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ereiny5's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
An informative/emotional read on loss, grief, perseverance, and hope. I liked that no one was ever too old
This was well researched, and I learned a lot about the Ocean Ranger sinking and the effects it had on the families and community. Moore captured the attitudes of the company/workers/culture really well. The writing itself also was well done.
Pet peeve of not using quotation marks when someone is talking...
This was well researched, and I learned a lot about the Ocean Ranger sinking and the effects it had on the families and community. Moore captured the attitudes of the company/workers/culture really well. The writing itself also was well done.
Pet peeve of not using quotation marks when someone is talking...
byp's review
4.0
I like the depictions of grief in this book, and although I initally balked at the setting, I found myself interested in the Newfoundland community.
mrs_tea's review
4.0
Moore is brilliant at weaving the past and the present together seamlessly. I did find the story lacking at times, digressing away from the main story, however, it was a beautiful depiction of loss and love.
categj's review
5.0
During a violent storm out in the North Atlantic, on Valentine’s Day in 1982, the Ocean Ranger, a self-propelled, semi-submersible oil rig, was hit with a huge wave and damaging the deck. The rig sank the next day, and all 84 men aboard perished.
Lisa Moore’s novel, February, has at its centre this real-life tragedy — how this event impacts the families and the community of the small town in Newfoundland.
This novel is a beautifully written story of death, loss, love, memory and grief. The story weaves back and forth between past and present, with all threads either coming from or leading towards the tragic event of 1982, when Helen lost her husband, Cal, to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.
Even though grief is a highly unique and individualistic emotion, Ms. Moore expresses Helen’s grieving process in a way that we can all relate to in poignant and personal ways. Helen’s feelings and state of mind ring true. The winding and meandering narration, flowing from Helen’s present (in 2008) to the time of the tragedy (in 1982) and the time before and after the event, feel familiar, the way our thoughts travel back and forth remembering times and places in our own past and present.
Through Helen’s eyes and her feelings, we feel the impact of Cal’s death on the family — their three daughters and, particularly, their son, John, who grows up wary of relationships and terrified of water.
Water, of course, plays an important part in this novel and Moore uses water in various descriptive ways in the book. Boiling kettles, an overflowing bathtub, rain, a mirror breaks in the honeymoon suite — it "buckled, or bucked, or curled like a wave and splashed onto the carpet and froze there into hard, jagged pieces", an orgasm "like a spill of icy water" subtly remind us of that fateful night in 1982.
Lisa Moore’s novel February is passionate, beautiful, sad but at the same time, uplifting. A story about love and loss, and the strength that we find within to carry on, to remember and to live.
I loved this book and can’t wait to read some of Ms. Moore’s other work.
Lisa Moore’s novel, February, has at its centre this real-life tragedy — how this event impacts the families and the community of the small town in Newfoundland.
This novel is a beautifully written story of death, loss, love, memory and grief. The story weaves back and forth between past and present, with all threads either coming from or leading towards the tragic event of 1982, when Helen lost her husband, Cal, to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.
Even though grief is a highly unique and individualistic emotion, Ms. Moore expresses Helen’s grieving process in a way that we can all relate to in poignant and personal ways. Helen’s feelings and state of mind ring true. The winding and meandering narration, flowing from Helen’s present (in 2008) to the time of the tragedy (in 1982) and the time before and after the event, feel familiar, the way our thoughts travel back and forth remembering times and places in our own past and present.
Through Helen’s eyes and her feelings, we feel the impact of Cal’s death on the family — their three daughters and, particularly, their son, John, who grows up wary of relationships and terrified of water.
Water, of course, plays an important part in this novel and Moore uses water in various descriptive ways in the book. Boiling kettles, an overflowing bathtub, rain, a mirror breaks in the honeymoon suite — it "buckled, or bucked, or curled like a wave and splashed onto the carpet and froze there into hard, jagged pieces", an orgasm "like a spill of icy water" subtly remind us of that fateful night in 1982.
Lisa Moore’s novel February is passionate, beautiful, sad but at the same time, uplifting. A story about love and loss, and the strength that we find within to carry on, to remember and to live.
I loved this book and can’t wait to read some of Ms. Moore’s other work.
christie_esau's review
5.0
I am actually shocked (but probably shouldn't be) at how beautiful this book is. Harrowing and incredibly sad a lot of the time, but also a startlingly accurate portrait of grief and family and growing older. Highly recommend.
emilyjessica's review
1.0
Take me so long - nothing super interesting. I actually really enjoyed the writing style and descriptions of what she was thinking - but that was surrounded by a story built of the most cliched and stereotyped gendered characters and relations between them that it just turned me off large chunks of it.
vanessab78's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
a_hoopyfrood's review
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
msmagoo502's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0