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axgirl13's review against another edition
2.0
'There was nothing to fight for and nothing to fight against. A Quiet drift of motion; it was only the ocean after all.'
I've got Only the Ocean by Natasha Carthew form a book box and, considering a beautiful cover, I couldn't wait to dig right into it. It turned out it wasn't that easy. The book is written in a very peculiar way. The author is heavy emphasising different accents and way of speaking for the main character, who is a girl from poor 'swamp folk'. From the very beginning this book is very hard to read. I had to be very focused to understand what exactly was happening, and even though I tried, I often was confused and couldn't imagine it at all. I think only because this book was not long (272 pages) I kept reading. Otherwise I would just put it away and never looked back. Fortunately after about 50 pages it got better... or maybe I got used to writing.
The book takes place in a near future (probably, nothing is said directly about it), where Cornwall was flooded and the whole mainland consists of huge swamps and high towers, where the rich people lives. Our main character is Kel Crow, a teenager who decided to runaway from her home in the swamps, taking with her only a knife and her little baby. She has a very precise plan for her future. She needs to kidnap a rich girl, swap her for a bag of drugs and sail to America to sell them and get money for operation fixing the defect of her heart. Seems easy enough for Kel, but of course nothing in life ever comes easy and two girls form different worlds end up stranded in the middle of the ocean on a small boat.
The whole book is the fight for survival. Kel is very determined to live to see another day and during their many dangerous adventures she's starting to see the error of her ways. She promises herself that she will change her life around, if only she made out of the ocean alive. Of course a bond between the girls is starting to form, going from acceptance, through rough friendship to even something more. For me it didn't really work very well. There were not much indication of their relationship development, just being constantly stranded with each other.
I also didn't really like the ending. I felt that I should be very sad and maybe shed a tear or two, but I felt nothing. The few last pages felt quite ridiculous for me. I also didn't like that there was nothing said about the world around characters. It was only hinted that something big and terrible is happening, but then everything is just left unsaid and you can made it up yourself. I feel like there was a very interesting story there and was completely left untouched. The story also includes tough problems like children abuse, rape and self harm, but all of it is just mentioned and characters don't dwell much over it.
I didn't like the story much to be honest. I think to enjoy it you have to be in very particular mood. I know that there is a lot of people who loved this writing style but I'm not one of them. Maybe if English was my native language I would appreciate it more.
I've got Only the Ocean by Natasha Carthew form a book box and, considering a beautiful cover, I couldn't wait to dig right into it. It turned out it wasn't that easy. The book is written in a very peculiar way. The author is heavy emphasising different accents and way of speaking for the main character, who is a girl from poor 'swamp folk'. From the very beginning this book is very hard to read. I had to be very focused to understand what exactly was happening, and even though I tried, I often was confused and couldn't imagine it at all. I think only because this book was not long (272 pages) I kept reading. Otherwise I would just put it away and never looked back. Fortunately after about 50 pages it got better... or maybe I got used to writing.
The book takes place in a near future (probably, nothing is said directly about it), where Cornwall was flooded and the whole mainland consists of huge swamps and high towers, where the rich people lives. Our main character is Kel Crow, a teenager who decided to runaway from her home in the swamps, taking with her only a knife and her little baby. She has a very precise plan for her future. She needs to kidnap a rich girl, swap her for a bag of drugs and sail to America to sell them and get money for operation fixing the defect of her heart. Seems easy enough for Kel, but of course nothing in life ever comes easy and two girls form different worlds end up stranded in the middle of the ocean on a small boat.
The whole book is the fight for survival. Kel is very determined to live to see another day and during their many dangerous adventures she's starting to see the error of her ways. She promises herself that she will change her life around, if only she made out of the ocean alive. Of course a bond between the girls is starting to form, going from acceptance, through rough friendship to even something more. For me it didn't really work very well. There were not much indication of their relationship development, just being constantly stranded with each other.
I also didn't really like the ending. I felt that I should be very sad and maybe shed a tear or two, but I felt nothing. The few last pages felt quite ridiculous for me. I also didn't like that there was nothing said about the world around characters. It was only hinted that something big and terrible is happening, but then everything is just left unsaid and you can made it up yourself. I feel like there was a very interesting story there and was completely left untouched. The story also includes tough problems like children abuse, rape and self harm, but all of it is just mentioned and characters don't dwell much over it.
I didn't like the story much to be honest. I think to enjoy it you have to be in very particular mood. I know that there is a lot of people who loved this writing style but I'm not one of them. Maybe if English was my native language I would appreciate it more.
annettebooksofhopeanddreams's review against another edition
2.0
If you've been following my reviews for a while already, you've probably noticed that a road trip has to be really good to actually convince me. If that road trip sparks some interesting emotional development for example or if it really serves a purpose and leads to some epic conclusion that just blows your mind.
But, this book has a weird kind of sea trip that just leads absolutely nowhere and doesn't come with some great emotional development or conclusion. It all feels a little pointless. It eventually leads not really anywhere and all we get to read is two girls at sea almost being killed a couple of times and then somehow finding a way out again. O, and they fall in love, but I have to admit that I missed the exact point it happened and the chemistry.
The writing style doesn't really serve the story either. It all feels very monotonous and repeating. My mind was drifting of constantly or I was simply zoning out. Quite often I was reading the words, but they didn't really reach or touch anything in me. It was like I was reading a study book on a subject I couldn't quite appreciate. Geography or something.
Doesn't this story have anything interesting? Yes, it has a few interesting elements, among them the world that's being built. It's a pity that we only read about it through memories and dialogues and don't get to see any of it. There seems to be quite a few interesting things going on on the mainland and I wish we got told that story instead of this one.
But well, not all books can be four or five star reads, right?
But, this book has a weird kind of sea trip that just leads absolutely nowhere and doesn't come with some great emotional development or conclusion. It all feels a little pointless. It eventually leads not really anywhere and all we get to read is two girls at sea almost being killed a couple of times and then somehow finding a way out again. O, and they fall in love, but I have to admit that I missed the exact point it happened and the chemistry.
The writing style doesn't really serve the story either. It all feels very monotonous and repeating. My mind was drifting of constantly or I was simply zoning out. Quite often I was reading the words, but they didn't really reach or touch anything in me. It was like I was reading a study book on a subject I couldn't quite appreciate. Geography or something.
Doesn't this story have anything interesting? Yes, it has a few interesting elements, among them the world that's being built. It's a pity that we only read about it through memories and dialogues and don't get to see any of it. There seems to be quite a few interesting things going on on the mainland and I wish we got told that story instead of this one.
But well, not all books can be four or five star reads, right?
thebooklender's review against another edition
4.0
Set in a near-future, waterlogged Cornwall, Only The Ocean depicts a dystopian society where the poor “swamp folk” and the rich “tower folk” do not mix.
Fifteen year old Kel is desperate to escape her life in the swamps - a life of crime, abuse and misery. With nothing but a knife, a baby and a meticulous plan, Kel knows what she has to do: kidnap the tower girl from a ship, get her back to land and use the ransom to pay her way to South America and a life-saving operation on her oversized heart. But we all know what happens to best laid plans. Unpredictable seas, weather and people leave Kel and Rose - kidnapper and victim - reliant on each other in order to survive everything the ocean throws at them, and force Kel to reevaluate not just her plans, but her whole world view.
Only The Ocean will not be to everyone’s tastes. It reads like a post-apocalyptic Cornish folk song - the style may put off some readers, but it worked for me. Long periods of the book are set on a small island, or an even smaller dinghy, and there is a suitably claustrophobic atmosphere to the writing. We get to see very little of the dystopian society up close, what little we know of it comes from contextual clues and conversations. I liked that not everything was made explicit, that there was room for inference and gap-filling.
Carthew’s writing is full of powerful imagery, evoking sights, sounds, feelings and places through her interesting and creative use of language. Only the Ocean is certainly not for everyone - the distinct writing style could take time to get used to and may put off some readers. The novel also deals with some serious issues - rape and child abuse, self harm - so is definitely one for older, more mature readers.
Fifteen year old Kel is desperate to escape her life in the swamps - a life of crime, abuse and misery. With nothing but a knife, a baby and a meticulous plan, Kel knows what she has to do: kidnap the tower girl from a ship, get her back to land and use the ransom to pay her way to South America and a life-saving operation on her oversized heart. But we all know what happens to best laid plans. Unpredictable seas, weather and people leave Kel and Rose - kidnapper and victim - reliant on each other in order to survive everything the ocean throws at them, and force Kel to reevaluate not just her plans, but her whole world view.
Only The Ocean will not be to everyone’s tastes. It reads like a post-apocalyptic Cornish folk song - the style may put off some readers, but it worked for me. Long periods of the book are set on a small island, or an even smaller dinghy, and there is a suitably claustrophobic atmosphere to the writing. We get to see very little of the dystopian society up close, what little we know of it comes from contextual clues and conversations. I liked that not everything was made explicit, that there was room for inference and gap-filling.
Carthew’s writing is full of powerful imagery, evoking sights, sounds, feelings and places through her interesting and creative use of language. Only the Ocean is certainly not for everyone - the distinct writing style could take time to get used to and may put off some readers. The novel also deals with some serious issues - rape and child abuse, self harm - so is definitely one for older, more mature readers.
aurora_blue's review
adventurous
dark
hopeful
slow-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
3.5
divinehealer14's review
adventurous
medium-paced
2.5
I just could not get into this book. Even though the premise was kind of interesting, and I was super up for a wlw romance, this book just fell flat as a disc.
The writing style is ok, but nothing special in my opinion, the plot becomes highly predictable and I simply got bored.
The writing style is ok, but nothing special in my opinion, the plot becomes highly predictable and I simply got bored.
the_bookish_owl's review against another edition
2.0
Full review to come but for now a trigger warning for self harm and child sex abuse.
booksandlemonsquash's review against another edition
2.0
I struggled with Only the Ocean, the prose style just isn’t for me. And while I liked Kel as a main character in places, she’s not always terribly sympathetic. And the awful things that made up her life before the story starts aren’t really dealt with, and I think they should have been.
Rose is easier, but you don’t really learn much about her. Or the world in which the book is set. Really, that’s my biggest issue. What is going on around them? We get no context at all! It’s so frustrating.
The writing can be very pretty, and I do like the relationship that grows between Rose and Kel, but I think the cook could have benefited from fewer “style” choices and from being slightly longer so we could get some of that context.
Rose is easier, but you don’t really learn much about her. Or the world in which the book is set. Really, that’s my biggest issue. What is going on around them? We get no context at all! It’s so frustrating.
The writing can be very pretty, and I do like the relationship that grows between Rose and Kel, but I think the cook could have benefited from fewer “style” choices and from being slightly longer so we could get some of that context.
becky1209's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
merkuurius_9's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-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
3.5