Customer Reviews

Sea Glass

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(45)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Anita Shreve's latest book, "Sea Glass," is a quiet novel that deals with the universal themes of life, love, loss, hope, beauty, tragedy and death.

"Sea Glass" begins in 1929, when Sexton Beecher, a typewriter salesman, marries bank clerk, Honora. They decide to make their home in a rather dalipidated, but still romantic, New England beach house. Honora is a fulltime wife and homemaker and besides the usual things all wives and homemakers do, Honora loves to take long walks on the beach and collect bits of colored glass worn smooth as silk by the waves of the sea. Eventually, Honora meets and becomes friends with Vivian, a wealthy woman who happens to live nearby. The world seems, at least to Honora, to be an almost perfect place.

When things are too good, they usually don't last and Honora learns this lesson the hard way. The Great Depression causes problems for Sexton and Honora, but it brings Honora unexpected pleasures as well, in the form of handsome Quillen McDermott and his twelve year old friend, Francis.

This is a book that is told from the point of view of many of the characters involved. In almost every case this works, and it works well. The exceptions are Vivian and Francis. In the early sections of the book, Vivian plays such a prominent part that we come to believe she will be an integral part of the coming storyline as well. Instead, she seems to fade a little more with each passing scene.

Francis is also problematic. His chapters are written in long sentences that let us know he is smart, but lacks the education he should have at his age. This wouldn't be bad in and of itself. The problem arises because the rest of the novel is so quiet and so poetic; Francis' chapters seem a little abrupt, as if they're jarring us out of a lovely reverie that we just don't want to leave.

Shreve is good, at least in this book, at creating convincing, believable characters and then making them come to life. The tension and excitement that exists between Honora and McDermott is especially memorable.

Although the description is good, the symbolism of the sea glass, however, is a bit heavy-handed, especially near the end.

This is a quiet book, with no great surprises and no great suspense. It doesn't delve too deeply into the minds and hearts of the characters involved, but then, we don't always want something that's earthshaking. I think most women will find more than enough to relate to in this book and Anita Shreve fans will probably love it.

Fortune's Rock, the setting of two of Anita Shreve's earlier books once again plays a significant role in her newest title, Sea Glass. It is to a house in the area of Fortune's Rock located in England, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and a secluded beach, that newly married Honora and Sexton move to in June of 1929. Honora looks forward to keeping house while Sexton will continue his job as traveling typewriter salesman. The house they occupy is rather run down but in lieu of rent, Sexton has agreed to fix it up for the owners. But when the house becomes available for them to buy and while they don't have all of the money, Sexton jumps at the opportunity to purchase it for their futures. Unfortunately, for this couple and other characters in the book, the stock market crash is only weeks away and will ultimately test them economically but also emotionally. In an eerily foreboding manner reminiscent of Shreve's earliest works, the author depicts the lives of characters caught up in events that will shatter their world as the book takes hold and readers race towards the climactic ending.

Told in alternating voices are a cast of wonderful character whom Shreve portrays so well that we feel as though we know them. In addition to Sexton and Honora who spends time collecting sea glass on the beach, there is also the very wealthy Vivian who meets Honora on the beach and her one time lover and once wealthy Dickie. Rounding out the characters are McDermott, a factory worker and labor organizer and his protégé 11 year old Alphonse who dreams of becoming a pilot. These are vivid characters we come to care about whose stories once set in motion, keep the reader wondering how their lives will play our and what will become of them at the end of the book.

And all the while, we are witnesses to these character's lives as they struggle with loyalty, trust, betrayal and solid marriages during a time when our country was gripped with both economic and moral dilemmas. And as we come to know more about them we fear for their lives as the climate of the country grows darker and darker.

While Honora continues to collect her beautiful sea glass, the reader marvels at how Shreve parallels her characters lives with the sea glass. How glass remains intact despite the pounding of the ocean waves and its journey to shore. But people are more fragile as Shreve reminds us in this book and we mourn for these people as the pages turn almost by themselves. While some might say that this title is a historical novel and few do research as well as Anita Shreve, it is also the portrayal of vastly different people who come together under difficult circumstances as they try to survive their own waves and pounding. Few authors can evoke a period of time and place the way Shreve can and does. Once again Ms. Shreve has written a worthwhile read and engaging title.

I've read all of Anita Shreve's books. This one wasn't as good as A Pilot's Wife or The Weight of Water.

Her latest book tells the story of the stock market crash in 1929. We see the struggle of the mill workers and the impact of such a horrendous economic blow to all of the various social classes. Honora Beecher is at the centre of the story though the novel is told from 5 different perspectives.

Shreve is an outstanding writer in that she uses wonderful, descriptive language and she can explore the human condition and the range of emotions like few other authors. I enjoyed this part of the book, but the story was a little too slow. I felt that some of the characters just didn't come to life like they could have...Vivian, the jaded socialite especially.

Overall, this was a good book, just not her best.

At first, Anita Shreve's latest novel had me shaking my head in frustration. I couldn't discern among the many short chapters and their main characters, all seemingly unrelated. I found myself flipping back and forth between chapters to remind myself of who was who. And then something miraculous began to happen: the characters began to cross paths, one by one, and their wildly different lives started to converge. The plot unexpectedly had structure and direction. By the time I reached the end, I was amazed by Shreve's fictive abilities to take a quiet group of character studies to such an explosive conclusion.

Set in a New Hampshire mill town and the nearby coast just before and during the Great Depression, the novel follows several principals affected by the greed of the mill owners. This is typical Shreve territory described in her characteristic starkly beautiful prose. Impatient readers might give up on Shreve's painstaking preparation for the final half of the novel, but the rewards are worth the slow start.

Men might find this title more hospitable than other Shreve titles; her male characters here are strongly drawn and interesting. Although the women tend to be the unbreakable sea glass, the men drive the plot.

I recommend this book for readers of literary fiction and reading groups, the last because Shreve offers history, metaphor, and multidimensional issues - much to talk about. Pass on this if you are in the mood for a page-turner.

I have read every book by Anita Shreve. I love her writing. I would not put this one in the same class as The Weight of Water or The Last Time They Met, but it really was a good read.

It takes place in 1929, 1930 in Fortunes Rocks, where 2 of her other novels took place, Pilots Wife and Fortunes Rocks. The story basically follows a newly married couple and a few of the other people in their town dealing with the crash of '29 and of course the relationships that Ms. Shreve develops are interesting.

It was a fast read for me. I didn't really get into it until I was about half way through. If you are an Anita Shreve fan at all you will like this one, not as deep as others of hers but still a very good read.

I've read and enjoyed all of Shreve's books, and this is one of her best. Told from the perspectives of five separate characters, Sea Glass is the story of a disparate group of people whose lives become intertwined and changed forever following the stock market crash of 1929. Like Fortune's Rocks, it will transport you to another time and place. Highly recommended.

Anita Shreve has written another winner. It's too bad Oprah isn't around to push it to 800,000 copies sold as she did with Shreve's "The Pilot's Wife."

Without Oprah, alas, it's up to other discriminating readers to recommend this novel. So here it is. In spite of the fact that some of the characters in this novel don't have the depth I prefer in literary novels, this one is so full of plot, so full of lessons to be learned (no preaching, of course!) that I can't help but love it.

When you read it, note that the protagonist had doubts about the man she marries. Not the normal things like, "This is a huge step, do I really want to do it?" but bigger ones that point, in this case, to a dishonest nature. How many times in our lives do we ignore our instincts and suffer for it later? If we take this particular lesson of Shreve's to heart, it may keep us from relegating the "natural voice" we all have to the back burner next time we hear it.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of "This is the Place"

I finished Sea Glass this afternoon and think it is an excellent novel. The carefully illustrated scenario and clarity of descriptive exposition draw the reader in, but serenity is short lived. Shreve begins to intertwine the lives of her well drawn characters about half way through, and their meeting up and joining ranks in plot integration is seamless and logical.

The growth of Honora is specifically noteworthy and quite beautiful to me, as is the revelation of Sexton's true character emerging, which the reader knows is not merely the direct result of the onset of The Great Depression. The Alphonse and McDermott links are my personal favorites. What a stalwart and shy young eleven year old is Alphonse, who has far too much weight on his gentle shoulders. McDermott proves his mettle and engages the trust of the reader early on by befriending him. Vivian is a jaded socialite who redefines her character by becoming involved in meaningful relationships, discarding frivolous decadence, while retaining her humor and zest. The author gives each character's voice his/her own significant appropriation in the structure of Sea Glass. One would know who is who without the chapter headings.

Shreve's timing and research are exemplary, and all the crumbs laid as clues pan out, even crimson sea glass. The house in which Honora and Sexton start their married life is the beach home of Olympia in Fortune's Rocks, a character in itself, and a minor surprise awaits lovers of Fortune's Rocks in the history of Vivian's home. In addition, within the novel, reference is made to Sexton's and Honora's albatross shore house once being used as a convent for unwed mothers. Another novel to come?

The shards of sea glass Honora collects along the beach have smooth edges. So does this novel.

Roe Wiles

As many reviewers have noted, Sea Glass is a quiet and slow read, but that is the beauty of the novel. It creates a nostalgic feeling--I can almost see the expression on my grandmother's face when she remembered the Great Depression.

Each character may or may not be developed enough for some readers, but they characters are there to support the main plot, much like the supporting actors in many movies or the marginal actors in films.

Honora Beecher, a naive young woman, marries Sexton, a husband with less than adequate ethics and behaviors. Her struggle to find peace and joy within her home mirrors the struggles of the mill workers as they battle management in an attempt to garner higher wages and better working conditions. Honora wishes for the same things in her own life.

This book signifies the struggle of the period and its individual characters, because despite the depression, people's lives were not entirely consumed by just the larger economic state of the country.

First of all, the boy's name in the edition I read was "Alphonse", not "Francis" as described in the earlier reviews on this site. Putting all that aside, this is a wonderful story, lovely and sad and engrossing. I haven't read any of Ms.Shreve's other books, but if this book is an indication of her writing style, I will be buying the others. She weaves a tale so sweet and subtle, it hits you like a strong wind....I could not put this book down. I highly recommemd it.