lottierose's review against another edition
5.0
Honestly an incredible book. As the title suggested I read this over a summer usually at the beach and it captured that essence so remarkably well. It captured the essence of Australia that even as a teenager decades after this is set Im able to relate to and understand. It made me nostalgic for times I don’t know and places I haven’t been, while bringing me crashing back into my own life in a way that at times genuinely left me breathless. I couldn’t recommend this book enough. Everyone should read this!
sarah1984's review against another edition
2.0
Like poetry, short stories just don't interest me, no matter how much I try. Going in the donation box.
kruu_dao's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I read this selection of short stories on the beach after my daily evening swim, and was quite excited by the prologue's comments that the works were selected doe their deeper meaning. Unfortunately, my swims were a lot more enjoyable and less disappointing that these stories.
It is hard to rate and review a compilation of work such as this, especially when there are so many different authors who have contributed to them, as there are inevitably ones which excite or amuse, and others that bore. And this was certainly true of this compilation, although it was a pity that the latter category tended to dominate.
In the end, I did not find that many of them did have a deeper meaning. Many had dark themes, awful people, and terrible relationships, but that is not always the same thing. I was also particularly disappointed that so few of them really had much to say about the beach itself. They occurred on beaches, but that was often an unimportant setting that seemed to have little to do with any themes discussed in the work. It didn't really say much of anything about beaches themselves, or the relationship of humanity to the meeting of sand and sea.
I would also state that I had to check the publication date of this work multiple times. I just couldn't believe that the stories had been compiled in the 1990s. Only one or two contributions felt like they could have existed at that time. They didn't even feel wonderfully timeless, almost all of them just seemed to capture what it was like to go to the seaside in the 1950s or 60s. I couldn't relate at all. And lastly, a publication date of the 1990s is still late enough that I can't justify the use of the N word TWICE, as well as the fat shaming, and a few other very questionable portrayals of particular people, in ways which were just obviously racist, and not in a questioning or criticising kind of way. Overall, very disappointing.
It is hard to rate and review a compilation of work such as this, especially when there are so many different authors who have contributed to them, as there are inevitably ones which excite or amuse, and others that bore. And this was certainly true of this compilation, although it was a pity that the latter category tended to dominate.
In the end, I did not find that many of them did have a deeper meaning. Many had dark themes, awful people, and terrible relationships, but that is not always the same thing. I was also particularly disappointed that so few of them really had much to say about the beach itself. They occurred on beaches, but that was often an unimportant setting that seemed to have little to do with any themes discussed in the work. It didn't really say much of anything about beaches themselves, or the relationship of humanity to the meeting of sand and sea.
I would also state that I had to check the publication date of this work multiple times. I just couldn't believe that the stories had been compiled in the 1990s. Only one or two contributions felt like they could have existed at that time. They didn't even feel wonderfully timeless, almost all of them just seemed to capture what it was like to go to the seaside in the 1950s or 60s. I couldn't relate at all. And lastly, a publication date of the 1990s is still late enough that I can't justify the use of the N word TWICE, as well as the fat shaming, and a few other very questionable portrayals of particular people, in ways which were just obviously racist, and not in a questioning or criticising kind of way. Overall, very disappointing.
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