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Read this 20 years ago or so and read it again for Book Club. Shreve has a great writing style - at first I thought the book too dark for the holiday season but it is so well crafted that it did not matter. The book takes place in the 1880's and then 100 years later and there are so many obvious and subtle similarities in the book that it is amazing to see what she does. Certainly a love letter to the beautiful yet treacherous coast of NH and to the brave souls who fished in these fertile waters
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I have mixed feelings about this book, perhaps because I was expecting something different (I didn't realize the historical fiction component would be so dominant). Some of it was beautiful but it all felt too tightly constructed and the resolution was abrupt and a bit pat.
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This was good for a vacation read--it kept me interested but wasn't too deep. I preferred the narrative from the sole survivor of the 1873 murders, but felt kinda ho-hum about the present-day story.
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The Isles of Shoals are a group of small islands and tidal ledges situated approximately 6 miles off the east coast of the United States, straddling the border of the states of Maine and New Hampshire. Wikipedia
Area: 146 acres
Built: 1614
Coordinates: 42°58′53″N 70°36′41″W / 42.98139°N 70.61139°W
Location: Gulf of Maine, Atlantic Ocean
Major islands: Appledore, Star, Smuttynose
Total islands: 9 (Maine – 5, New Hampshire – 4)
Area: 146 acres
Built: 1614
Coordinates: 42°58′53″N 70°36′41″W / 42.98139°N 70.61139°W
Location: Gulf of Maine, Atlantic Ocean
Major islands: Appledore, Star, Smuttynose
Total islands: 9 (Maine – 5, New Hampshire – 4)
This was intense. I was listening to the book on tape when I drove from Illinois to Michigan for a family reunion. I always think of Lake Michigan when I think of this book now.
Not something I would recommed to anyone.
Jul 25, 2007
SarahC
marked it as to-read
Jan 18, 2008
grace
added it
Apr 10, 2009
Juliana Philippa
marked it as to-read
Aug 16, 2014
Mansir
marked it as to-read
Dec 01, 2014
Tiffany
marked it as to-read
Jan 05, 2019
Steph S
rated it
it was amazing
Shelves:
novels,
lyrical,
contemporary-literary-fiction,
2019,
author-female,
favorites,
library,
historical,
to-reread
Jun 20, 2020
Cheryl Scaccio
marked it as to-read
