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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding historical romance,
By
This review is from: Galveston 1900: Swept Away (Paperback)
From hopelessness to hopefulness and filled with as much love as there is hate, Galveston 1900: Swept Away by Linda Crist has what it takes to be a great historical love story.
Set in the months preceding the tropical cyclone that devastated Galveston in 1900, Rachel Travis works on the docks of the second busiest port in the U.S. while she moonlights as a bartender. Rachel has known she was different from other women ever since she ran away from home 8 years previously at age 15. She dresses like a man, works in traditionally male jobs and even secretly visits a prostitute named Lillie. While Rachel struggles with the implications of her uncommon behavior especially as viewed by the Church, she knows deep within that this is her true self. Mattie Crockett is the opposite of Rachel in everything. While she is "allowed" by her physically abusive husband, Adam, to work in a tailor's shop, she must not go anywhere else without him. She is captive in her own house and subject to Adam's fists when he is not "pleased" with her. Mattie's only hope is when Adam frequently goes out of town to Houston on business. It was one of those times when she decides to take a walk on the beach behind her house. And that is where she meets Rachel for the first time. Both are lonely and in need of a friend, and because of this, they form an unlikely friendship that is pursued whenever Adam is away on business. Crist has written a historically strong novel. She has taken much care in presenting an accurate portrayal of the mannerisms, language and dress of the period and location. Her descriptions of the physical settings are genuine, and the tropical cyclone and the weather leading up to it is so chilling that it made this reader tense. I felt like I was right there. The depictions of how men view their wives and women in general, are meticulously precise. While Adam's behavior is excessive even for 1900, he knows he can get away with the abuse because wives are property, and Crist explains this exceptionally well. Rachel's character succeeds in this time period because she acts like a man and therefore is treated like one for the most part. And this is where Mattie's and Rachel's romance rings the truest. It survives because of the traditional male-female roles the two exhibit with each other, but it flourishes because of the tenderness and uniquely feminine qualities that Rachel bestows on Mattie, especially with their lovemaking. Crist showcases this lovemaking with subtle references and actions to keep it authentic to the period. In Galveston 1900: Swept Away the reader is constantly reminded that it is 1900. Both women struggle with their relationship and how the Church and God may view it. Their choices are not easily accepted by them or others. The story also deals with the reality of Mattie leaving her husband, and Crist resolves this the only way she can for that time period. Crist evenly paces the story throughout, and while Adam's brutality is difficult to read at times, it fits right in. As I have written in other reviews, I delight in historical fiction especially a novel like Galveston 1900 that is well written and sincere. Linda Crist has a bona fide hit with this outstanding story.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Writing that makes you quite envious,
By
This review is from: Galveston 1900: Swept Away (Paperback)
To be different from the 'norm' makes things very difficult for anyone. All manner of unexpected hardships can occur, most of which the rest of the community, large or small, can easily turn a blind eye to. Now place the difference in a historical context where there is even less as a chance that there would be a chance for people willing to come together and help those different.
But in Linda Crist's novel, Galveston 1900: Swept Away, we find that there are people who do care and refuse to allow the status quo to continue. There is an evidence that even within the outcasts of a whore, lesbians, orphans, and an abused woman, that a community is formed inside of the town of Galveston see what is happening and is willing to change to protect the social outcasts simply because there is no one else able to do so. That topic in itself is heartwarming. Crist begins with the first love of a woman who has the fortune of being over looked as a woman as she goes about doing her job on the port. As the author weaves in the other layers of the story, the parts never feel extraneous or confusing. The theme of community helping is strung through the entire book and never seems contrived. It gives a reader a sense of hope. I have found myself re-reading portions of this book often, definitely not a book I regret buying at all.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Soap Opera style love story,
By
This review is from: Galveston 1900: Swept Away (Paperback)
I enjoyed the story of the two gals meeting, falling in love and weathering the cyclone. The book, however, is long and sometimes tedious with requent repetitions in the thoughts and words of the charactors. The slowness of the action is very much like a daily soap opera. I found myself wishing the book would move a little faster.
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