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A review by mirandadarrow
Sea Wife by Amity Gaige
5.0
I just finished listening to the audiobook and rushed online to write a review, which is frankly unusual for me lately as I too am a victim of pandemic fatigue, so bored of being stuck at home for months, etc. And then I thought, what a luxury for me, to have pandemic fatigue, while I'm in my comfortable home with plenty of food, working from home and being paid my salary, completely unaffected by life's real troubles so much that I invent my own. And I thought, damn, I'm Julia.
Yes, Julia has something happen in her past. Hard to meet an adult human in this world who hasn't. But, she had the luxury and privilege to dwell, and hang out in closets all day long, and to just take off on a multi-continental sailing trip with zero other responsibilities, and never, ever, work a job. She has two perfectly happy children and is boastful about abandoning her dissertation on self-absorbed confessional poet Anne Sexton, yet she still whines for an entire book. So much privilege, yet she was still vitally unhappy. That was fascinating and just one extra degree of irritation during the national conversation on privilege that started right in my state of Minnesota with the BLM marches and protests. Must be nice to have no other responsibilities that you can whine about what very little responsibilities you have and grievances you carry for decades.
I loved the structure of this book, with Julia's current-day narrative and Julia's recollections as she reads through Michael's journal. I loved the mysteries embedded throughout. I thought the ending was a little too neatly wrapped up. And, I pretty intensely disliked Julia, but that was part of what made this story such a compelling read.
Yes, Julia has something happen in her past. Hard to meet an adult human in this world who hasn't. But, she had the luxury and privilege to dwell, and hang out in closets all day long, and to just take off on a multi-continental sailing trip with zero other responsibilities, and never, ever, work a job. She has two perfectly happy children and is boastful about abandoning her dissertation on self-absorbed confessional poet Anne Sexton, yet she still whines for an entire book. So much privilege, yet she was still vitally unhappy. That was fascinating and just one extra degree of irritation during the national conversation on privilege that started right in my state of Minnesota with the BLM marches and protests. Must be nice to have no other responsibilities that you can whine about what very little responsibilities you have and grievances you carry for decades.
I loved the structure of this book, with Julia's current-day narrative and Julia's recollections as she reads through Michael's journal. I loved the mysteries embedded throughout. I thought the ending was a little too neatly wrapped up. And, I pretty intensely disliked Julia, but that was part of what made this story such a compelling read.