Review of The Great Offshore Grounds

Book Link: https://smile.amazon.com/Great-Offshore-Grounds-novel-ebook/dp/B082S2TG2L/

This book seemed to hit a bunch of my key interest areas (Seattle/the Pacific Northwest, climate change, traveling, boats, spiritual journeys) but for some reason it just could stick in my brain. I enjoyed the story and central conflict of the family and individuals discovering themselves, but the story didn't pull my along enough and felt like it languished, especially in the middle parts. I'm guessing that this would do really well as an 10-episode Netflix series that could dive into each of the characters more methodically and use more visual cue's to distinguish as it took me a while to understand who was who and what their relationship was to each other. I get that those uncertainties were kinda the point in some spots but it made the rest of the story hard to follow and connect together. I did really appreciate some of the one-liners and words of wisdom lines (included in the highlights below) and I liked the dry humor of the two sisters especially. The Texas man building a castle felt a little "Tom Bombadil"-ish to me and while interetesing, didn't move things forward at all. My absolutely favoite line from this was:

"Some people measure themselves by the distance they’ve traveled and others by how far they have to go"

There is so much depth built into that phrase and I love everything about it. I am both of these people at different times but try to be the former as much as possible.

Some highlights from my reading: 1. One night, six months in, she found out that the two girls were dating and had been for months. The idea that you could feel so close to people and not know what was going on, that you could be so very mistaken, caused a foundational crack. She lost weight. Counselors called her into their offices to tell her it was okay to be gay, which she already knew. Kirsten was convinced she’d been in love with one of the girls and had her heart broken. Only Cheyenne got it right. “She’s fine,” she said, “she just doesn’t like being wrong.” 1. “I’m just saying there should be global use for a person with low standards and a shovel,” Essex said. 1. Livy’s skin tingled. “You’re the reason you’re in this stupid situation,” she said. “We’re all in stupid situations,” said Cheyenne. 1. “A flexible team player with experience and a positive attitude wanting to move ahead.” She annotated in her mind. Flexible. No boundaries, no kids. Experienced. Needs no training. Positive attitude. Obsequious yet entertaining. Wants to move ahead. In responsibility but not pay. 1. “I’ve been reading a book about people like you. They’re called whalers. They sign on for anything. Assholes on a ship called the Essex. Every disaster they should have seen coming, they ignored. You’re like that right now.” “But I didn’t do anything,” he said. “The hell you didn’t. Look around yourself. You’re fucked. You’re three thousand miles out to sea with no way to get back and it’s all your fault. Now you have to get on a raft and eat your friends. It’s the only way out of the problems you’ve created.” 1. Ann loved games of chance. She considered any loss she suffered an anomaly. 1. Cheyenne’s reply was polite and noncommittal. Kirsten sent back a large red heart, but only because there wasn’t an emoji for mythic ambivalence. 1. Clearly this was bullshit. He probably shouldn’t have learned his physics from hippies. 1. A young woman in the Feminine Mysteries aisle ran out, snatched Livy up, and brought the furious eighteen-month-old back to Kirsten, who already had Cheyenne by the arm. After passing the flushed and kicking Livy back to Kirsten, the woman cleaned up the aisle, putting the books back. Then a miracle happened. She offered to watch the girls so Kirsten could finish reading the chapter on tarot. An act of kindness so powerful it broke her life in two. Kirsten before that, Kirsten after. 1. As they approached, she could see the name. PRAJNA Deepwater. PRAJNA. Deep wisdom. Fed by the breath of the universe. Vital life force. What asshole names their drilling company PRAJNA? 1. I think people do what they do and call it politics later.” 1. “Building the castle helps. It’s good to have something to do that is very hard but has no point.” 1. “I was a strategic planner for environmental campaigns targeting corporations, going after their client base to shame them into better behavior. It doesn’t work. They’re ashamed of nothing.” 1. There were citrine flecks in her irises. The empire set in her eyes. She had a flirtatious love of destruction. The worst part was she couldn’t help it. She thrived in acquaintance. She was the perfect teacher. She had nothing to offer. 1. “Everybody gets a test pancake,” said the woman. 1. “Some people measure themselves by the distance they’ve traveled and others by how far they have to go. She was definitely a distance-traveled type.” 1. Moonlight turned the fishing boats to carved bone in their docks, swaying and clicking together like vertebrae. 1. “I forgot how much it rains here.” “You’ll like climate change then,” she said.