Dark, violent, disturbing, beautifully written, and with an obsidian glitter
The Shore is a highly assured debut novel by a young author, originally from rural Virginia, whose tertiary education was in the UK, which is where she now lives.
The setting of this interweaving, deeply entangled collection of individual stories, spins itself backwards and forwards, picking up a thread here, leaving it dangling, working that thread into another patch of story, ranging between 1876 and 2143, within the geography of a patch of small islands off the Virginia Coast, and loosely within the interlocked lives of a couple of individuals born in the 1850s, and their descendants.
The family histories are dark indeed. Women, across the generations, abused by some of their menfolk, who are themselves hardened by poverty and prey to addiction, whether illicit alcohol, home stilled during Prohibition, or, in modern times, the cooking of crystal meth.
One family strand tells the story of Medora, child of a Shawnee Indian woman and a brutal white landowner. Medora learns the lore of plants, and within her descendants there are those who still follow shamanic ways, prophetic ways.
It’s extremely difficult to categorise this powerful book – the future moves into an obvious dystopian world, which is heralded in the declining fortunes of the rural community from that 1850s start, and which is echoed in the history of many rural communities in the developed world in the twentieth century.
The book starts with a murder and a mutilation, and there are more murders to come, not to mention rape, castration, physical and emotional abuse – and yet, there is no sense at all of a gratuitous writer titillating with all this
When news of the murder breaks I’m in Matthew’s buying chicken necks so my little sister Renee and I can go crabbing. There isn’t much in the way of food in the house, but we found a dollar and sixty-three cents in change, and decided free crabs would get us the most food for that money. Usually we use bacon rinds for bait, but we’ve eaten those already
I’m squatting down looking at the boxes of cupcakes on a bottom shelf when a woman steps over me to get to the register……….She’s a big fat woman, with more of an equator than a waist; she steps heavy, all of her trembling as she does, and for a moment I’m worried she’s going to fall and squish me. She dumps a dozen cans of pork and beans on the belt and gets out her food stamps, then digs down the front of her stretched-out red shirt and pulls a wrinkled ten-dollar bill out of her bra to pay for a pack of menthols
Taylor writes extremely well – and can capture the voices of different generations, different times, men, women and children.
I really liked the fact that I never knew quite where I was going in her book, the fact that she does not follow a one directional linear route with it. The structure mirrored, if you like, the tangle of braided lives, with the grand pattern coming clear at the end, and earlier lives of people now long dead touching the sections set in the twenty-second century
What is also noteworthy, despite the brutality, the violence, the wastedness of many of the lives, is a fierce connection to the land, and family ties, and friendships, particularly concepts of sisterhood, whether sisters by blood, or sisters purely by gender.
Finally, the UK book cover is rather wonderful. It does not at all suggest, or hint at the true nature of this book, and I am so pleased that it doesn’t. There could have been some very poor and schlocky design, illustrating some of the violence of the subject matter. It was only on finishing the book that the cover began to reveal its subtle appropriateness (shells, just shells of various kinds)
I will, for sure, be following this writer with interest. After such an assured, and original beginning, I have no idea what subsequent books might bring. Taylor has a voice which is unusual, feels authentic, and, for once, the dust-jacket praise seems deserved.
For me, Adam Thorpe, poet and novelist (Ulverton) captures her best:
Sara Taylor has a completely natural unforced feel for language and voice: a remarkable debut
It is.
And, it was a review of this, by Bending Over Bookwards which alerted me to the fact this had been sitting patiently on my bedside TBR, waiting to be read. I wish I could remember who or what first alerted me to buy it, and thank them, but, alas, sunk in the Assateague mists of time
Edit : Now how could I have forgotten that the person to thank is the inestimable Madame ‘Giffy’ Bibi, who so kindly reviewed the book back in July, including several quotes to show the fine quality of Taylor’s writing – here’s the link to her great portmanteau post Inexcusable to have forgotten, particularly as my comment on that post said – I’m heading straight off to buy this. AND I did!
Cathy746books said:
You sold me with that first descriptive line. Sounds great! Just my kind of thing. *sigh*
Lady Fancifull said:
It is quite wonderful, and was constantly surprising me. It’s rare for me to stay with a book with so much violence – but the difference is she is not writing it as entertainment, and in some ways gives the violence the same weight as other descriptions of reality, so it all feels quite firm and real.
Does that mean you are now a Boing – 747!
Susan P said:
I am familiar with that area, and her voice is so genuine from what I have read in your review. I will even add that it is probably the experience of many women. A good review.
Lady Fancifull said:
Yes. I rather felt, unfortunately, that she wasn’t inventing that reality, but revealing the teality
Susan P said:
There really are no words….
madamebibilophile said:
I agree with every word! I adored this novel, its probably my favourite read of this year. Its so powerful, and its really stayed with me.
Lady Fancifull said:
It’s probably a daft thing to say, but I was astonished to see that such a sweet faced young woman was writing, with such assurance and finesse the very dark matter of some of the stories. It’s her ability to do this without the writing succumbing to a hysteria of indulgence on the one hand or a kind of indifferent numbness on the other which is quite remarkable.
Ohhh…MadameBibi it was YOU!! Thank you thank you. I just headed over and checked your blog, and it all came back. Not to mention I commented that I was immediately going to buy it. And did. It just took a while under the TBR before I started it. When on the grown-up PC I’ll do a pingythingy. Can never do it on the tap tap tablet.
madamebibilophile said:
I don’t think its daft – it really is such accomplished writing for a first novel and she shows extraordinary understanding. As you say, she strikes a fine balance.
I’ve gone back and checked the comments and it was me! *takes a bow* I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
madamebibilophile said:
Thank you for the shout-out Lady F! I’m going to insist everyone calls me Giffy from now on 🙂
A Little Blog of Books said:
Going to start reading this next after I’ve finished the 3rd book in Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels series – it sounds truly original and I love the cover design, too.
Lady Fancifull said:
Well if you enjoy it even half as much as I did I can promise a stunning read!. I’ m still spotting delicious little meanings and allusions in that excellent cover, too. She got the designer she deserved on the UK version. The American jacket is rather something and nothing
shoshibookblog said:
Couldn’t agree more. I’m half way through it right now and loving every page!
Lady Fancifull said:
Brilliant, it’s truly excellent, and I’m on my way to credit Madame Bibi who originally flagged it up to me way back in the summer
Disha said:
Ooh sounds like my kind of read
Lady Fancifull said:
It is SO good!
bendingoverbookwards said:
I’m so glad you liked it! It’s such an assured debut- it’s fantastic how she can pull together all the strands in such a satisfying way, but it never feels gimmicky. And the language, the language…awww sooo good. 🙂
Lady Fancifull said:
Yes, she really ticks all the boxes – narrative, complex character, interesting and appropriate structure, dialogue, atmosphere – and most important of all, as you say, the language, the language!
bookskeptic said:
Your review got me hooked. I just bought it and can’t wait to start reading!
Lady Fancifull said:
Brilliant – this seems to be one we are all able to seduce each other with, and then the one seduced eagerly becomes a seducer for someone else. I think this may be one which bloggers are rightly buzzing about!
underrunner said:
Disturbing, with an obsidian glitter, capturing the voices of a diverse lives, connected to the land, sisterhood, assured writing: thank you, I’m well captured 🙂
Lady Fancifull said:
Yes. A veritable spider’s web of a book!
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