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Sea Lovers: Selected Stories
From the bestselling author of Mary Reilly and the internationally acclaimed Property, a brilliant collection featuring Valerie Martin's finest short stories to date.
For four decades Valerie Martin has been publishing novels and stories that demonstrate her incredible range as a writer, moving between realism and fantasy while employing a voice that is at once whimsical and tragic. The twelve stories in this collection showcase Martin's enviable control, precision, and grace and are organized around her three fictional obsessions—the natural world, the artistic sphere, and stunning transformations. In "The Change," a journalist watches his menopausal wife, an engraver, create some of her eeriest and most affecting works even as she seems to be willfully destroying their marriage. In "The Open Door," an American poet in Rome finds herself forced to choose between her lover and a world so alien it takes her voice away. "Sea Lovers" conjures up a hideous mermaid whose fatal seduction of a fisherman provides better reason than Jaws for staying out of the water. In "The Incident at Villedeau" a respected gentleman confesses to killing his wife's former lover, an event that could be construed as an accident, an impulsive act, or a premeditated crime. Exploring themes of obsession, justice, passion, and duplicity, these drolly macabre stories buzz with tension.
From the Hardcover edition.
For four decades Valerie Martin has been publishing novels and stories that demonstrate her incredible range as a writer, moving between realism and fantasy while employing a voice that is at once whimsical and tragic. The twelve stories in this collection showcase Martin's enviable control, precision, and grace and are organized around her three fictional obsessions—the natural world, the artistic sphere, and stunning transformations. In "The Change," a journalist watches his menopausal wife, an engraver, create some of her eeriest and most affecting works even as she seems to be willfully destroying their marriage. In "The Open Door," an American poet in Rome finds herself forced to choose between her lover and a world so alien it takes her voice away. "Sea Lovers" conjures up a hideous mermaid whose fatal seduction of a fisherman provides better reason than Jaws for staying out of the water. In "The Incident at Villedeau" a respected gentleman confesses to killing his wife's former lover, an event that could be construed as an accident, an impulsive act, or a premeditated crime. Exploring themes of obsession, justice, passion, and duplicity, these drolly macabre stories buzz with tension.
From the Hardcover edition.
320 pages, Paperback
First published August 18, 2015
18 people are currently reading
775 people want to read
About the author
Valerie Martin
63 books256 followersValerie Martin is the author of nine novels, including Trespass, Mary Reilly, Italian Fever, and Property, three collections of short fiction, and a biography of St. Francis of Assisi, titled Salvation. She has been awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, as well as the Kafka Prize (for Mary Reilly) and Britain’s Orange Prize (for Property). Martin’s last novel, The Confessions of Edward Day was a New York Times notable book for 2009.
A new novel The Ghost of the Mary Celeste is due from Nan Talese/Random House in January 2014, and a middle-grade book Anton and Cecil, Cats at Sea, co-written with Valerie’s niece Lisa Martin, will be out from Algonquin in October of 2013.
Valerie Martin has taught in writing programs at Mt. Holyoke College, Univ. of Massachusetts, and Sarah Lawrence College, among others. She resides in Dutchess County, New York and is currently Professor of English at Mt. Holyoke College.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews
June 22, 2015
This collection is beautifully written, tender yet flirting with the bizarre at times. His Blue Period is the one that I loved the most and hit me hardest. Here is a taste of it "If struggle, poverty, and rejection actually did build character, Maria should have been an Everest in the mountain range of character, unassailable, white-peaked, towering above us in the unbreathably thin air. But of course she wasn't." It is an ocean of feeling, a love story that drowns the reader. Every story plays with the reader's emotions. I was embarassed for characters as much as angry at others and somehow even a story about a rat gave me shivers. Where in some author's hands people come off as wooden, Martin's characters feel like living people , their behaviors are true to human nature, it's almost uncanny. It's strange to come away from short stories clinging to one, wishing it was a novel but I did. In fact two stories would make wonderful novels. A wonderful reading experience with stories that demand your emotions come out to play.
March 21, 2017
3.5 for me.
May 26, 2015
"Valerie Martin has done it again! Her collection of short stories proves she is a master of manipulating the eerie and macabre in storytelling. Sea Lovers pulls together 12 stories and each has a way of completely blending reality and fantasy in such a graceful way that it'll be hard to look at anything the same way. I was at the edge of my seat as I read each story, wondering how Martin would turn the tale on its head this time and she proved never to disappoint!" - Lauren W. Doubleday Marketing Department
February 21, 2018
So firstly, yay, my record-breaking 42nd book this year!
Secondly, boo! to breaking my record with such a literary atrocity! This is the WORST collection of stories I can remember reading. The collection was vapid in both style and content. It was like gazing at the short story equivalent of 'paint-by-numbers' - you know where everything is going, and even when the author strays outside the lines, it isn't innovative, it's just bad.
Here are few choice selections to illustrate the utterly-pointless exposition to be found within this collection:
p65: "...clutching the pillow like the mate she didn't have."
p100: "I had begun to understand that my expectations of the world were unrealistic."
p151: "As a writer I was eager to please, as a man I was was afraid to live." /barf
p159: "I watched her, pitiless as a god. She was a pathetic woman who meant nothing to me."
p178: "It was hot, all right, but the heat, which became every moment more unendurable, wasn't in my cock, it was in my brain."
p179: "... I was fresh out of anything hard enough to satisfy her."
(I would normally take this as comedic but the stories weren't funny ... at all).
p195: a poet is described as a "nonentity from nowhere" ... and we then get some backstory on him and his wife, lmao.
p196: again on the nonentity, "He blushed, and glanced about to see who was witnessing this acknowledgement of his worth." (the comma is technically ungrammatical but can be let slide if you take the implied 'he' as the subject of the subordinate clause).
p 204: "Isabel allowed the harshness of this question to darken the air between them. 'What are you talking about?' she asked.
Edith kept her eyes lowered, running through the menu of cutting replies that appeared before her eyes."
p208: "Edith was unmoved by Isabel's tears. Her head was aching and she was nauseated." ... wow.
p210: "She would read that one; it would remind Isabel of Jasper [pet], whom she missed." The problems with this are manifold: only a couple sentences above is the first time we're introduced to 'their cat Jasper,' so this is telling us that we should care (we won't). Also the 'she' is ambiguous - from the context, it should be Isabel, but given Edith is the one who wrote the poem about the cat (albeit about his neutering), it could be either (or both) of them who miss the cat. Just atrocious.
p235: "Evan noted the brief flash of distress that crossed Vicky's face at the mention of his wife. She remembers perfectly well, he thought. She's just being nice about it. Then he was angry at Gina all over again. What right had she to criticize this nice woman ... " Everything after the first sentence (in which 'distress' is unnecessarily blatant) is unnecessary. We're being told he's angry instead of shown.
p268: "Madam Chopin was notoriously full of herself and indifferent to others." (this had already been *shown* no need to tell us again)
p285: "It was an infectious grin. Mathilde lowered her eyes, nodding her head, hiding her smile." The infectiousness of the grin is well-established with the 2nd sentence, which renders the first redundant.
p 308 "... tears leaked noiselessly from his eyes." Have tears EVER made a sound? Seriously.
There was also a "His mood was as dark as his coffee." stunner whose page number I don't recall (it was in 'The Unfinished Novel') and I'm not wading back through that tripe to find it.
The author apparently arranged the stories chronologically, over 30 years of writing. Maybe she can write novels (doubtful), but the prose actually got worse as the collection wore on - the last story was the most poorly-written, uninteresting, and cliched of the lot!
Secondly, boo! to breaking my record with such a literary atrocity! This is the WORST collection of stories I can remember reading. The collection was vapid in both style and content. It was like gazing at the short story equivalent of 'paint-by-numbers' - you know where everything is going, and even when the author strays outside the lines, it isn't innovative, it's just bad.
Here are few choice selections to illustrate the utterly-pointless exposition to be found within this collection:
p65: "...clutching the pillow like the mate she didn't have."
p100: "I had begun to understand that my expectations of the world were unrealistic."
p151: "As a writer I was eager to please, as a man I was was afraid to live." /barf
p159: "I watched her, pitiless as a god. She was a pathetic woman who meant nothing to me."
p178: "It was hot, all right, but the heat, which became every moment more unendurable, wasn't in my cock, it was in my brain."
p179: "... I was fresh out of anything hard enough to satisfy her."
(I would normally take this as comedic but the stories weren't funny ... at all).
p195: a poet is described as a "nonentity from nowhere" ... and we then get some backstory on him and his wife, lmao.
p196: again on the nonentity, "He blushed, and glanced about to see who was witnessing this acknowledgement of his worth." (the comma is technically ungrammatical but can be let slide if you take the implied 'he' as the subject of the subordinate clause).
p 204: "Isabel allowed the harshness of this question to darken the air between them. 'What are you talking about?' she asked.
Edith kept her eyes lowered, running through the menu of cutting replies that appeared before her eyes."
p208: "Edith was unmoved by Isabel's tears. Her head was aching and she was nauseated." ... wow.
p210: "She would read that one; it would remind Isabel of Jasper [pet], whom she missed." The problems with this are manifold: only a couple sentences above is the first time we're introduced to 'their cat Jasper,' so this is telling us that we should care (we won't). Also the 'she' is ambiguous - from the context, it should be Isabel, but given Edith is the one who wrote the poem about the cat (albeit about his neutering), it could be either (or both) of them who miss the cat. Just atrocious.
p235: "Evan noted the brief flash of distress that crossed Vicky's face at the mention of his wife. She remembers perfectly well, he thought. She's just being nice about it. Then he was angry at Gina all over again. What right had she to criticize this nice woman ... " Everything after the first sentence (in which 'distress' is unnecessarily blatant) is unnecessary. We're being told he's angry instead of shown.
p268: "Madam Chopin was notoriously full of herself and indifferent to others." (this had already been *shown* no need to tell us again)
p285: "It was an infectious grin. Mathilde lowered her eyes, nodding her head, hiding her smile." The infectiousness of the grin is well-established with the 2nd sentence, which renders the first redundant.
p 308 "... tears leaked noiselessly from his eyes." Have tears EVER made a sound? Seriously.
There was also a "His mood was as dark as his coffee." stunner whose page number I don't recall (it was in 'The Unfinished Novel') and I'm not wading back through that tripe to find it.
The author apparently arranged the stories chronologically, over 30 years of writing. Maybe she can write novels (doubtful), but the prose actually got worse as the collection wore on - the last story was the most poorly-written, uninteresting, and cliched of the lot!
October 5, 2025
This is a brilliant collection of short stories. I think often when you have a collection there are some dips here & there, some noticeably stronger than others, but every single story here was expertly told
October 8, 2015
Happy to finally finish this book and remove from my "currently reading" shelf. Yes! It's been there way too long! Valerie Martin offers readers a book of short stories that mostly take place in or around New Orleans. There's the story of a struggling artist and the young woman who chose to love him, despite his lack of ambition. Another is the vengeful tale of a husband who loves his dog more than his wife. This particular portion was a bit dark. Matter of fact, the entire compilation cast a bleak shadow. There were a few stories that kept my interest, like the mermaid tale. It ended a little odd, as did each story. And there seemed to be no rhyme or reason for character's actions. I know how short stories work. I've read my fair share, but I was confused at the end, unable to see the author's point. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the locale. I love New Orleans with all my heart and when it is used for a book's atmosphere and location, well, it just sucks me right in. Overall view of this book? Not bad but I probably wouldn't recommend this to a friend or anyone else.
*Received this book from Edelweiss for review, free of charge. Opinions are my own.
*Received this book from Edelweiss for review, free of charge. Opinions are my own.
September 21, 2015
Full disclosure: I received this collection as a Goodreads giveaway, but that in no way affects the review which follows.
This is certainly a progression of diverse stories, which makes sense when one considers that the author wrote them over a period of thirty years and has arranged them chronologically. I have not read any of Valerie Martin's novels, so this collection was my introduction to her writing style -- which does appear to evolve throughout the book as the stories become deeper and more haunting. The prose is elegant, the dialogue fits each of the diverse characters, and the subjects are all very interesting. There were a couple of the later stories that didn't sit well with me, although I believe they are intended to provoke such a response from the reader. That being said, I also had a couple of favorites, both from the middle period: "Beethoven" and "The Unfinished Novel."
Quite an eclectic collection, and I am grateful for the chance to have read it.
This is certainly a progression of diverse stories, which makes sense when one considers that the author wrote them over a period of thirty years and has arranged them chronologically. I have not read any of Valerie Martin's novels, so this collection was my introduction to her writing style -- which does appear to evolve throughout the book as the stories become deeper and more haunting. The prose is elegant, the dialogue fits each of the diverse characters, and the subjects are all very interesting. There were a couple of the later stories that didn't sit well with me, although I believe they are intended to provoke such a response from the reader. That being said, I also had a couple of favorites, both from the middle period: "Beethoven" and "The Unfinished Novel."
Quite an eclectic collection, and I am grateful for the chance to have read it.
February 21, 2017
I won this book through a Goodreads giveaway. Thank you. =)
ARGH! I'm so glad I'm finished with this book. More than you know....
More thoughts at a later time.
ARGH! I'm so glad I'm finished with this book. More than you know....
More thoughts at a later time.
January 18, 2019
I blame myself and the deceptively whimsical cover for my less than enthusiastic reading of this collection. I somehow had gotten it into my head that these short stories would be full of magical realism, but they are very much grounded in the stark reality of life. Each story is bound by either death or a twisting of character, making for a rather grim set of stories. To be fair, the writing is undoubtedly great. I especially liked the amount of characterization achieved within each story. Each character is fully fleshed and nuanced. You come to know them intimately, whether you want to or not. The plotlines are fairly dull, though, and to be perfectly honest I can only remember a vague handful.
I was hoping for more whimsy and variation between the three subsections of stories, but each story within its grouping seemed to be similar to its neighbor. In the “animals” section, an animal dies in each story in horribly morbid ways. It was a rather grim way to start the collection. Unfortunately, I disliked all of them, but “The Freeze” was undoubtedly the best of the group and at least worth a bit of discussion. The “artists” section of stories was the most colorful simply because the focus is on the introspection between two characters and their feelings. There is more depth to these stories- human depth- but still very little interest. I thought “His Blue Period” was the best of the bunch and worthy of deeper reflection considering the complexity and ending. By the way, I found it interesting that most of the stories in this collection have a “what the heck?” ending, with a twist that kind of churns your gut for a moment. And lastly, “Metamorphoses...” I didn’t like any of the stories in this grouping, which is a shame because by the time I had read all the way to this point I was desperately hoping to find some of the whimsy I had associated with this book before picking it up- but it was not to be found. Even the two stories that hold a bit of magic felt so flat and dreary to me. These last four made very little sense and felt completely inconsequential.
So, I’m a bit disappointed. The cover for this book is so beautiful (on the front is a mermaid and on the back is a centaur, characters from the only two stories that incorporate a bit of magic). This gorgeous cover is a beautiful lie to draw you in. It doesn’t represent the stories inside at all, and I’m a bit sad that I had such a skewed idea of what I would be reading. The writing isn’t bad- it’s actually quite nuanced and introspective- but the flesh of these stories just really wasn’t to my taste.
I was hoping for more whimsy and variation between the three subsections of stories, but each story within its grouping seemed to be similar to its neighbor. In the “animals” section, an animal dies in each story in horribly morbid ways. It was a rather grim way to start the collection. Unfortunately, I disliked all of them, but “The Freeze” was undoubtedly the best of the group and at least worth a bit of discussion. The “artists” section of stories was the most colorful simply because the focus is on the introspection between two characters and their feelings. There is more depth to these stories- human depth- but still very little interest. I thought “His Blue Period” was the best of the bunch and worthy of deeper reflection considering the complexity and ending. By the way, I found it interesting that most of the stories in this collection have a “what the heck?” ending, with a twist that kind of churns your gut for a moment. And lastly, “Metamorphoses...” I didn’t like any of the stories in this grouping, which is a shame because by the time I had read all the way to this point I was desperately hoping to find some of the whimsy I had associated with this book before picking it up- but it was not to be found. Even the two stories that hold a bit of magic felt so flat and dreary to me. These last four made very little sense and felt completely inconsequential.
So, I’m a bit disappointed. The cover for this book is so beautiful (on the front is a mermaid and on the back is a centaur, characters from the only two stories that incorporate a bit of magic). This gorgeous cover is a beautiful lie to draw you in. It doesn’t represent the stories inside at all, and I’m a bit sad that I had such a skewed idea of what I would be reading. The writing isn’t bad- it’s actually quite nuanced and introspective- but the flesh of these stories just really wasn’t to my taste.
December 25, 2021
Sea Lovers is a very mixed bag of short stories centred around human (mainly romantic) relationships. The stories are split into three categories: Animals, Artists and Metamorphoses.
Animals takes 4 stories in which an animal is symbolic of a relationship breakdown. Spats - sees a women left with a dog she doesn't want belonging to the man who has left her for another woman. The freeze has a middle aged woman make a rejected pass at one of her students, paralleled with a cat dying in the snow. Well written rather sad snippets of real life.
Artists deals with tempestuous relationships with writers, artists and dancers. The open door is a lesbian tale in which a disgraced dance teacher and a poet have to try and come to terms moving to Italy.
It is the last section, Metamorphosis that really captured my imagination. I'm a big fan of magic realism and I thought these las4 4 tales were brilliant, although they do feel out of place the previous two sections being grounded in the real world.
The change has a male trying to deal with his wife going through the menopause - given a magical twist of her turning into an owl. Sea Lovers is a piece of mermaid horror. The Incident at Villedeau is a a selkie murder mystery. However the highlight of the entire volume has to be the brilliant Et in Acadiana Ego - A centaur romance. Centaur Nikos rides into the life of beautiful heroine Mathilde because he admires (and tries to mate with!) her horse. However as he gets to know Mathilde he begins to fall in love with her. They have a conversation in which she asks him which he prefers, her or her horse and he replies, "I'm divided' - This reminded me of the likes of Tanith Lee and Angela Carter.
Over all I found Sea Lovers a very strange mix of styles and topics. I guess it shows the versatility of the author, but I would have preferred a more themed and unified anthology. Still it shows great insight into human relationships and the writing flows beautifully. Well worth reading for the last story alone.
Animals takes 4 stories in which an animal is symbolic of a relationship breakdown. Spats - sees a women left with a dog she doesn't want belonging to the man who has left her for another woman. The freeze has a middle aged woman make a rejected pass at one of her students, paralleled with a cat dying in the snow. Well written rather sad snippets of real life.
Artists deals with tempestuous relationships with writers, artists and dancers. The open door is a lesbian tale in which a disgraced dance teacher and a poet have to try and come to terms moving to Italy.
It is the last section, Metamorphosis that really captured my imagination. I'm a big fan of magic realism and I thought these las4 4 tales were brilliant, although they do feel out of place the previous two sections being grounded in the real world.
The change has a male trying to deal with his wife going through the menopause - given a magical twist of her turning into an owl. Sea Lovers is a piece of mermaid horror. The Incident at Villedeau is a a selkie murder mystery. However the highlight of the entire volume has to be the brilliant Et in Acadiana Ego - A centaur romance. Centaur Nikos rides into the life of beautiful heroine Mathilde because he admires (and tries to mate with!) her horse. However as he gets to know Mathilde he begins to fall in love with her. They have a conversation in which she asks him which he prefers, her or her horse and he replies, "I'm divided' - This reminded me of the likes of Tanith Lee and Angela Carter.
Over all I found Sea Lovers a very strange mix of styles and topics. I guess it shows the versatility of the author, but I would have preferred a more themed and unified anthology. Still it shows great insight into human relationships and the writing flows beautifully. Well worth reading for the last story alone.
September 3, 2017
Sorry, but this one is definitely not for me. The best thing about it is the cover, iridescent swirls of colour with a strong design. Once the pages are opened, for me, it's all downhill.
I found the writing lacked depth and any sense of poetry. It was unsophisticated and much of it descended into the realms of 'chick lit'. The stories tried to tell tales of fantasy and flirt with the realms of folk lore, but they achieved neither. They tried to be 'dark' in style, but rather I found them gauche and insensitive. The tales were bland, poorly constructed and akin to the kind of material you might expect from an angst ridden teenager. The use of language was clumsy, at times embarrassingly ugly. They were just 'silly' tales. I cringed, especially in the light of the admirations expressed in the reviews on the back cover and frontispiece. I'm sorry that they did nothing at all for me, but really I can't add any more.
I found the writing lacked depth and any sense of poetry. It was unsophisticated and much of it descended into the realms of 'chick lit'. The stories tried to tell tales of fantasy and flirt with the realms of folk lore, but they achieved neither. They tried to be 'dark' in style, but rather I found them gauche and insensitive. The tales were bland, poorly constructed and akin to the kind of material you might expect from an angst ridden teenager. The use of language was clumsy, at times embarrassingly ugly. They were just 'silly' tales. I cringed, especially in the light of the admirations expressed in the reviews on the back cover and frontispiece. I'm sorry that they did nothing at all for me, but really I can't add any more.
July 21, 2023
The best set of short stories I’ve read in 10 years.
Some of these characters will live with me forever.
Every story beautifully written.
Book is divided into 3 sections.
I enjoyed the second and third section most.
His Blue Period is probably the best short story I’ve ever read.
Standouts for me are lyrical writing, animals in every story. And characters- wow!
Really enjoyed this. It was the perfect book to be in a hammock on holiday with.
Would have been five stars is the section called Metamorphosis had been less exploratory and more complete.
I’m a fan of magical realism so I like authors who commit to the genre. Having said that, in the last story the author did.
Bravo Valerie Martin. Thanks for the twisting sensations in my gut you deliver every story.
I will read more of you.
Some of these characters will live with me forever.
Every story beautifully written.
Book is divided into 3 sections.
I enjoyed the second and third section most.
His Blue Period is probably the best short story I’ve ever read.
Standouts for me are lyrical writing, animals in every story. And characters- wow!
Really enjoyed this. It was the perfect book to be in a hammock on holiday with.
Would have been five stars is the section called Metamorphosis had been less exploratory and more complete.
I’m a fan of magical realism so I like authors who commit to the genre. Having said that, in the last story the author did.
Bravo Valerie Martin. Thanks for the twisting sensations in my gut you deliver every story.
I will read more of you.
February 18, 2020
I particularly liked the short stories with hefty, tangy streams of magical realism coursing through them: mermaids, centaurs, and opera.
"She had, by her nature, no sympathy for men, by this one interesting her."
"She had, by her nature, no sympathy for men, by this one interesting her."
December 24, 2021
I'm the first to admit I usually don't "get" short stories but despite this I found myself simply enjoying reading this collection. I love the sea, too, and despite sometimes being confused at the conclusion of certain stories I still found myself happy I'd read it, after all.
June 21, 2022
None of these are poorly written but I really struggled to enjoy this anthology. I guess I don't really understand the point behind a lot of these stories? I feel like I've wasted a lot of time just by reading this.
October 30, 2022
This book surprised me. I purchased it for $4 at a used book store and it is full of interesting, macabre short stories. Not at all what I was expecting but I was entranced by the author’s storytelling. Perfect October read.
July 3, 2023
all well crafted and leisurely explorations of life though i realized i'd read a number of them in another collection, the trouble with collections...i still enjoyed them and the final one is quite a humdingger...
August 23, 2017
Fascinating and inspiring collection of short stories.
January 23, 2018
2.5/5 STARS
July 4, 2018
Maaaybe 2.5
March 24, 2020
An interesting collection of short stories. I liked the ones towards the beginning and end, but felt indifferent to some of the stories in the middle.
November 17, 2023
I did not finish this book, but I forgot about it and honestly that’s worse so I’m gonna say I’m done with it
February 18, 2025
i only liked sea lovers and the one after that
June 6, 2025
3.5⭐️
February 12, 2025
*update* I'm not done yet but "His Blue Period" is one of the best short stories I've ever read
A fantastic collection. I love finding authors that I read their work and I'm like, man I want to write like THAT
Martin isn't afraid to end stories on that dour ambiguous note; these things are constructed like lengthy poems and it's more important that she ends on a refrain or a rhyme than some buttoned up ending and IT IS COOL AS HELL
A fantastic collection. I love finding authors that I read their work and I'm like, man I want to write like THAT
Martin isn't afraid to end stories on that dour ambiguous note; these things are constructed like lengthy poems and it's more important that she ends on a refrain or a rhyme than some buttoned up ending and IT IS COOL AS HELL
August 6, 2015
I won this book through GoodReads First Reads Giveaways.
I think this is the first time I've actually gotten a book via First Reads that I didn't really get much enjoyment or entertainment out of. As another reviewer has stated, I entered for this book because I like short story collections, and with a gorgeous cover and a title like "Sea Lovers" I assumed such stories would have to do with love and/or the sea. The ocean is only involved in one of the twelve stories. Many take place in New Orleans but still don't have a thing to do with the ocean or the water.
All but a couple of the twelve stories revolve more around some kind of death, whether an animal or a human, than what the title implies. I feel it's misleading and should have a title and description themed around death, not the sea. I also couldn't see much of a purpose with hardly any of these stories. Whether there was supposed to be metaphors, symbolism, or pure entertainment, I got none of those things from any of them. Many of them also felt very incomplete. I feel as though the author wasn't truly going anywhere with them, that perhaps she just got bored and started writing things until she found something else to do and then left the stories ending as they did.
The only story I liked even a little was the one where a man's wife turns into an owl by night when she gets menopause (I know, right?) and that's purely because I love owls, no other reason. That story too was left incomplete and didn't seem to have much of a purpose.
All in all, I was just very bored. It wasn't the worst thing ever, but it wasn't really great. The pointless death in so many of the stories made me want to roll my eyes and the feel of all the stories was pretentious. I think this book would do better if the title and cover weren't so misleading. I was not impressed. I suppose it just wasn't for me.
January 31, 2016
I've enjoyed Valerie Martin's novels; this collection of previously published short stories, not so much. The writing is fine enough, and she has come up with some interesting characters, so for someone else, this may have been a good read. But overall, I found the people and stories mean, selfish, and depressing, and those aren't the types of people that I want to spend my time with these days. The twelve stories are sorted into three sections. Those in "The Animals" all involve killing an animal. A woman euthanizes a young, healthy dog to get back at the husband who left her but still cares about the dog; a father chops a rat in half with an ax, and his daughter becomes fixated on the gory remains; a man closes a cat in an attic where it starves to death; a woman finds a dead cat in her yard, a can stuck on its face. Lovely topics for fiction for any animal lover. The four stories in "The Artists" all focus on egotistical and nasty painters/writers who treat the women in their lives horribly. They are verbally and emotionally abusive, they lie, they steal, they push people down stairs, they're simultaneously lazy and ambitious. Again, do I want to read about people like that? NO! "The Lovers"--well, let's just say that in their cases, love should mean having to say you're sorry, whether it's the nasty menopausal woman who rejects her husband or the mermaid who literally rips her men apart, balls first, or any of the other extremely unpleasant so-called "lovers." I'm not someone who reads Pollyanna stories, Christian romances, etc.--but I like to take something with me from a good book, and there was nothing here that I care to think further about. Forcing myself to finish it (why, oh why, did I do this?) was near-torture. If I wasn't repulsed, I was bored.
I'm giving this book 1.5 stars based solely on the quality of the writing.
I'm giving this book 1.5 stars based solely on the quality of the writing.
October 29, 2015
Prior to receiving this book free in a Goodreads giveaway I knew nothing about Valerie Martin despite her long writing career. I found her to be an accomplished writer of short fiction.
The stories in this collection are grouped in three themes, Animals, Artists, and Metamorphoses, and each represents its theme in one way or another. (The reader who complained that the stories had little to do with the sea has a sadly superficial understanding of fictional themes and the art of crafting titles.) Each of the stories reveals directly or indirectly various aspects of human nature.
Martin's language is effective, efficient, and at times beautiful: "One broiling summer afternoon in her eighteenth year, as the sun was dissolving redly into the bayou..." (Et in Acadiana Ego.) It is nearly always precise, words as sharp as the reviewer's metaphors she describes in The Open Door. Martin's writing displays at least two of the elements of successful short stories. Nothing is over-written, the author stating just enough to set scenes and describe actions. And the reader learns a great deal about the characters' minds and personalities from just a few sentences of dialogue, internal as well as spoken, perhaps more than from the actions described.
These highly metaphorical stories are rich in insights into human psychology. They are, as others have noted, rather dark. Human nature IS dark in so many ways. Difficult as that may be to contemplate, it is part of the tension that gives fiction meaning and purpose.
If Valerie Martin's other books are as compelling as these stories, I loom forward to reading some of them.
The stories in this collection are grouped in three themes, Animals, Artists, and Metamorphoses, and each represents its theme in one way or another. (The reader who complained that the stories had little to do with the sea has a sadly superficial understanding of fictional themes and the art of crafting titles.) Each of the stories reveals directly or indirectly various aspects of human nature.
Martin's language is effective, efficient, and at times beautiful: "One broiling summer afternoon in her eighteenth year, as the sun was dissolving redly into the bayou..." (Et in Acadiana Ego.) It is nearly always precise, words as sharp as the reviewer's metaphors she describes in The Open Door. Martin's writing displays at least two of the elements of successful short stories. Nothing is over-written, the author stating just enough to set scenes and describe actions. And the reader learns a great deal about the characters' minds and personalities from just a few sentences of dialogue, internal as well as spoken, perhaps more than from the actions described.
These highly metaphorical stories are rich in insights into human psychology. They are, as others have noted, rather dark. Human nature IS dark in so many ways. Difficult as that may be to contemplate, it is part of the tension that gives fiction meaning and purpose.
If Valerie Martin's other books are as compelling as these stories, I loom forward to reading some of them.
August 7, 2015
One of the best things about the Goodreads Giveaways has been discovering authors 'haven't read before. And so I discovered Valerie Martin when I won a copy of her short story collection, Sea Lovers. She is now on my list of favorites.
In Sea Lovers, there are a dozen stories in three groups: Among the Animals, Among the Artists, and Metamorphosis. This is an intelligent grouping. The first four stories were certainly well written and engaging, but in a sense I felt I was dipping my toes into a new world - nothing too strange or scary here, a bit quirky perhaps, but altogether enjoyable.
In Among the Artists, I had a feeling that the author was somehow channeling J.D. Salinger, although I cannot explain exactly which clues pointed me in his direction. At any rate, I felt that I was nearly fully immersed in this word and I liked it very much. By the time I got to Metamorphosis, I was completely engulfed. The mermaid in one story, the centaur in another - nothing was too fantastical here, everything belonged.
I prefer fiction that is believable because of the writer's cohesiveness. Characters need not exist in the mundane world for me t believe in them under the hand of a gifted writer. Plots twists may make sense only in this fictional world as long as they contain their own logic. Valerie Martin handles her world as a master craftswoman, and I look forward to reading more.
In Sea Lovers, there are a dozen stories in three groups: Among the Animals, Among the Artists, and Metamorphosis. This is an intelligent grouping. The first four stories were certainly well written and engaging, but in a sense I felt I was dipping my toes into a new world - nothing too strange or scary here, a bit quirky perhaps, but altogether enjoyable.
In Among the Artists, I had a feeling that the author was somehow channeling J.D. Salinger, although I cannot explain exactly which clues pointed me in his direction. At any rate, I felt that I was nearly fully immersed in this word and I liked it very much. By the time I got to Metamorphosis, I was completely engulfed. The mermaid in one story, the centaur in another - nothing was too fantastical here, everything belonged.
I prefer fiction that is believable because of the writer's cohesiveness. Characters need not exist in the mundane world for me t believe in them under the hand of a gifted writer. Plots twists may make sense only in this fictional world as long as they contain their own logic. Valerie Martin handles her world as a master craftswoman, and I look forward to reading more.
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