burnsreadsbooks's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
cattytrona's review against another edition
3.0
Seems like I had a relatively unique experience with this book, in that I knew it was mostly affair, and that was the part I felt less than satisfied with. I wanted it to be more academic, not in its study of oil life (although that was also lacking; not to be an academic but there is training for this stuff, you can’t just go and interview people) but in its self reflection. I guess I was expecting auto-ethnography, not biography. But even then…
Most of what I know about memoir comes from the Celebrity Memoir Book Club podcast, and there’s this thing the presenters point out sometimes, which is that a celebrity author is too close to that part of their life to properly relay it. They’re still caught up in personal feelings, and haven’t found the distance necessary to reflect on, learn from, and understand the importance of it. It’s not that (I think) it’s necessary to learn from all experiences, but if you’re writing it down, you need to know why you’re sharing, and have something to build to, even if it’s just futility. That is the feeling of the situation in Sea State, but I never got the sense it was the actual aim of relaying it. But what that was, I’m not sure, and possibly, neither is the author.
I also felt a weird disconnect between her perspective and mine: an age thing. There was something millennial about the assumptions about gender and all, that felt outdated to me. I’m barely not a millennial too. In some counts I still am. And yet. I’m sure I read books with those kind of gaps all the time, but something about this being memoir broadened them, made them more evident.
Although: is this memoir? The book opens with one of those ‘no relation to persons living or dead’ disclaimers, which I genuinely thought was so interesting. I wish it had done more with that, in the text itself. Had ruptured, a little, had embraced fictionality as a method, had reminded the reader that these aren’t real people (wink). Because otherwise, what was up with that. Idk
Most of what I know about memoir comes from the Celebrity Memoir Book Club podcast, and there’s this thing the presenters point out sometimes, which is that a celebrity author is too close to that part of their life to properly relay it. They’re still caught up in personal feelings, and haven’t found the distance necessary to reflect on, learn from, and understand the importance of it. It’s not that (I think) it’s necessary to learn from all experiences, but if you’re writing it down, you need to know why you’re sharing, and have something to build to, even if it’s just futility. That is the feeling of the situation in Sea State, but I never got the sense it was the actual aim of relaying it. But what that was, I’m not sure, and possibly, neither is the author.
I also felt a weird disconnect between her perspective and mine: an age thing. There was something millennial about the assumptions about gender and all, that felt outdated to me. I’m barely not a millennial too. In some counts I still am. And yet. I’m sure I read books with those kind of gaps all the time, but something about this being memoir broadened them, made them more evident.
Although: is this memoir? The book opens with one of those ‘no relation to persons living or dead’ disclaimers, which I genuinely thought was so interesting. I wish it had done more with that, in the text itself. Had ruptured, a little, had embraced fictionality as a method, had reminded the reader that these aren’t real people (wink). Because otherwise, what was up with that. Idk
arthur_pendrgn's review against another edition
1.0
Like many have said, the blurb doesn't match the contents. Wished I hadn't finished, but I stuck with it to see if it got better. It didn't.
soiwenthome's review against another edition
3.0
Like many reviewers have stated the description for this book is pretty misleading. It is much less about offshore workers and their lives and much more about the authors affair with the first man she interviews for her project. She interviews 103 men over the course of her time in Aberdeen, but remains stuck on Caden Doyle, a short stocky gym-obsessed married man with twin girls. He seems like a pretty big, boring douche and their relationship begins and is maintained by physical attraction only. Later feelings slowly develop (to the point of love?) but the whole being married thing kind of puts a wrench in moving forward by any means.
I really loved her writing style and all the metaphors she uses throughout. I read via audiobook and that is definitely the way to go if you are interested in giving this one a shot, especially if you are not from that part of the world as the narrator dons several accents throughout.
I really loved her writing style and all the metaphors she uses throughout. I read via audiobook and that is definitely the way to go if you are interested in giving this one a shot, especially if you are not from that part of the world as the narrator dons several accents throughout.
rasy's review against another edition
2.0
As a geologist, when I first saw this book being advertised in an article by the Guardian (see: https://www.google.com.sg/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/books/2021/jan/28/sea-state-by-tabitha-lasley-review-sex-drugs-and-oil-rigs), I was really looking forward to reading it.
Unfortunately, the book did not meet my expectation. Although it reaches its objective of talking about men who work offshore*, this objective was met rather poorly. My problem lies with the way the author injects herself onto the narrative of her book; she engages in an affair with a married man who works offshore, and so the whole book focuses more on their romance (with other men she interviewed being “side characters”) instead of equally focussing on what all the men really went through while offshore, away from their families — which is what I was initially expecting.
There are some parts of the book that I appreciate, such as when the author wrote on the dark side of working in the oil and gas industry and the historical risks associated with working offshore. However, these stories were masked with stories of the author’s life and the repetitive mentioning of “I am writing a book about oil rigs” to the men she interviewed.
And honestly, I thought the author, as a journalist, would go on the rig at some point but no, she only spent time in Aberdeen for six months.
Had the author focussed more on the men and the perils of the industry instead of herself, this would be brilliant.
N/B:
*My offshore experience is limited so I buddy-read this with a friend who is relatively more experienced. She mentioned that the behaviours exhibited by the men written here are not shocking. Guess we have a somewhat accurate account, at least.
Unfortunately, the book did not meet my expectation. Although it reaches its objective of talking about men who work offshore*, this objective was met rather poorly. My problem lies with the way the author injects herself onto the narrative of her book; she engages in an affair with a married man who works offshore, and so the whole book focuses more on their romance (with other men she interviewed being “side characters”) instead of equally focussing on what all the men really went through while offshore, away from their families — which is what I was initially expecting.
There are some parts of the book that I appreciate, such as when the author wrote on the dark side of working in the oil and gas industry and the historical risks associated with working offshore. However, these stories were masked with stories of the author’s life and the repetitive mentioning of “I am writing a book about oil rigs” to the men she interviewed.
And honestly, I thought the author, as a journalist, would go on the rig at some point but no, she only spent time in Aberdeen for six months.
Had the author focussed more on the men and the perils of the industry instead of herself, this would be brilliant.
N/B:
*My offshore experience is limited so I buddy-read this with a friend who is relatively more experienced. She mentioned that the behaviours exhibited by the men written here are not shocking. Guess we have a somewhat accurate account, at least.