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A review by graculus
The Blue Salt Road by Joanne M. Harris, Bonnie Helen Hawkins
4.0
Another library book review, this time of The Blue Salt Road, which I have to lead with praise around the overall design of the hardback - both back and front covers have some stunning embossed silver design work and the interior also has some lovely artwork throughout. So even if the story wasn't all that great (and that isn't the case), it looks beautiful.
This book reads like a fairytale, with language to match - it's about the selkies who live near an island populated by people who live from killing whales and seals, but where our main character is also fascinated by them. Leaving his skin behind, our selkie hero starts a relationship with one of the humans, not realising that her family has all sorts of legacies when it comes to the selkie people. When she manages to get hold of his skin, he essentially becomes her slave and is forced to go into the family business - hunting the local sea-life with his new father in law.
As someone who loves cetaceans very much, there's a whole series of scenes I found hard to deal with and had to push through to the rest of the book. In the end and following an act of revolt that's long in coming, the whole horrifying scenario comes to light, of a family which has lived a lie for many generations. To be honest, I can only recall hearing this story told before from the perspective of the female selkie and that's just as horrific as this version. This is another of those books where I'm glad I've read it but I can't see myself wanting to re-read it any time soon.
This book reads like a fairytale, with language to match - it's about the selkies who live near an island populated by people who live from killing whales and seals, but where our main character is also fascinated by them. Leaving his skin behind, our selkie hero starts a relationship with one of the humans, not realising that her family has all sorts of legacies when it comes to the selkie people. When she manages to get hold of his skin, he essentially becomes her slave and is forced to go into the family business - hunting the local sea-life with his new father in law.
As someone who loves cetaceans very much, there's a whole series of scenes I found hard to deal with and had to push through to the rest of the book. In the end and following an act of revolt that's long in coming, the whole horrifying scenario comes to light, of a family which has lived a lie for many generations. To be honest, I can only recall hearing this story told before from the perspective of the female selkie and that's just as horrific as this version. This is another of those books where I'm glad I've read it but I can't see myself wanting to re-read it any time soon.