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A review by okiecozyreader
The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
After starting THE CLIFFS, my first thought was - how have I not read more of J. Courtney Sullivan’s books. Because, of course, now I want to.
I have so much I loved about this book:
- The writing is beautiful.
- The history of the indigenous people of Maine is new to me and I am so glad I have more understanding now.
- I have wanted to go to Maine since my honeymoon almost 27 years ago, and I finally got to go to Acadia last summer and Kennebunkport and Portland this summer. This book takes me back there and I loved every second of it.
- I loved the sisterhood and the friendship and the family stories (generations of, in different families)
In some places, it was almost like separate short stories that tied into this larger story. But each ended up being interesting to me, and I loved how they each brought me more insight on the larger story.
The book, of course, starts with an abandoned house near the cliffs that was full of everything from its inhabitants (based on a house the author saw and was fascinated by). Jane loves this house the same way and when approached by a woman living there to research its history, she is in. There are many stories about the house, including curse like this one: “I swear there's some kind of curse about that house. All the women who move there end up alone." P146
Jane is back in her hometown to clean out her mother’s house to put it for sale (I loved this connection to KWH summer book, A Happier Life). She is also taking a break from her husband and her job, because she was drunk and made a mistake at a work function. She has a family history of alcoholism, that she is coming to grips with as she spends time in this house, and with her sister. (In Hello Sunshine’s recent podcast with the author, she mentions she herself is 8 years sober / https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bright-side/id1734490947?i=1000663651758 - I got to ask a question on this episode, so that is also fun!)
The author also mentions in that interview that she is a little woowoo, and this book does have some interesting connections to spirits and ghosts (do they continue to live in the houses after their families are gone?). It goes down a bit of a rabbit hole into the lives of the families of the house, but also in a questioning way, as Jane isn’t convinced.
We do get points of view of other women in the house’s history: Genevieve the current owner, Marilyn and Eliza each get a chapter.
I could go on so many rabbit holes while reading it (I went on a few for sure), and this book just has so much information. It is of course, this story about an old house on the cliffs, which has a complicated and sometimes dark part. And along with it, the story of a woman with a complicated and sometimes dark past. And how they both find their way into the future. I thought it was a really fabulous summer read.
Prologue
“…you could see all of town from this dis-tance, but no one could see you. It occurred to Jane then that that's how she always felt in Awadapquit (signs around the town claim the name means “where the beautiful cliffs meet the sea in the language of the Abenaki” . The town is based on Ogunquit, ME).” P13
“Some people took What Would Jesus Do as their guiding principle. Hers was What Would My Mother Not Do?”
“She liked herself best when she was controlled, composed, invulnerable. That was the woman she wanted to be.” P15
Ch 1
“She had never had a knack for women. The way they told secrets, their own and other people's, as a form of currency,…”
“Having children has made me more open-minded to the notion of the full spectrum of life, including the before and after." P 77
***. “It never failed to astonish Jane that an event, a local tragedy, could shape an entire generation and then be forgotten.” P122
“What is that old line? Remarriage is the triumph of hope over experience. You might say that's my mantra."
…
“Triumph of hope over experience. Sounds lie the tribes' relationship in trying to work with the state of Maine.”
P142
*** “It was a strange feeling, to hope with everything she had that she in would be allowed back into her own life.” p144
“Strange how every marriage had its secrets, its compromises, that seemed untenable to an outsider.” P181
“She had imagined reuniting with David as a new, better version of herself, but here was the same old shitty version, greeting them both.” P283
“Human beings did so much damage to one another just by being alive. To the people they loved most, and to the ones they knew so little about that they could convince themselves they weren't even people.”p338
“If trauma could be passed down from the cells of one body to another, Jane wondered, was it so much further a leap to imagine that trauma might infect the land on which it happened?” p367
I have so much I loved about this book:
- The writing is beautiful.
- The history of the indigenous people of Maine is new to me and I am so glad I have more understanding now.
- I have wanted to go to Maine since my honeymoon almost 27 years ago, and I finally got to go to Acadia last summer and Kennebunkport and Portland this summer. This book takes me back there and I loved every second of it.
- I loved the sisterhood and the friendship and the family stories (generations of, in different families)
In some places, it was almost like separate short stories that tied into this larger story. But each ended up being interesting to me, and I loved how they each brought me more insight on the larger story.
The book, of course, starts with an abandoned house near the cliffs that was full of everything from its inhabitants (based on a house the author saw and was fascinated by). Jane loves this house the same way and when approached by a woman living there to research its history, she is in. There are many stories about the house, including curse like this one: “I swear there's some kind of curse about that house. All the women who move there end up alone." P146
Jane is back in her hometown to clean out her mother’s house to put it for sale (I loved this connection to KWH summer book, A Happier Life). She is also taking a break from her husband and her job, because she was drunk and made a mistake at a work function. She has a family history of alcoholism, that she is coming to grips with as she spends time in this house, and with her sister. (In Hello Sunshine’s recent podcast with the author, she mentions she herself is 8 years sober / https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bright-side/id1734490947?i=1000663651758 - I got to ask a question on this episode, so that is also fun!)
The author also mentions in that interview that she is a little woowoo, and this book does have some interesting connections to spirits and ghosts (do they continue to live in the houses after their families are gone?). It goes down a bit of a rabbit hole into the lives of the families of the house, but also in a questioning way, as Jane isn’t convinced.
We do get points of view of other women in the house’s history: Genevieve the current owner, Marilyn and Eliza each get a chapter.
I could go on so many rabbit holes while reading it (I went on a few for sure), and this book just has so much information. It is of course, this story about an old house on the cliffs, which has a complicated and sometimes dark part. And along with it, the story of a woman with a complicated and sometimes dark past. And how they both find their way into the future. I thought it was a really fabulous summer read.
Prologue
“…you could see all of town from this dis-tance, but no one could see you. It occurred to Jane then that that's how she always felt in Awadapquit (signs around the town claim the name means “where the beautiful cliffs meet the sea in the language of the Abenaki” . The town is based on Ogunquit, ME).” P13
“Some people took What Would Jesus Do as their guiding principle. Hers was What Would My Mother Not Do?”
“She liked herself best when she was controlled, composed, invulnerable. That was the woman she wanted to be.” P15
Ch 1
“She had never had a knack for women. The way they told secrets, their own and other people's, as a form of currency,…”
“Having children has made me more open-minded to the notion of the full spectrum of life, including the before and after." P 77
***. “It never failed to astonish Jane that an event, a local tragedy, could shape an entire generation and then be forgotten.” P122
“What is that old line? Remarriage is the triumph of hope over experience. You might say that's my mantra."
…
“Triumph of hope over experience. Sounds lie the tribes' relationship in trying to work with the state of Maine.”
P142
*** “It was a strange feeling, to hope with everything she had that she in would be allowed back into her own life.” p144
“Strange how every marriage had its secrets, its compromises, that seemed untenable to an outsider.” P181
“She had imagined reuniting with David as a new, better version of herself, but here was the same old shitty version, greeting them both.” P283
“Human beings did so much damage to one another just by being alive. To the people they loved most, and to the ones they knew so little about that they could convince themselves they weren't even people.”p338
“If trauma could be passed down from the cells of one body to another, Jane wondered, was it so much further a leap to imagine that trauma might infect the land on which it happened?” p367
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism
Moderate: Cancer and Child death