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parnellek's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book follows a family as they grapple with themes of identity, love, freedom, independence, and home. The initial premise is that two women are raised as sisters, but have different birth moms who were in a polyamorous relationship with their absent father. They set off on a cross-country road trip to find the woman that gave birth to one of them, but was never present in their lives. From there the book explores the characters as individuals, often describing the mundane in a heartbreakingly beautiful way, or by using magical realism.
I really enjoyed this book, but felt like I wasn’t smart enough for it.
I really enjoyed this book, but felt like I wasn’t smart enough for it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
katrinasherise's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Drug use, Rape, Terminal illness, and Death of parent
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol
kristenhg's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Child death and Gun violence
knkoch's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
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
5.0
This was a big one. I’ve been sitting here thinking about this one for a little while. It made me feel big things, and resonated with so much I’ve been thinking about these days.
It’s a big, sprawling family epic, a quest, a tale, but in the most modern sense. These people are so deeply grounded (even ground down) in their time. They live on the margins and scrape to get by. And yet they are connected to the past: the often but not always ugly past of this country, and of the world. This is a book of colonial possession and individual freedom; national and personal myth.
It’s big and it’s hard and could be triggering (see content warnings), but for me at this moment, it was really worth it. I felt really seen in this and the way the author writes about desperation, pain, failure, and hope. There’s a playlist on Spotify under the book’s title that runs in similar moods.
I’ve been worried lately that I’m not thinking about what I’m reading deeply enough, or that I’m missing things. This was a reminder (a call to arms) to set my own terms, and live by my own decisions. That doesn’t mean there are no consequences. It means only that I’m free.
It’s a big, sprawling family epic, a quest, a tale, but in the most modern sense. These people are so deeply grounded (even ground down) in their time. They live on the margins and scrape to get by. And yet they are connected to the past: the often but not always ugly past of this country, and of the world. This is a book of colonial possession and individual freedom; national and personal myth.
It’s big and it’s hard and could be triggering (see content warnings), but for me at this moment, it was really worth it. I felt really seen in this and the way the author writes about desperation, pain, failure, and hope. There’s a playlist on Spotify under the book’s title that runs in similar moods.
I’ve been worried lately that I’m not thinking about what I’m reading deeply enough, or that I’m missing things. This was a reminder (a call to arms) to set my own terms, and live by my own decisions. That doesn’t mean there are no consequences. It means only that I’m free.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Terminal illness
hellohellolacy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Rape, Self harm, Terminal illness, and Grief
bdklug's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is exactly the kind of book I needed for this point of my life — and for the many previous phases of my life that have felt like this one. Unemployed, feeling at times buoyant and excited about the possibilities and other times totally hopeless and lost.
The Great Offshore Grounds is a family saga. Cheyenne and Livy are half-sisters — they have the same father and different mothers, but from birth were both raised by Kirsten, and they have never known the other mother or which mother is whose biological parent. On the day of their estranged father’s latest wedding, he hands them an envelope containing the name of their other mother, setting off a series of events that will change everything.
We follow multiple perspectives throughout the story: Cheyenne, Livy, Kirsten, and the girls’ unofficially adopted brother Essex are each grappling with finding themselves at a turning point, feeling purposeless, broke, and lost. Something that this book gets so right is the pressure to *DO SOMETHING*, “find your purpose,” and be successful. And it beautifully illustrates how and why those ideas can become myths, and the beauty of letting go and being okay with starting over, again and again, no matter what age or milestone you’ve reached. After all, as Veselka writes, “There’s no shame in freedom.”
I tabbed so many passages in this beautifully-written book, and its messaging spoke to me in its simplicity. Our lives to do not have to be grand or “impressive” to be significant. At one point in the story, Cheyenne asks a man in Texas, “When did you get okay with being nothing?” And it’s this central theme of the story that gets me. None of us are actually nothing. But we can all get to a place of being okay with who we are, no matter what outside forces or opinions may tell us about our worth.
TW: rape, terminal illness, assisted dying
The Great Offshore Grounds is a family saga. Cheyenne and Livy are half-sisters — they have the same father and different mothers, but from birth were both raised by Kirsten, and they have never known the other mother or which mother is whose biological parent. On the day of their estranged father’s latest wedding, he hands them an envelope containing the name of their other mother, setting off a series of events that will change everything.
We follow multiple perspectives throughout the story: Cheyenne, Livy, Kirsten, and the girls’ unofficially adopted brother Essex are each grappling with finding themselves at a turning point, feeling purposeless, broke, and lost. Something that this book gets so right is the pressure to *DO SOMETHING*, “find your purpose,” and be successful. And it beautifully illustrates how and why those ideas can become myths, and the beauty of letting go and being okay with starting over, again and again, no matter what age or milestone you’ve reached. After all, as Veselka writes, “There’s no shame in freedom.”
I tabbed so many passages in this beautifully-written book, and its messaging spoke to me in its simplicity. Our lives to do not have to be grand or “impressive” to be significant. At one point in the story, Cheyenne asks a man in Texas, “When did you get okay with being nothing?” And it’s this central theme of the story that gets me. None of us are actually nothing. But we can all get to a place of being okay with who we are, no matter what outside forces or opinions may tell us about our worth.
TW: rape, terminal illness, assisted dying
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape and Terminal illness