Reviews

The Great Offshore Grounds by Vanessa Veselka

tumblehawk's review against another edition

5.0

It was hard not to return again and again to the phrase “Great American Novel” in reading this. That’s a phrase I often roll my eyes at. But this epic feminist tale of sisterhood, family, struggle, the quest for self-determination...yeah. This is a real window into America. I first encountered Vanessa Veselka not through her writing but her teaching. Soon after moving to Portland I took a workshop co-led by her and Lidia Yuknavitch called “Cash, Class, and Writing America.” What I learned (or tried to learn) in that class is on full display here, masterfully. The lives of the characters at the core of this novel are lives lived under the financial realities and pressures of contemporary America. These are characters looking to make meaning of their lives but finding that quest all too often subsumed by the need to simply survive. There’s a really fascinating thing happening with time in this novel. Veselka’s first novel ZAZEN was often really dense and thick for me, hard to plow through. Things moved slow and thick. This book moves for the most part at a breakneck pace, the plot of it is fairly flying at your face, but the characters are sort of circling the drain much of the time, trapped in centrifugal forces. Meanwhile, there are departures—the narrative voice pulls back to a deep, wide, even ancient knowing, that renders historical time and, beyond that, natural time/geologic time in strata that are much deeper, wider, moving with oozy thickness. It has this telescoping effect, making our human lives feel at once small and at the same time so very individually epic. There is such poetry in these moments that I was often stunned into rereading such passages. Just a beautiful book. And while I may call it a Great American Novel I also want to point out that it resists Freytag’s pyramid, resists predictable plotting, in ways that may leave some readers unfulfilled; but it just felt true to me.

jenniferlepstein's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

emwinch's review against another edition

3.0

There was so much I loved about this book, but an equal amount of things I didn’t love. So here it is:

The Great Offshore Grounds has the makings of an indie movie from the very first page. The quirky siblings, the strange and estranged father, the odd wedding, and the “gift” of some longed-after information.

Veselka wraps a history lesson inside of a journey from a fishing boat in Alaska, to a castle in the middle of Texas, to a yurt in the forest... and everywhere in between. At times, the historical context was totally lost on me- but I could still enjoy the story without it.

I agree with some of the other reviews I’ve seen- that the inclusion is Raleigh and Lejeune was a little strange. The mystical undertones of this story were slightly hard to follow.

With quick chapters and varying voices and storylines, this story moved quickly for me, although I do think it was a little long. The takeaways:

1. You might now know where a decision will take you, but sometimes that can be better than anything you’re leaving behind

2. Our material possessions are not the most important thing that we leave behind. We work so hard our entire lives to have THINGS (homes, cars, money, objects) but the lessons we teach others and the things we instill in our families and friends are what live on.

dominika_benmichael's review against another edition

4.0

There is a lot to chew on in this book - themes of futility, hope, community, perseverance, love. I didn't understand many aspects of it, but the ones that resonated did so forcefully

bury's review against another edition

4.0

8/10. This book definitely is high on my ranks for the insane plot—there was just so much that happened in this book, from a tornado in Texas to salmon fishing in Alaska to a cult in North Carolina. Every time I reflect on the book I remember a new storyline or event. As a result, the book feels rushed at times, but I think the character development makes up for it. I’m always going to love a book about sisters from Seattle, but I liked the mystery of figuring out exactly who these characters are through the insane way in which they live their lives entirely on impulse.

brittneyn125's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Cancer, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Drug use

ldubs82's review against another edition

I just didn’t enjoy this and couldn’t get into it

loneal5's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

alcyon_alcyon's review against another edition

5.0

Excellent novel. I felt instantly at home with the characters and their lives because I grew up in 1980s Seattle and Portland, a white kid with a single parent on the edge of poverty, hanging out in places like the Last Exit. I didn't experience the characters as poor, weird, woo-woo or any of the other things some other readers appear to be alienated by. Just seemed like my people, journeying the way you can if you aren't too owned by the system.

Thank you Vanessa Veselka for what it took to finish writing this novel. Please write another. (Zazen was great, too.) You remind me of some great novelists of forty-odd years ago that I read when I was supposedly too young....

readers_block's review against another edition

4.0

3.75/5

A pretentious novel full of hippies who do nothing with their lives and complain about it the whole time-- but very enjoyable!

I appreciated the way the author wrote. She's clearly very talented and is able to sweep you away with her prose. I can't say I liked any of the characters, save for maybe Essex and that's still a maybe, but it doesn't much matter.