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tamarant4's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
‘We should be fighting the sea, not each other. We should be thinking of our families. Dead’s dead; but everything returns. If you let it.’ [p. 191]
After her mother's death in Paris, artist Mado Prasteau returns to Le Devin, the tiny island where she grew up and where her taciturn father -- known as GrosJean -- still lives. Mado has a love-hate relationship with her father, who has never answered any of her letters: she also has a love-hate relationship with her childhood home, the hamlet of Les Salants. It's only a few miles from the much more prosperous La Houssinière, where her sister's husband's uncle M. Brismand grows wealthy on the income from tourists and from the retirement home he'd like GrosJean to move into. Mado's sister Adrienne (mostly absent) agrees. But Mado doesn't want her father to be thus diminished -- and, together with mysterious drifter Flynn (who's living in an abandoned WW2 blockhouse) she hatches a scheme to restore Les Salants to its former prosperity.
I think I prefer Harris' psychological dramas (blueeyedboy, Broken Light and so on) and her Loki books (especially Runemarks) to the early, cosier novels such as Coastliners and Chocolat: but this was a pleasant beach-read for my first beach trip this year, and I liked the ways in which Mado's relationships shifted and changed over the course of the novel.
There's perhaps a touch of magic -- or magic realism -- to the setting, but there are also intrusions from the modern world and the mainland. Le Devin is a kind of pastoral backwater, almost like travelling into the past: it doesn't necessarily reflect contemporary French life, but the ageing population, the superstition and the cantankerously close-knit community felt familiar. Coastliners was published in 2002, which probably adds to the hazy nostalgic sense of simpler times. (I know it's only 22 years! but the world felt very different then.)
Fulfils the ‘magic realism’ rubric of the 52 books in 2024 challenge.
Fulfils the ‘Centres a father-daughter relationship’ rubric of the Something Bookish Reading Challenge.
rjenks's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
natalegend's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
amotisse's review against another edition
3.0
Life passages.
Family, friends, secrets, love and loss, human frailty, place and belonging.
An enjoyable story with believable themes.
Family, friends, secrets, love and loss, human frailty, place and belonging.
An enjoyable story with believable themes.
ohkay28's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
emmamgregory's review against another edition
3.0
Having read Joanne Harris before, I know her writing can be hit or miss. Coastliners was both a hit and a miss. The story starts off very slowly then builds to a racy middle only to end flatly.
karenleagermain's review against another edition
2.0
You know when you read a bunch of books by a fabulous author and you hit that one novel that just doesn't measure up to the rest? Coastliners is French author Joanne Harris' lackluster effort.
Coastliners is the story of the inhabitants of an island in France called Le Devine. The island is sharply divided between two villages. The village of La Houssiniere is prosperous, modern and located on the side of the island with a nice beach that attracts tourism. By contrast, the village of Les Salants is poor and filled with residents who keep with more traditional island ways. Les Salants pushes to change their luck, when a young woman named Madeline returns home to the island after living in Paris and motivates the villagers to work towards bringing tourism to their side of the island.
Coastliners is good on a technical level. Harris is a very adept writer and often writes absolutely beautiful and very sensory passages.
The problem with Coastliners is it simply isn't very interesting. I found it difficult to connect to the characters and their plight. The main character, Madeline, has a very vanilla personality. In fact, none of the characters were very memorable.
The pacing is very slow and in the last fifty-odd pages there are so many plot twists that it feels very contrived. The last bit of the novel played out like a mystery with a lot of "A-ha" and "But wait a minute" moments. The story is essentially a drama and the melodramatic ending was out of place and unnecessary.
The story has a cold tone to it. The island is a character in the story and I felt like as a reader I was supposed to care about this island that the inhabitants hold so dear. However, this is definitely not an island that I would want to visit. Ultimately, the island is the main character and Harris did not endear me to it, making me feel distant from the entire story.
Harris is a really wonderful author and absolutely worth reading. However, Coastliners is not the finest example of her talents and I can't recommend it.
Please visit my blog for more reviews and musings.
Coastliners is the story of the inhabitants of an island in France called Le Devine. The island is sharply divided between two villages. The village of La Houssiniere is prosperous, modern and located on the side of the island with a nice beach that attracts tourism. By contrast, the village of Les Salants is poor and filled with residents who keep with more traditional island ways. Les Salants pushes to change their luck, when a young woman named Madeline returns home to the island after living in Paris and motivates the villagers to work towards bringing tourism to their side of the island.
Coastliners is good on a technical level. Harris is a very adept writer and often writes absolutely beautiful and very sensory passages.
The problem with Coastliners is it simply isn't very interesting. I found it difficult to connect to the characters and their plight. The main character, Madeline, has a very vanilla personality. In fact, none of the characters were very memorable.
The pacing is very slow and in the last fifty-odd pages there are so many plot twists that it feels very contrived. The last bit of the novel played out like a mystery with a lot of "A-ha" and "But wait a minute" moments. The story is essentially a drama and the melodramatic ending was out of place and unnecessary.
The story has a cold tone to it. The island is a character in the story and I felt like as a reader I was supposed to care about this island that the inhabitants hold so dear. However, this is definitely not an island that I would want to visit. Ultimately, the island is the main character and Harris did not endear me to it, making me feel distant from the entire story.
Harris is a really wonderful author and absolutely worth reading. However, Coastliners is not the finest example of her talents and I can't recommend it.
Please visit my blog for more reviews and musings.
klela's review against another edition
3.0
Sarà che sono appena tornata da una vacanza su un'isola ma a me la storia è piaciuta per come si è sviluppata. La protagonista un pò meno ma gli altri personaggi hanno compensato!
krep___'s review against another edition
2.25
Joanne Harris has become one of the those authors who is unpredictable for me (in a bad way). After Holy Fools and Gentlemen & Players, which I found creative and thrilling and surprising and intriguing, I wasn't prepared for the disappointment of Coastliners, which I felt offered me little. She's left me a little uncertain how to proceed with her.