bourquesbookshelf's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
debs_shelves's review against another edition
4.0
Eliza ... The Captain's Daughter. Lost her mom at a young age. Her dad was a lobster boat "captain". She came from humble beginnings. She attended med school for a couple years, but never finished. She's married ... married well (country club well) and has two kids. Life is good and cushy and comfortable.
Then her dad falls ill. She goes home to be with him. Learns it is aggressive brain cancer, but he is refusing treatment. She is torn - needed with her hubby and kids and needed with her dad.
She decides to stay and spend all the time she can with her dad. This makes her question EVERYTHING. Did she make the right choices? So many what ifs! I won't tell more to spoil the story, but I found it an enjoying read for sure.
Thanks to Netgalley and Doubleday for an ARC for a fair and honest review.
Then her dad falls ill. She goes home to be with him. Learns it is aggressive brain cancer, but he is refusing treatment. She is torn - needed with her hubby and kids and needed with her dad.
She decides to stay and spend all the time she can with her dad. This makes her question EVERYTHING. Did she make the right choices? So many what ifs! I won't tell more to spoil the story, but I found it an enjoying read for sure.
Thanks to Netgalley and Doubleday for an ARC for a fair and honest review.
cansail's review
4.0
Meg Mitchell Moore has woven two separate worlds into one story without stooping to cliche in either case: the ladies who lunch at the local yacht club, and the hardworking Maine lobstermen who catch their food. Now that she's one of those ladies, Eliza tries to reconcile her small town upbringing with her current life while wondering: what if she'd stayed? The language is generally lovely and the characters so realistic I felt like I'd already met them. My only complaint (and it's a very small one) is that the sailing scene lacked realism. This book is for anyone who loves the coast and the wide range of people who call it home.
mindfullibrarian's review
5.0
Thank you to Doubleday Books for providing me with a finished copy of this book for review - all opinions are my own.
THE CAPTAIN'S DAUGHTER is an exquisite story about motherhood, marriage, grief and being true to your roots, with much of the book being set in a gorgeous Maine fishing town. If you don't at least THINK about crying while reading this book, I'm fairly certain we can't be friends. It has ALL the feelings.
Moore has touched on the very deepest thoughts in a mother's and daughter's heart and combined them to expose just how complex modern womanhood can be. Eliza is just so incredibly real, with achingly beautiful moments and also moments in which she is fairly unlikable - just like the rest of us. As she struggles to mother her daughters while also coming to terms with her father's failing health and her marital issues, Eliza manages to maintain grace and kindness in her interactions with her new young friend Mary as Mary becomes in desperate need of a mother figure. I loved reading about their heartfelt feelings about parenthood and childhood and was able to relate to them so so closely. Everything involving Eliza's father Charlie made me love him so much and wish I knew him - he just jumps off the pages and is one of the most realistically written characters I have read in a long, long time.
This is a tearjerker with bright moments of humor and insight that needs to be on your bookshelf - it is a book of the ages and one that will stay with me for a long time to come.
THE CAPTAIN'S DAUGHTER is an exquisite story about motherhood, marriage, grief and being true to your roots, with much of the book being set in a gorgeous Maine fishing town. If you don't at least THINK about crying while reading this book, I'm fairly certain we can't be friends. It has ALL the feelings.
Moore has touched on the very deepest thoughts in a mother's and daughter's heart and combined them to expose just how complex modern womanhood can be. Eliza is just so incredibly real, with achingly beautiful moments and also moments in which she is fairly unlikable - just like the rest of us. As she struggles to mother her daughters while also coming to terms with her father's failing health and her marital issues, Eliza manages to maintain grace and kindness in her interactions with her new young friend Mary as Mary becomes in desperate need of a mother figure. I loved reading about their heartfelt feelings about parenthood and childhood and was able to relate to them so so closely. Everything involving Eliza's father Charlie made me love him so much and wish I knew him - he just jumps off the pages and is one of the most realistically written characters I have read in a long, long time.
This is a tearjerker with bright moments of humor and insight that needs to be on your bookshelf - it is a book of the ages and one that will stay with me for a long time to come.
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