Customer Reviews

Beachcombing for a Shipwrecked God

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If someone had handed me this book and said, it's about three women, each representing a different generation, and they come together to make a nice little family, I would have rolled my eyes. How sitcom. Fortunately, it's a lovely piece of writing and while three women of different backgrounds come to appreciate each other and eventually live together, it's not forced saccharine or knee-jerk comedy.

Each character is vulnerable in a believable way. Charlotte has recently lost her husband, who died after admitting he was ambivalent about their marriage. She tries to keep it together and escape the questions of her in-laws by involving herself in what might be a pointless archeological dig in a small eastcoast town. There she meets artist, Grace, an older woman, followed by Chloe, a young but wise pregnant teenager. Coomer keeps things from getting maudlin by avoiding tidy relationships. The characters don't instantly see each other as salvation and there are always tics to contend with. Charlotte's pain felt very real. Admittedly, Chloe was a bit overly wise, but with the Coomer's touch, it's easy to overlook.

Best book I've read since "The Island of the Mighty" and "The Stone Diaries". One of the best books I've read in current fiction (1995). One of those books I don't want to finish. Like good food. So much about memory - how it makes a person. I love the analogy between an archaelogical artifact and a piece of our past, suddenly arising in our brain. Coomer brought all sorts of knowledge in to this book - Portsmouth, N. H., water and boats, archaeology. He has done this. Some of his phraseology is breathtaking. And the secrets two women held onto til the end - Wow! An absorbing story with convincing characters. It was a Great Read. Three women - 75, 28, and 17. And most of the time Chloe at 17 is the wisest. A great movie here with the right actresses. Why hasn't it been done?

Since my bookstore's 'must reads' have never let me down before, I started this novel with little knowledge about the subject or the author. I was two-thirds finished before I realized that the author of this emotionally clear, touching, heart-felt novel was written by a man. I was shocked! It's the same jolt I felt after reading Roddy Doyle's "The Woman Who Walked into Doors" and sat for hours, not believing this man could know so much about what it is to be a woman. Some female must have been whispering into his ear at the typewriter, I mused.

"Beachcombing for a Shipwrecked God" is a slice of heaven. This is a spiritual, mystical story that takes less than a year chronologically, and although the actual time is short, you walk away feeling you've been friends with these incredible women for years - watching them learn to embrace life. It's an amazing journey.

I picked this book up on a fluke and I am not sorry! This is just a great book, I tell everyone I meet about it. For me, now only was it neat that it was local...I could close me eyes and see where she was walking, but I still can't get over the author being a man. Coomer was able to get into the lives of these women and bring them to such wonderful realness, it's amazing. If you read nothing else this summer, Beachcombing is a Must -- put it on your list!!!

I love stories about interesting women. This book is at the top of my list. Definitely the best book I've read this year. My only regret was that it was so short, I would have enjoyed a few more days curled up with this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I'm from Portsmouth, NH, where it takes place and I felt like I was seeing the town new, and reading an original, honest, fresh description of it. I loved the characters. I can't believe they weren't based on real people. They truly touch you and keep you thinking. . .A novel with honest impressions, feelings, yet not one that hits you over the head with its theme. Very, very beautifully written. A gifted writer with insight is Joe Coomer.

I read this in the spring of 2004 and don't think I've yet recovered. Why does a novel like this merit praise? It has ridiculously unlikable characters, including a flatulent old lady who likes to vandalize the town, a bitchy teenaged single mother with smelly feet, and a woman who in her unmitigated selfishness causes her husband's suicide after she aborts his baby. It had virtually zero plot, it had a dozen missed opportunities for using set-ups that practically fall into the author's lap (witch's graves in a 17th century graveyard??? how cool is that? but what's he do with it? almost nothing!) and it ends with this impossible compromise among its main figures that left me wondering if anyone was buying it. I truly dislike this book, as I guess you can tell.

I loved this book, and spent part of a long weekend finishing it, since I was reading my daughter's copy and had to leave it with her. All three main characters, plus the setting, are wonderful. My only complaint about the story was the finally revealed secret about Charlotte's relationship with her husband. I couldn't buy that explanation, and felt there should have been some clues earlier in the story.

Very Highly Recommended Charlotte, an archaeologist, lost her husband a scant nine weeks ago. Unable to cope, she leaves the security of her home in search of herself. The New England town of Portsmouth seems an ideal local to begin her quest. It is by the sea and she knows no one who lives there. A sign in a restaurant window advertises a room for rent on-board one of the boats anchored in the marina. Grace owns the Rosinante, is a widow, and paints trompe l'oeil on walls and sidewalks. She also has the ugliest dog in the world. Seventeen years old Chloe is overweight, chronically optimistic, and pregnant. Charlotte, and a cat whose name changes almost as often as the tide, immediately takes-up residence with the two eccentric women. Charlotte, Grace, and Chloe cling to life like the barnacles on the bottom of the old sail boat. The ebb and flow of the tides wash flotsam and jetsam across their path, leaving a trail of secrets and pain in its wake. Heartbreak, joy, and tragedy sweep aside the mundane and commonplace leaving the clear shine of golden friendships. Joe Coomer weaves magic in every page. We laugh through the tears as the destiny of these women unfolds. Each of the three central characters represents a stratum in the journey of life; complete with pathos, humor, and resolution. Mr. Coomer shows us their weakness and strengths, draws us into the regenerating friendships, and allows us to know, and love, them despite their foibles. Mr. Coomer is a master of his craft. Recently, I read a much touted book by a male author writing from a female point of view. There is no contest: Beachcombing for a Shipwrecked God is by far more intricate, delicate, and insightful. Joe hones into the deep places of the heart where dwells pain, loneliness, and despair. Mr. Coomer crosses the gender line and speaks to the soul. Kathee S. Car

Coomer develops characters in such a way you feel as if they are people you know- the issues he addresses are serious, yet he deals with them in a way that is realistic without being "sappy". I have rcommended this book to over 200 people- no complaints yet!