The Great Offshore Grounds
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15
Ratings1
Average rating3
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD NOMINEE • A wildly original, cross-country novel that subverts a long tradition of family narratives and casts new light on the mythologies—national, individual, and collective—that drive and define us. On the day of their estranged father’s wedding, half sisters Cheyenne and Livy set off to claim their inheritance. It’s been years since the two have seen each other. Cheyenne is newly back in Seattle, crashing with Livy after a failed marriage and a series of personal and professional dead ends. Livy works refinishing boats, her resentment against her freeloading sister growing as she tamps down dreams of fishing off the coast of Alaska. But the promise of a shot at financial security brings the two together to claim what’s theirs. Except, instead of money, what their father gives them is information—a name—which forces them to come to grips with a long-held family secret. In the face of their new reality, the sisters and their adopted brother each set out on journeys that will test their faith in one another, as well as their definitions of freedom. Moving from Seattle’s underground to the docks of the Far North, from the hideaways of the southern swamps to the storied reaches of the Great Offshore Grounds, Vanessa Veselka spins a tale with boundless verve, linguistic vitality, and undeniable tenderness.
Reviews with the most likes.
The premise of the sisters hunting for their mother was dropped fairly quickly into the novel and wasn???t picked back up until the end of the book. While it was the instigating force of the plot, it wasn???t the driving force and for much of the book we are simply following the lives of these siblings. As a result, I wasn???t as interested in the middle of the book where we change focus.
I thought the assault plot line came out of nowhere, but I really did not like the inclusion of the speculative element. Characters from history appear and talk to our characters briefly, appearing a few times. It???s not too often, so if its not an element you enjoy you can quite easily move past it. In fact, I didn???t even realise that was what was happening at first. If it had been a bigger element of the plot I think it would have worked well but in the end I thought it was just a bit ill-fitting.
This book had great writing, and I enjoyed the characters. I just think there were too many elements half committed to and if there had been a bigger focus on just a couple the book would have worked better for me. As it is the book felt like it was missing an identity.
