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A review by mjenae
Of Salt and Shore by Annet Schaap
adventurous
dark
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
My sister and I listened to this book together, and we both loved it from the beginning.
I could talk all about the plot and prose and sensitive topics, but it's the characters that really make this book. The lighthouse keeper Augustus, an alcoholic, and his brave daughter Lampie; Edward (Fish), the "monster" in the tower; Martha, the cook, and her intellectually disabled son, Lenny; Nick, the protective carpenter in the garden (our favorite character); and of course all the anomalies in the Strange tent at the circus. Even the antagonists are interesting: Miss Omalia, the school teacher in love with the admiral; the admiral himself, with his complicated backstory; and Earl, the... idiot. (He works at the circus and has a practically nonexistent moral compass.) I can't expound because spoilers, so just go meet them yourself.
If you do, I highly recommend the audiobook. The narrator is phenomenal.
I could talk all about the plot and prose and sensitive topics, but it's the characters that really make this book. The lighthouse keeper Augustus, an alcoholic, and his brave daughter Lampie; Edward (Fish), the "monster" in the tower; Martha, the cook, and her intellectually disabled son, Lenny; Nick, the protective carpenter in the garden (our favorite character); and of course all the anomalies in the Strange tent at the circus. Even the antagonists are interesting: Miss Omalia, the school teacher in love with the admiral; the admiral himself, with his complicated backstory; and Earl, the... idiot. (He works at the circus and has a practically nonexistent moral compass.) I can't expound because spoilers, so just go meet them yourself.
If you do, I highly recommend the audiobook. The narrator is phenomenal.