A review by 3heartsandawish
Don't Put the Boats Away by Ames Sheldon
4.0
Thank you Booksparks for having me on your Pop Up Book Tour and providing me with a copy of this book.
Don't Put the Boats Away was a delightful post-WW2 historical fiction. It followed the lives of Harriet, a chemist in a field dominated by men, and her brother Nat, an aspiring jazz musician, over a span of 25 years. The book followed each sibling through school, jobs, marriage, children, and divorce, and dealt with a wide range of topics such as nepotism, grief, sexism, and alcoholism.
I think the characters were developed quite well. They all had varying personalities and I felt that they stayed true to themselves over the course of the book. There were definitely likable and unlikable characters. One of my favorite things about this book was the relationship between Harriet and Nat and their parents. It was very realistic and well thought out, in that things were hard and there was conflict but it was dealt with in a way that was emotional but didn't tear the family apart. It showed that blood is thicker than water, if you will.
The author clearly did a great deal of research about the time period to make this an authentic read. At times, the time period slang seemed a bit forced (over use of "cats", for example) but overall, I felt like I could easily picture life for the characters.
I enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to anyone that likes reading mid 1900's fiction about families.
Don't Put the Boats Away was a delightful post-WW2 historical fiction. It followed the lives of Harriet, a chemist in a field dominated by men, and her brother Nat, an aspiring jazz musician, over a span of 25 years. The book followed each sibling through school, jobs, marriage, children, and divorce, and dealt with a wide range of topics such as nepotism, grief, sexism, and alcoholism.
I think the characters were developed quite well. They all had varying personalities and I felt that they stayed true to themselves over the course of the book. There were definitely likable and unlikable characters. One of my favorite things about this book was the relationship between Harriet and Nat and their parents. It was very realistic and well thought out, in that things were hard and there was conflict but it was dealt with in a way that was emotional but didn't tear the family apart. It showed that blood is thicker than water, if you will.
The author clearly did a great deal of research about the time period to make this an authentic read. At times, the time period slang seemed a bit forced (over use of "cats", for example) but overall, I felt like I could easily picture life for the characters.
I enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to anyone that likes reading mid 1900's fiction about families.