Sea glass

Book Description

Critics

• 'Sea Glass' by Anita Shreve

  This was the first book by Anita Shreve I've ever read. I wasn't sure what to expect; maybe something like a New England version of Maeve Binchy. (Not that Maeve Binchy is bad, mind, it's just that sometimes her novels are cloying, overly sentimental ... (read full critics)

  readingmatters published on Mon, 27 Sep 2010

• Seeing through glass darkly

  For some time I have been baffled about why the contemporary novel is 'failing' its readers, about why have we turned away from fiction towards the hideous 'confessional' genre and the true-story adventure. Sea Glass explains a lot, because it is ve ... (read full critics)

  spectator published on Fri, 17 Sep 2010

6 Reviews

• 

  At the centre of the story are Honora, bank clerk and Sexton, typewriter salesman who meet and marry at the start of the great depression. The love and hardship they face together is beautifully told by Anita Shreve in her very visual style. I am definitely becoming a fan of her work having now read ... (continue)

  At the centre of the story are Honora, bank clerk and Sexton, typewriter salesman who meet and marry at the start of the great depression. The love and hardship they face together is beautifully told by Anita Shreve in her very visual style. I am definitely becoming a fan of her work having now read four of her novels including this one.
  The main characters all have chapters assigned to them throughout the novel so we can understand how the story progresses from their point of view. We are introduced in this way to McDermott, mill worker and Alphonse the young boy he has chosen to protect, Vivian, wealthy socialite an unlikely group but whose stories all link and merge. There are also a few chapters written as letters from Honora’s mother Alice that helps to link the background information together.

  Set in New Hampshire during the troubled years of 1929/30, Sea Glass is about the coming together of a motley collection of people in troubled times. It was a strange time for them all as although the strikes and Wall Street crash were affecting them all they were happy that summer of 1930, in their innocence not knowing how disastrously it would all end. As the reader I certainly had no inkling of how things were going to turn out, for me the sign of a well told story. A heartbreaking and vividly descriptive insight into the far reaching consequences of The Wall Street crash and the mill strikes.

  I also found absolutely fascinating the descriptions of Sea Glass, those colourful shards of glass smoothed by the sea that one sometimes comes across on beaches. Anita Shreve cleverly uses Honora’s collection of these shards as a link throughout.

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  Lindyloumac said on Jun 28, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 

  Even though I'm a fan of Shreve. I would skip this one. It was a little slow and uneventful for me.

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  Leahrussell76 said on Aug 18, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• ARC

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  Becky said on Nov 10, 2008 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

• Didn't like as much as Pilot's Wife. Took longer to get into and I didn't identify as much with the wife.

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  Charley Snipe said on Apr 8, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 

  Interesting characters and good historical detail. Nice read.

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  Canda said on Dec 9, 2007 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 

  Had a little trouble getting into this book. Maybe since I listened to it on disc, I had too much going on to focus properly? I might have enjoyed it more had I been able to focus.

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  Angie said on May 15, 2007 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Book Details

• Rating:
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• English Books
• Others 378 Pages
• ISBN-10: 0759527636
• ISBN-13: 9780759527638
• Publisher: Little Brown and Co
• Pub date: Apr 01, 2002
• Also available as: Mass Market Paperback, Paperback, Hardcover, Audio CD, Audio Cassette, School & Library Binding and Unbound

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