dangling from the trees.” Stella was supposedly found naked, hanging by her long hair from a chandelier, “the storm waters tore the clothes off most of the drowned.”
Stella’s intriguing story is interspersed throughout The Drowning House, but Black would have done well to have turned the tale into a dual narrative. I found Stella’s scenes far more interesting than Clare’s, especially once Black suggested Stella may actually have survived the storm. Stella’s character presented an intriguing element, and Black may have been able to save this novel by embellishing this unique individual.
Despite all this discussion of what Black gets wrong, she does do a few things right. Black truly transports the reader to early 1990s Galveston and illustrates the great beauty of the island. “The sky was gulf blue, a color you see nowhere else, intense and full of light, a color that throws ordinary things into sharp relief and turns them into sudden visions.” The smells of oleander and of salty air and the stories of hurricane legends provides an atmospheric quality to the story.
The Drowning House is utterly haunting in its descriptions of the Great Hurricane of 1900. Black somehow manages to show the gaping wounds the storm left on the island ninety years after its impact. Hurricanes alter landscapes; storms erode sand dunes and devastate families. Black does not let the Great Hurricane of 1900 destroy Stella’s story, though, and, for me, that was why I kept reading this book. Too bad Black chose to write Stella as an afterthought; she deserved more, her character cried out for it.
Wonderful atmospheric qualities notwithstanding, The Drowning House is a disappointment. Black’s storyline is too uneven, too unpolished. As a reader, I felt strung along and kept waiting for something more, for something better. Sadly, I never got it, but still I continued reading. I would have turned back, but missed the signs.
The Drowning House by Elizabeth Black (Nan A. Talese; 288 pages; $25).
“If there was a sign, I missed it” begins Elizabeth Black’s highly publicized debut, The Drowning House. Yea, if there was a sticker on the front of this book proclaiming it tired and tedious, I, too, missed it.
Photographer Clare Porterfield has suffered a huge blow, and her hometown of Galveston has called her home. Clare battles some tough inner demons, as she grapples with her daughter’s death, a freak accident in the family backyard. She blames herself; strangely, she also blames her daughter, too eager to recreate the famous photo her mother took of her. With her marriage in shambles, Clare intends to put her heart and soul into her next project: directing an exhibition in Galveston, a place she has avoided for ten years.
She begins a monotonous search for her childhood friend, Patrick Carraday. Black drags out Clare’s pursuit so much that I began to doubt his existence entirely. Through Clare’s reminiscences of Patrick, it becomes clear they were playing with fire, literally, and were forced apart after a tragic accident.
Accidents seem to follow Clare around. So do family secrets. She does not share close relationships with either her mother or her sister. Her deceased father treated her with scorn and often stood outside her door as a child. There is an undercurrent of sexual abuse here, but Black holds back when she should have fleshed out this issue.
Clare cannot take command of the page. She is Black’s main protagonist, yet she pales in comparison to Stella Carraday, a beautiful young woman who drowned in her family’s home during the Great Hurricane of 1900. Local lore has made the story legendary: “Stella had been only seventeen when she drowned…So many strange things were said to have been discovered in the aftermath of the storm. A horse, thirsty and disoriented in a second-floor bedroom. Dead snakes dangling from the trees.” Stella was supposedly found naked, hanging by her long hair from a chandelier, “the storm waters tore the clothes off most of the drowned.”
Stella’s intriguing story is interspersed throughout The Drowning House, but Black would have done well to have turned the tale into a dual narrative. I found Stella’s scenes far more interesting than Clare’s, especially once Black suggested Stella may actually have survived the storm. Stella’s character presented an intriguing element, and Black may have been able to save this novel by embellishing this unique individual.
Despite all this discussion of what Black gets wrong, she does do a few things right. Black truly transports the reader to early 1990s Galveston and illustrates the great beauty of the island. “The sky was gulf blue, a color you see nowhere else, intense and full of light, a color that throws ordinary things into sharp relief and turns them into sudden visions.” The smells of oleander and of salty air and the stories of hurricane legends provides an atmospheric quality to the story.
The Drowning House is utterly haunting in its descriptions of the Great Hurricane of 1900. Black somehow manages to show the gaping wounds the storm left on the island ninety years after its impact. Hurricanes alter landscapes; storms erode sand dunes and devastate families. Black does not let the Great Hurricane of 1900 destroy Stella’s story, though, and, for me, that was why I kept reading this book. Too bad Black chose to write Stella as an afterthought; she deserved more, her character cried out for it.
Wonderful atmospheric qualities notwithstanding, The Drowning House is a disappointment. Black’s storyline is too uneven, too unpolished. As a reader, I felt strung along and kept waiting for something more, for something better. Sadly, I never got it, but still I continued reading. I would have turned back, but missed the signs.
October 20, 2012
In Elizabeth Black’s atmospheric Drowning House, the City of Galveston does, indeed, play as large a role as any individual does. This is not the kind of novel, however, peopled with predictable characters everyone has met before. Galveston is complex--graceful and gaudy at the same time, a small city with a big, almost looming past. As many fine novelists have, Black plumbs the chemistry between the place and its inhabitants. In this case, the question of whether you live in Galveston or it lives in you bedevils the wounded protagonist, Clare.
Readers expecting cheerful, quirky, simply drawn Southerners who fix each other sweet tea while solving mysteries will be disappointed. Instead, expect characters described as an Impressionist paints—what’s highlighted also hints at what the author does not “show.” And while the shadowed areas make sense and create a three dimensional shape, the full form may never be revealed. A fine observer of human nature, Black knows that most people never entirely know all aspects of their own motivations, much less others’. What she paints, however, feels true—every turn of phrase, every interaction, firmly rooted in the characters’ whole.
The people of this novel—summarized adequately elsewhere on this page—orbit each other, balanced just like a mobile. Clare knows something is amiss, something hidden, that the center of gravity is shifting somehow. When everything inevitably comes crashing down (and the tension is palpable) it both makes total sense…and will leave you gasping.
Combine this mastery of the novelist’s craft with Black’s diamond-cut prose, and you have a truly gorgeous work.
Readers expecting cheerful, quirky, simply drawn Southerners who fix each other sweet tea while solving mysteries will be disappointed. Instead, expect characters described as an Impressionist paints—what’s highlighted also hints at what the author does not “show.” And while the shadowed areas make sense and create a three dimensional shape, the full form may never be revealed. A fine observer of human nature, Black knows that most people never entirely know all aspects of their own motivations, much less others’. What she paints, however, feels true—every turn of phrase, every interaction, firmly rooted in the characters’ whole.
The people of this novel—summarized adequately elsewhere on this page—orbit each other, balanced just like a mobile. Clare knows something is amiss, something hidden, that the center of gravity is shifting somehow. When everything inevitably comes crashing down (and the tension is palpable) it both makes total sense…and will leave you gasping.
Combine this mastery of the novelist’s craft with Black’s diamond-cut prose, and you have a truly gorgeous work.
February 25, 2013
Many reviewers describe this as "atmospheric" and that is certainly true. The setting is Galveston and the place is felt in every sense. It's very Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I had no idea of the history and quirks of the island and the author really brings it to life.
In the end, I think that's the problem. Galveston dominates and overshadows the characters. I didn't care about Clare's journey or her past. Her loss and her crumbled marriage are so abstract as to almost not be believed. The writing in this is lovely, truly, but somehow the humanity got lost in it.
Plus there is a weird timeline thing. A teenage Clare was shipped off to her aunt's (not a spoiler). She makes a comment about it being the 70s, "so there was no internet." Given her daughter was six (same as my youngest) I assumed Clare was about my age, which would've made her a teen in the 90s. Okay so maybe she had kids much later in life. Then her mother makes a comment about her being "almost 30." So either this novel is set in present day and she would've been a teen in the LATE 90s, or even 2000, not the 1970s or, if she was a teen in the 70s the book is set in the late 80s/early 90s and the comment about internet moot. This bothered me the entire book.
Overall this could've been so much more. The author's writing style is beautiful. The characters were just too remote, and the twist fully expected to the point I wondered if it was something we already knew from the outset.
In the end, I think that's the problem. Galveston dominates and overshadows the characters. I didn't care about Clare's journey or her past. Her loss and her crumbled marriage are so abstract as to almost not be believed. The writing in this is lovely, truly, but somehow the humanity got lost in it.
Plus there is a weird timeline thing. A teenage Clare was shipped off to her aunt's (not a spoiler). She makes a comment about it being the 70s, "so there was no internet." Given her daughter was six (same as my youngest) I assumed Clare was about my age, which would've made her a teen in the 90s. Okay so maybe she had kids much later in life. Then her mother makes a comment about her being "almost 30." So either this novel is set in present day and she would've been a teen in the LATE 90s, or even 2000, not the 1970s or, if she was a teen in the 70s the book is set in the late 80s/early 90s and the comment about internet moot. This bothered me the entire book.
Overall this could've been so much more. The author's writing style is beautiful. The characters were just too remote, and the twist fully expected to the point I wondered if it was something we already knew from the outset.
November 7, 2012
Review of The Drowning House
Reviewed for Great Minds Think Aloud
4 stars
I call this in the category of “women’s lit” or “beach reads” and no, not just because the majority of the novel is set on Galveston Island. It’s the kind of slow-paced novel with multiple characters and multiple plotlines which makes the reader want to take it slow and just enjoy-perfect for a vacation or “beach” read. There’s a lot of history in this novel: history of the island and of the community; history of the historic hurricane and flood; but also history in terms of immediate life-spans-the protagonist Clare, her sister Frankie, her mother and father, her island friend Patrick and his very wealthy and eccentric parents, the housekeeping staff. Reading this reminded me in some ways of reading an antebellum plantation novel.
I must admit surprise as the denouements unfolded. If these were telegraphed, I certainly did not expect them, and I imagine most reeaders will find themselves surprised and if not pleased at the events, at least pleased at the dramatic nature of those events and their unfolding in terms of the “recent history” of the individuals and families scrutinized here.
Reviewed for Great Minds Think Aloud
4 stars
I call this in the category of “women’s lit” or “beach reads” and no, not just because the majority of the novel is set on Galveston Island. It’s the kind of slow-paced novel with multiple characters and multiple plotlines which makes the reader want to take it slow and just enjoy-perfect for a vacation or “beach” read. There’s a lot of history in this novel: history of the island and of the community; history of the historic hurricane and flood; but also history in terms of immediate life-spans-the protagonist Clare, her sister Frankie, her mother and father, her island friend Patrick and his very wealthy and eccentric parents, the housekeeping staff. Reading this reminded me in some ways of reading an antebellum plantation novel.
I must admit surprise as the denouements unfolded. If these were telegraphed, I certainly did not expect them, and I imagine most reeaders will find themselves surprised and if not pleased at the events, at least pleased at the dramatic nature of those events and their unfolding in terms of the “recent history” of the individuals and families scrutinized here.
May 17, 2020
Clare, whose had the loss of her child and wanting out of her marriage, is invited to go back to her childhood home to work on a photography project set up by the most prominent person on the island whose family she's had ties with her while life.
This isn't really a mystery or thriller, it's just a woman's angst about her past. It's well written, with many details, but drags out a bit with the storytelling. This is definitely one of those stories where the protagonist really never gets their happy ending.
This isn't really a mystery or thriller, it's just a woman's angst about her past. It's well written, with many details, but drags out a bit with the storytelling. This is definitely one of those stories where the protagonist really never gets their happy ending.
February 20, 2013
The Drowning House
By Elizabeth Black
4 stars
pp. 268
I was compelled to pick up Elizabeth Black's novel The Drowning House with the setting in Galveston and which claimed to investigate family secrets going back to the great hurricane of 1900 which claimed so many lives, one being Stella Carraday whose body was said to be found hanging by her hair from the chandelier. Since reading Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson, I have been interested in anything I could find about it and I love the idea of uncovering ancient family secrets.
Photographer Clare Porterfield is recruited to put together a show about Galveston using old photographs from the library and families of Galveston. As a neighbor to the Carraday's she has always been interested in Stella's tale and wonders if there is more to the story. Clare is carrying ghosts of her own, a failing marriage, a young daughter who died tragically and her own mysterious past in Galveston.
Black does an excellent job of forming the setting and developing and air of quiet foreboding. She is also astute at shaping dysfunctional families. Here is a scene between Clare and her mother, who Clare calls Eleanor:
"The street was quiet. A car would have given away the year, made it clear we were approaching the twenty first century. Bu there were no cars. Not even parked cars. My station wagon was gone.
I took the steps two at a time.
In the kitchen, Eleanor was standing at the sink. "I heard you get up, " she said. "I could have loaned you a robe." She placed a bowl of blackberries on the table. "These were in your car. I thought you might like some for breadfast. What else? Shall I make you some eggs?"
"Where is the station wagon?" I asked.
"Otis has it. He is working on it."
"Otis?"
Faline's Otis. they're married. For heaven's sake, Clare its been more than ten years. Things happen. Will came by and saw the car and offered to clean it up for you. It looked as if you'd been living in it." she paused. I knew she wanted me to explain. I met her gaze but said nothing.
She Sighed. "You can go over there as soon as you're dressed. You do have a cob?" She handed me a small pile still warm from the dryer. I took the clothes from her without answering and stood to go.
"You haven't eaten. A little fruit..."
"No thanks. Maybe later," I said. I didn't want to stay and discuss my attachment to the station wagon. I knew it said something about my state of mind that I would rather keep to myself.
I found this story compelling and hard to put down. I am hoping that Elizabeth Black continues to write and develop as an author. While I enjoyed the book there were two elements which I had a hard time with. Clare, the main character and narrator, was a bit hard to take for me. This waif of an adult woman who creeps around camera in hand uncovering secrets who can't get past the separation at age 14 of best friend and neighbor, Patrick Carraday, just seems strange to me. While the story seemed to fit together and some of the elements were what I was expecting, it fit like a puzzle with some of those pieces belonging in another puzzle, some were too loose and some too tight as if they had been hammered in. The essence of a good story is there, I just wish there was a little more time and care in crafting it.
By Elizabeth Black
4 stars
pp. 268
I was compelled to pick up Elizabeth Black's novel The Drowning House with the setting in Galveston and which claimed to investigate family secrets going back to the great hurricane of 1900 which claimed so many lives, one being Stella Carraday whose body was said to be found hanging by her hair from the chandelier. Since reading Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson, I have been interested in anything I could find about it and I love the idea of uncovering ancient family secrets.
Photographer Clare Porterfield is recruited to put together a show about Galveston using old photographs from the library and families of Galveston. As a neighbor to the Carraday's she has always been interested in Stella's tale and wonders if there is more to the story. Clare is carrying ghosts of her own, a failing marriage, a young daughter who died tragically and her own mysterious past in Galveston.
Black does an excellent job of forming the setting and developing and air of quiet foreboding. She is also astute at shaping dysfunctional families. Here is a scene between Clare and her mother, who Clare calls Eleanor:
"The street was quiet. A car would have given away the year, made it clear we were approaching the twenty first century. Bu there were no cars. Not even parked cars. My station wagon was gone.
I took the steps two at a time.
In the kitchen, Eleanor was standing at the sink. "I heard you get up, " she said. "I could have loaned you a robe." She placed a bowl of blackberries on the table. "These were in your car. I thought you might like some for breadfast. What else? Shall I make you some eggs?"
"Where is the station wagon?" I asked.
"Otis has it. He is working on it."
"Otis?"
Faline's Otis. they're married. For heaven's sake, Clare its been more than ten years. Things happen. Will came by and saw the car and offered to clean it up for you. It looked as if you'd been living in it." she paused. I knew she wanted me to explain. I met her gaze but said nothing.
She Sighed. "You can go over there as soon as you're dressed. You do have a cob?" She handed me a small pile still warm from the dryer. I took the clothes from her without answering and stood to go.
"You haven't eaten. A little fruit..."
"No thanks. Maybe later," I said. I didn't want to stay and discuss my attachment to the station wagon. I knew it said something about my state of mind that I would rather keep to myself.
I found this story compelling and hard to put down. I am hoping that Elizabeth Black continues to write and develop as an author. While I enjoyed the book there were two elements which I had a hard time with. Clare, the main character and narrator, was a bit hard to take for me. This waif of an adult woman who creeps around camera in hand uncovering secrets who can't get past the separation at age 14 of best friend and neighbor, Patrick Carraday, just seems strange to me. While the story seemed to fit together and some of the elements were what I was expecting, it fit like a puzzle with some of those pieces belonging in another puzzle, some were too loose and some too tight as if they had been hammered in. The essence of a good story is there, I just wish there was a little more time and care in crafting it.
September 10, 2013
www.shelfnotes.com
Dear Reader,
Wow. This book was nothing like I expected. I thought it was going to be a story about the history of a girl who had drowned during a hurricane, he hair entwined in a chandelier. That is what the book’s description led me to believe! However, it was NOTHING of the sort. It was a story about a woman who had lost her young child, and of her journey through finding understanding regarding the rest of her life, particularly her rather messy childhood.
I have to admit, I didn’t particularly like the reader of this book (I was audiobooking it via Overdrive, from my local library). That probably didn’t help endear me to the protagonist. However, I also kept being constantly surprised by this novel, and not in a good way. I kept expecting things to happen that didn’t, and I felt a complete lack of empathy throughout the story, even after finding out the Truth. While I might have felt bad for the protagonist, I certainly didn’t feel much sympathy. It sucked what happened to her, but she was not terribly likable and certainly the story itself was paced in such a way that I kept waiting for things to happen, but when they did, it was kind of a let-down. While ultimately I liked the idea of the story, I didn’t particularly love the execution of it. The narrator basically let things happen TO her, which is understandable in the long run, but doesn’t make you like her much as she relates her tale. Additionally, I couldn’t relate to her reactions to things, nor to her discoveries themselves - they never seemed quite completed, and while they should have perhaps been obvious, the clues felt too muddied, to me. (A bit like this review! - I’m not quite sure what I’m even trying to say.)
I did love the setting of this book: the intriguing island of Galveston, TX. I wanted to visit there, to become one of the looked-down-upon tourists who the narrator and other B.O.I. (Born On the Island) barely tolerate. But the author made the island sound so enticing, despite its decline from its heyday. I want to experience the place, particularly its vivid history which seems to linger long after it’s happened.
Overall, my impression of the book was that it felt somewhat unfinished, which is weird because there were several times when I kept thinking that the story hadn’t even yet started. I wanted to know more about Claire’s photography exhibit, for one thing. And about where she went and what she did after her visit: what happened to her marriage, where did she live? I felt the author was vague and therefore distant regarding these details, ones which I found the most important. Perhaps that just means I was looking at the story the wrong way entirely.
Yours,
Arianna
P.S. By the way? GREAT first sentence of the novel, though!!! I loved it.
Dear Reader,
Wow. This book was nothing like I expected. I thought it was going to be a story about the history of a girl who had drowned during a hurricane, he hair entwined in a chandelier. That is what the book’s description led me to believe! However, it was NOTHING of the sort. It was a story about a woman who had lost her young child, and of her journey through finding understanding regarding the rest of her life, particularly her rather messy childhood.
I have to admit, I didn’t particularly like the reader of this book (I was audiobooking it via Overdrive, from my local library). That probably didn’t help endear me to the protagonist. However, I also kept being constantly surprised by this novel, and not in a good way. I kept expecting things to happen that didn’t, and I felt a complete lack of empathy throughout the story, even after finding out the Truth. While I might have felt bad for the protagonist, I certainly didn’t feel much sympathy. It sucked what happened to her, but she was not terribly likable and certainly the story itself was paced in such a way that I kept waiting for things to happen, but when they did, it was kind of a let-down. While ultimately I liked the idea of the story, I didn’t particularly love the execution of it. The narrator basically let things happen TO her, which is understandable in the long run, but doesn’t make you like her much as she relates her tale. Additionally, I couldn’t relate to her reactions to things, nor to her discoveries themselves - they never seemed quite completed, and while they should have perhaps been obvious, the clues felt too muddied, to me. (A bit like this review! - I’m not quite sure what I’m even trying to say.)
I did love the setting of this book: the intriguing island of Galveston, TX. I wanted to visit there, to become one of the looked-down-upon tourists who the narrator and other B.O.I. (Born On the Island) barely tolerate. But the author made the island sound so enticing, despite its decline from its heyday. I want to experience the place, particularly its vivid history which seems to linger long after it’s happened.
Overall, my impression of the book was that it felt somewhat unfinished, which is weird because there were several times when I kept thinking that the story hadn’t even yet started. I wanted to know more about Claire’s photography exhibit, for one thing. And about where she went and what she did after her visit: what happened to her marriage, where did she live? I felt the author was vague and therefore distant regarding these details, ones which I found the most important. Perhaps that just means I was looking at the story the wrong way entirely.
Yours,
Arianna
P.S. By the way? GREAT first sentence of the novel, though!!! I loved it.
January 18, 2013
In Elizabeth Black's debut novel, The Drowning House, photographer Clare Porterfield's life is in turmoil. Her six-year-old daughter has died. She is immersed in inescapable grief and her marriage is drowning under the weight of her sorrows. She accepts an invitation to return to her hometown of Galveston, Texas, in order to select the material for a photography exhibition funded by the wealthy Will Carraday.
Clare has been gone from the island for many years and, along with others, is questioning her real reasons for returning. In fact, Clare has had a long time relationship with the Carraday family. She had left the island after a tragedy involving her and her friend, Patrick Carraday. He was sent away and they were kept apart.
Galveston has a past seeped in tragedy and that feeling imbibes the novel. Part of the novel explores the mystery surrounding Stella Carraday’s drowning during the hurricane that devastated Galveston on September 8-9, 1900.
Clare may be in Galveston to look at photographs, but what she really seeks are answers to decades old questions, some of which she didn't even know she needed to ask. She has some questions about her past and her family that need to be answered. As she tries to come to terms with her new life, memories start to come to light in a new way.
While the writing in The Drowning House is superb, I'm going to admit that I knew, without a lot of effort, the big secret(s) the novel was going to reveal very early on. If Black had allowed that the reader would have that foreknowledge, leaving us to feel oh-so-slightly-smug at our deductive prowess, and then did a little flip with the plot, I would be applauding her for the extremely well-written novel with the clever plot twist.
Black has written a sensitive, atmospheric, southern gothic mystery. While readers might know as quickly as I did the secrets that are going to be revealed, Black has done an amazing job developing her characters, as well as life in Galveston in this finely crafted novel.
Highly Recommended
Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Knopf Doubleday and Netgalley for review purposes.
http://shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/
Clare has been gone from the island for many years and, along with others, is questioning her real reasons for returning. In fact, Clare has had a long time relationship with the Carraday family. She had left the island after a tragedy involving her and her friend, Patrick Carraday. He was sent away and they were kept apart.
Galveston has a past seeped in tragedy and that feeling imbibes the novel. Part of the novel explores the mystery surrounding Stella Carraday’s drowning during the hurricane that devastated Galveston on September 8-9, 1900.
Clare may be in Galveston to look at photographs, but what she really seeks are answers to decades old questions, some of which she didn't even know she needed to ask. She has some questions about her past and her family that need to be answered. As she tries to come to terms with her new life, memories start to come to light in a new way.
While the writing in The Drowning House is superb, I'm going to admit that I knew, without a lot of effort, the big secret(s) the novel was going to reveal very early on. If Black had allowed that the reader would have that foreknowledge, leaving us to feel oh-so-slightly-smug at our deductive prowess, and then did a little flip with the plot, I would be applauding her for the extremely well-written novel with the clever plot twist.
Black has written a sensitive, atmospheric, southern gothic mystery. While readers might know as quickly as I did the secrets that are going to be revealed, Black has done an amazing job developing her characters, as well as life in Galveston in this finely crafted novel.
Highly Recommended
Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Knopf Doubleday and Netgalley for review purposes.
http://shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/
March 14, 2013
I really wanted to like this book. I did enjoy all of the information about Galveston in the early 1990's. If this had been a travel brochure I would probably give it all 5 stars. I also enjoyed the author's style and felt she wrote quite well, and the book was well edited, in that there were no glaring grammatical or spelling errors that prevented me from actually staying with the story.
Where this book fell apart was in telling a story that was of any real interest. The plot "twist", such as it was, was seen coming from miles away. The characters in the book crossed the line between "being flawed humans" into generally being jerks, in my opinion. The mystery that was promised didn't materialize and it was just kind of a "ho hum" story.
I would absolutely read another book by this author, I think she has amazing promise and truly has the knack of making a novel atmospheric. I hope that the next book has a stronger storyline.
Where this book fell apart was in telling a story that was of any real interest. The plot "twist", such as it was, was seen coming from miles away. The characters in the book crossed the line between "being flawed humans" into generally being jerks, in my opinion. The mystery that was promised didn't materialize and it was just kind of a "ho hum" story.
I would absolutely read another book by this author, I think she has amazing promise and truly has the knack of making a novel atmospheric. I hope that the next book has a stronger storyline.
June 4, 2012
3.5 This author has a very unique and distinct writing style, rather elegant yet matter of fact. I read Isaac's Storm not to long ago, about the Hurricane that devastated Galveston and this book covers the history of Galveston from the viewpoint of the residents that lived there than and live there now. Galveston is a much the main character as is the photographer Claire. Ghosts and mysteries from the past meet up with the now adult Claire, trying to clarify for herself, things she does not understand from her own short past. Searching for answers to things that had been left unfinished as well as trying to understand her lack of closeness with both her mother and sister. This is a slow unveiling of a story set against a backdrop of family revelations and tragedies. This is a novel I savored more than rushed through.
February 9, 2013
This book fell very flat to me. It started off strong and then continued its' slide downward. I expected much more from it than it really delivered. I expected a creepy, paranormal type of book with how the jacket described the book, or minimally a darker family past, and it was much more about family secrets than anything else. I must say, on a positive note, that I did like the writing by this author and would give another book of hers a chance.
October 18, 2013
I had high hopes for this novel but sometimes book descriptions can be so misleading. The characters are unlikeable; there is too much navel gazing, too much angst and way too much drawing room drama for this reader.
Ugh. I struggled to stick with this one to the end. I did finish it and the reveal was not worth my dogged determination. I did enjoy reading about Galveston so I will take that knowledge of an island I knew nothing about with me.
Ugh. I struggled to stick with this one to the end. I did finish it and the reveal was not worth my dogged determination. I did enjoy reading about Galveston so I will take that knowledge of an island I knew nothing about with me.
May 17, 2017
This story felt very undeveloped and quite frankly I found it a little bit boring. I didn't find the story mysterious, suspenseful, thrilling or particularly gothic in feel and overall I just didn't really care about the story.
Unfortunately, just not for me.
Unfortunately, just not for me.
August 5, 2020
I generally add books to my to-read list based on the book's synopsis, and generally don't pay too much attention to the ratings. However, this was definitely a book where afterwards, I found myself agreeing wholeheartedly with the GR rating.
I'm not even really sure what the author intended when she sat down to write this book. The plot about Clare returning to Galveston and facing her past would have made for an interesting book, as would the mystery of Stella Caraway, but both plots in a single book may have been too ambitious. Rather than having a cohesive A plot about Clare with Stella woven in as a B plot, Black struggled to find a way to tell both stories. This book devoted more time to long descriptions of Galveston, Texas and its history than it did to its plot.
There was a lot of potential here, and I was really looking forward to learning more about the Great Hurricane of 1900, so this was a disappointing read. However, I'll give it two stars, since I tend to reserve one star reviews for books that are downright offensive, which was not the case here.
I'm not even really sure what the author intended when she sat down to write this book. The plot about Clare returning to Galveston and facing her past would have made for an interesting book, as would the mystery of Stella Caraway, but both plots in a single book may have been too ambitious. Rather than having a cohesive A plot about Clare with Stella woven in as a B plot, Black struggled to find a way to tell both stories. This book devoted more time to long descriptions of Galveston, Texas and its history than it did to its plot.
There was a lot of potential here, and I was really looking forward to learning more about the Great Hurricane of 1900, so this was a disappointing read. However, I'll give it two stars, since I tend to reserve one star reviews for books that are downright offensive, which was not the case here.
April 15, 2021
When you want to stop reading this book, just go ahead and stop. Every time I thought I was going to put it down, a new question would arise and I would want the answer. Unfortunately, the answer was never worth the extra hour or so invested.
It was a good premise, dove tailing stories of a woman 100 years ago and a woman now. But the execution wasn’t there. Too many characters, too many different story lines, and nothing was clear. I constantly felt like I was missing a piece of the puzzle, but not like a typical thriller where things drip in over the course of the book. Instead, the new drips were totally new story lines.
It was a good premise, dove tailing stories of a woman 100 years ago and a woman now. But the execution wasn’t there. Too many characters, too many different story lines, and nothing was clear. I constantly felt like I was missing a piece of the puzzle, but not like a typical thriller where things drip in over the course of the book. Instead, the new drips were totally new story lines.
August 3, 2018
The book jacket begins describing this novel as a “gripping suspense story” well it isn’t. I struggled to read the last 50 pages because the tragedy of the main character’s past still had not been revealed, she hadn’t solved the historical mystery of what happened to a local girl during the great hurricane of 1900 and she still needed to locate her boyfriend from high school. All of these things were poorly wrapped up in the last 40 pages.
March 28, 2021
The descriptions are beautiful, and having lived 45 minutes from Galveston my whole life, I enjoyed the historical parts.
There were a lot of dropped storylines, or hurriedly wrapped up ones.
The story itself could have been better. But I'm glad I finished it.
There were a lot of dropped storylines, or hurriedly wrapped up ones.
The story itself could have been better. But I'm glad I finished it.
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