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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
I picked this up because I've enjoyed Joanna Harris's books in the past and because the cover art is so beautiful. I had no idea what the story was about when I started and was pleasantly surprised to discover a fairy tale! Our main character is a selkie - a seal that can transform into a human. He is fascinated by humans and wants to be around them. He sheds his sealskin and explores the nearby village where he falls in love with a local girl and gets her pregnant. Fearful that he will leave her and the unborn child, she steals his sealskin which makes him forget his true identity, trapping him on the land.
This book has a lot of the same themes as The Little Mermaid - love, sacrifice, belonging, kinship, and identity. As a seal, the selkie longs for the land and humans. As a human, he longs for the ocean and his past. The story ends with a compromise that ties the selkie to both places: the selkie can never return to the sea (because his wife destroyed his sealskin) but his daughter is able to live in both worlds.
The epilogue sums it up nicely: "This is ... a story of fear, and suspicion, and love, and men and women, and daughters, and sons, and all the dark spaces in between. This is the story of every man who ever felt trapped by a woman's love; the story of every woman who feared the tyranny of her fathers. And this is ... a story of change, betrayal, and forgiveness. But most of all, of love - between a man and a woman; a parent and child; or the love of a creature for their world."
This book has a lot of the same themes as The Little Mermaid - love, sacrifice, belonging, kinship, and identity. As a seal, the selkie longs for the land and humans. As a human, he longs for the ocean and his past. The story ends with a compromise that ties the selkie to both places: the selkie can never return to the sea (because his wife destroyed his sealskin) but his daughter is able to live in both worlds.
The epilogue sums it up nicely: "This is ... a story of fear, and suspicion, and love, and men and women, and daughters, and sons, and all the dark spaces in between. This is the story of every man who ever felt trapped by a woman's love; the story of every woman who feared the tyranny of her fathers. And this is ... a story of change, betrayal, and forgiveness. But most of all, of love - between a man and a woman; a parent and child; or the love of a creature for their world."
It is only in the past year that I have discovered Joanne M. Harris after encountering one of their short stories in [b:Stories|11078611|Stories|Neil Gaiman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328027627s/11078611.jpg|10157640]. Since then I have fallen in love with their lyrical writing, vibrant storytelling, and big soul found in their works. The brief tale of The Blue Salt Road deliveries all of these.
Spinning the story out of [b:Child's Ballads - Volume II|31084511|Child's Ballads - Volume II|Francis James Child|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1468369971s/31084511.jpg|51688313]'s 'The Great Silkie Of Sule Skerry' Harris captures of ballad, with a rhythm behind the writing pulling readers onward through the story. These ballads are fertile ground for a mind like Harris' and we can only hope she continues to draw stories from these them and spins them anew for us in books like this and [b:A Pocketful of Crows|34913762|A Pocketful of Crows|Joanne M. Harris|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1492725829s/34913762.jpg|56176672].
There is a richness and delicacy to this story, it doesn't take much to think you can feel the cold in your bones or taste the salt. The pulse of the cycles of the cold northern islands and the people, animals and other creatures who call them home can be felt when you hold the book. The delicacy comes from there being just enough of this energy to fill your hands but not overflow them. The illustrations from Bonnie Hawkins scattered through the book add a further layer dragging readers deeper still into this world.
The story itself is drenched in emotion. Lust, love, loss, betrayal, pain, rage, hope, redemption. Woven around the encounter of two people that then spirals from their centre enlivening the worlds of their island home. There is a strong and honest human story that sits at the centre from which all this emotion erupts and washes over.
And amongst all this magic is woven. It doesn't feel like a story of magic though, instead these elements feels as natural and usual as the coming and going of the tide.
Once you start reading this book it will begin to sing to you, wrapping the power of these cold, salty islands around you. It's a beautiful and powerful tale, that will feed your hunger for fairy tales and fable or reawaken it in you.
Spinning the story out of [b:Child's Ballads - Volume II|31084511|Child's Ballads - Volume II|Francis James Child|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1468369971s/31084511.jpg|51688313]'s 'The Great Silkie Of Sule Skerry' Harris captures of ballad, with a rhythm behind the writing pulling readers onward through the story. These ballads are fertile ground for a mind like Harris' and we can only hope she continues to draw stories from these them and spins them anew for us in books like this and [b:A Pocketful of Crows|34913762|A Pocketful of Crows|Joanne M. Harris|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1492725829s/34913762.jpg|56176672].
There is a richness and delicacy to this story, it doesn't take much to think you can feel the cold in your bones or taste the salt. The pulse of the cycles of the cold northern islands and the people, animals and other creatures who call them home can be felt when you hold the book. The delicacy comes from there being just enough of this energy to fill your hands but not overflow them. The illustrations from Bonnie Hawkins scattered through the book add a further layer dragging readers deeper still into this world.
The story itself is drenched in emotion. Lust, love, loss, betrayal, pain, rage, hope, redemption. Woven around the encounter of two people that then spirals from their centre enlivening the worlds of their island home. There is a strong and honest human story that sits at the centre from which all this emotion erupts and washes over.
And amongst all this magic is woven. It doesn't feel like a story of magic though, instead these elements feels as natural and usual as the coming and going of the tide.
Once you start reading this book it will begin to sing to you, wrapping the power of these cold, salty islands around you. It's a beautiful and powerful tale, that will feed your hunger for fairy tales and fable or reawaken it in you.
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Atmospheric re-telling of the Selkie myth, with beautiful illustrations by Bonnie Hawkins. Quite sad, and no really likeable characters, just those backed into corners by their own limitations and those of their environment.
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Read in one sitting. This is the first time I've read a book from a selkies POV and it provided a new perspective on this traditional folklore tale
"But listen, and you will realize that each of those sounds is a story. The crunch of pebbles underfoot; the splash of a leaping mackerel; the cry of a sea-eagle hunting above the white rocky shores of the islands. Stories, like the traveling folk, never die, but always move on."
While I still prefer [b:A Pocketful of Crows|34913762|A Pocketful of Crows|Joanne M. Harris|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1492725829s/34913762.jpg|56176672], this was still a beautiful, magical tale, and I'm impatiently waiting for more of these books.
While I still prefer [b:A Pocketful of Crows|34913762|A Pocketful of Crows|Joanne M. Harris|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1492725829s/34913762.jpg|56176672], this was still a beautiful, magical tale, and I'm impatiently waiting for more of these books.
The Blue Salt Road is a beautifully written book, crafted with prose as lyrical as the Child Ballads it takes its inspiration from. Harris paints a picture and sings a song with this work, and I can't wait to read some more of her books.
In this book, Harris makes you feel every pain of the Selkie and, trust me, he feels a lot of it. You can feel his heartbreaking when he's doing things he doesn't want to and you can feel his frustration when he can't remember the truth. It really made me sympathise with him and dislike almost everyone else.
It is a good way of being introduced to parts of a culture that I don't know too much about. Harris' writing is easy to understand and to read and I found myself flying through it.
One other thing that is worth mentioning are the illustrations, which are yet another thing that make this book, in this case, literally beautiful.
In this book, Harris makes you feel every pain of the Selkie and, trust me, he feels a lot of it. You can feel his heartbreaking when he's doing things he doesn't want to and you can feel his frustration when he can't remember the truth. It really made me sympathise with him and dislike almost everyone else.
It is a good way of being introduced to parts of a culture that I don't know too much about. Harris' writing is easy to understand and to read and I found myself flying through it.
One other thing that is worth mentioning are the illustrations, which are yet another thing that make this book, in this case, literally beautiful.
Absolutely phenomenal. Harris's writing was so beautiful and she really brought this folk tale to life. The illustrations by Hawkins were also stunning. This will be one of my best books of 2019 without a doubt.
Based on how much I like myths and the fact that I enjoyed Harris’ previous novels, I thought I would love this little fairytale of a book featuring the Silkies (sea creatures that can shed their skins to live among humans). The author successfully manages to create fascinating imagery through her skillful use of language, however the characters lacked depth and warmth, moreover the moralistic tone towards the end rubbed me the wrong way. Not the author’s best work IMO. 2.5 stars