Reviews

Eelgrass by Tori Curtis

steakhusband's review against another edition

4.0

Eelgrass was provided for free as the Sapphic Book Club's book of the month for November. You can check out the book club here!

I love just about everything about this book. The writing was lovely and evocative and made me feel like I was reading this by the sea (even though it’s autumn and cold and I’m in the Midwest). Curtis knows how to balance the emotional scenes with the more humorous ones, and I never felt bored while reading.

Efa’s friendship with Bettan is central to the story, and even when they were apart, it was never pushed to the side. I really appreciated that, since in some books, friendships get dropped in the name of romantic relationships. In Eelgrass, Efa is allowed to have strong friendships alongside her blossoming romantic relationship, and it’s refreshing to see. I also really enjoyed Efa’s character development, and her more active role at the end of the novel was very satisfying.

The only part of the book that I didn’t really enjoy was the ending. It wasn’t a bad ending; it was happy, which I enjoy in books, especially in books with gay relationships. It just seemed abrupt to me and left me wanting some more closure.

I really enjoyed reading Eelgrass, and I look forward to reading more from this author.

synth's review against another edition

1.0

It could have been okay, it was okay for the most part, but then it had to keep pushing judeo-christian values of marriage and family until the very last words, despite the whole point being that coercing a woman into marriage and to bear children is evil (it never uses the term rape, mind you...).

I never got a clear idea of the era in which this story happens. I'm assuming somewhere around the 50s, when wives are basically maids and mothers, and when a kidnapped and raped and/or beaten wife is told to give it time to grow to love her husband, and that having babies will basically fix it all. Even the mythological creatures who should have a very different culture think that the rights of their women basically don't matter in the face of getting along with the human race.

The main character's brother is also the epitome of the good guy, gaslighting his sister, and "wanting what's best for her," and not actually caring at all about the fate of his kidnapped friend. And still, despite all this, he's still depicted as good people?

I did like that the commentary on what love is somewhat implies that it's more a spectrum from friendship to romantic love, even if it's all a little clumsy. But this is nowhere close to saving the book.

fbstj's review against another edition

3.0

this book .... it started and I struggled to read the prose, but I got into it and paused at about halfway, because sleep. so I was looking forward to reading more because the adventure and flirting and is a lot of fun. I don't know why but I feel like it didn't really finish anything. it starts a bunch of cool stories and has a lot of intriguing hooks... it felt like there was a bunch of scenes rather than a full tale. which is somewhat realistic I guess, everyone changes but for all the brief time they spend trying to change specifically they change in different more subtle ways.

simonlorden's review against another edition

4.0

This book was November's Sapphic Book Club read hosted by @sapphicliterature.



Actual rating: 3.5 stars

Efa and her friend Bettan are both selkies, and after Bettan's seal skin is taken, Efa sets out on a journey to find her friend and rescue her.

I have to admit, I didn't enjoy this book too much. It certainly had its positives - the almost all-female cast and the parts about the sirens were great, but the second half of the book was physically painful to read at some points.

Thing is, this book is supposed to be a calling out for rape culture by using the selkies as a metaphor, but 1) that makes it much heavier and frustrating read than I expected, 2) I don't actually think that it's doing a very good job at calling out rape culture and heteronormativity. The main character is horrified at her friend being taken and nobody else taking it seriously, but even she still holds many heteronormative and ignorant views that are not properly challenged in the book.

I am slightly more forgiving to its faults because it's a first book in a planned series, which means both the main character and the main f/f relationship have time to grow, and hopefully they will. But as a standalone book, Eelgrass wouldn't have received more than 3 stars from me.

localbeehunter's review against another edition

4.0

This book November's Sapphic Book Club read hosted by @sapphicliterature.

Rating: 3,5

When Bettan gets kidnapped, her best friend Efa is ready to do everything to get her back to safety.

Tori Curtis, with an amazing writing style, throws us into the world of selkies and fishwives. She uses the myth of stealing the selkie's skin as a metaphore for a rape culture. The story does a great work of showing it along with accompanying it heteronormativity; however, it was not explicit enough with condemning it and at times I was left thinking it contributes to harmfull tropes.

The driving force in this story is friendship and it was refreshing to see a narrative focused on the importance of non-romantic relationships. Efa's goal to rescue her friend was her priority even after connecting with her love interest. All the main characters are relatable, interesting, and ranging in personalities. Nevertheless, all of them can be at times a bit annoying while struggling with some concepts which we assume as common truth. This makes the book a little harder to read but also shows that in the patriarchal society it is often hard to realise there's something beyond blindly going along with the injustice.

I found the romantic part really scarce but it's understandable since Efa's heart was mostly set on freeing Bettan as well as she has only began realising her attraction to girls.

As it is a first book in the series, I hope for the story, the relationships, and the characters to grow because there's a potential for sure.

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