On my shelf since: 2023 when I thought I might propose this book for my book group, but took Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabriella Zevin and The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka instead.
My copy’s origin story:
(First Paperback Edition, 2018) The sticker on the back says I paid $17 for it from Elliot Bay Book Co, but there’s a good chance I got it for free using one of my many stamp cards.
Why not until now: Just hasn’t been all that long.
Review:
What a breath of fresh air to be reading a woman writer again! I’ve heard that in blind wine taste tests, most people can’t tell expensive wine from cheap. Hmmm, wait — that’s not a good metaphor here. Let’s try this one: Remember that Supreme Court justice quote about pornography, “I know it when I see it”? Okay seriously, what am I trying to say here?
These last two books I’ve read for this blog have had a lot in common (just like the two before that). Set during WWII, with deep dives into a niche interest (radio shows/diving), missing and/or dead fathers, something akin to romance but not exactly, more than 400 pages. But oh, what a difference a gender — and an unabridged copy — makes! I’m not a wine (or a pornography) connoisseur but I certainly felt and appreciated the differences between these two books and authors, even though I couldn’t necessarily tell you exactly what it was that made the biggest impact.
I enjoyed so much about this book (here comes the part of my review where I list): Great characters with a lot of depth and capacity for change, complex storylines with heartfelt dilemmas and not-completely obvious paths taken, super readable and fast-paced (had its slower spots but I still flew through them), the (brand-new just now) three H’s (humor, heartbreak, history hope hootenannies? — it’s a work in progress). That said, its list of supporting characters does sound like something from an SNL Stefon skit: an aging tart, a mute bosun, a goat-owning gangster, and a badger in a Borsalino.
I just read the top review of this book on Goodreads and that reviewer, and most of the next several, hated it! Many of them were comparing this book unfavorably to her last book, Goon Squad. I can see how that might be something of a letdown. Maybe we like or dislike books based on how they compare to the last thing we read. Should that be a required disclosure whenever reviewing anything? “This stack of saltines was four and a half stars, compared to the fermented shark bladder I ate yesterday.” I know it’s more complicated than that, but still, some context wouldn’t hurt.
The picture above is a sculpture that I serendipitously came across (at Matzke Sculpture Park on Camano Island) right around the time I was considering pitching this book to my book group. It’s by Deb McCunn who sculpted it after reading Manhattan Beach. She titled the piece Andrea the Diver after Andrea Motley Crabtree, the first female diver in the US Army and the inspiration for the book. She sculpts women as rabbits doing cool things as a counter-narrative to the Playboy bunny. Check out her work here: https://www.matzkefineart.com/artists-2/deb-mccunn-clay/
(Finished reading the book April 19, 2026)
Payoff (pages I read per stars I gave):
438/4 = 108 (this metric clearly favors short books, but then again so do I)
Misc Ratings (Out of 5):
- Relief at reading a book by a female writer: 5
- Wondering now if that relief blinded me a little: 3
- Looking forward to the next book on my shelf by a guy writer I already don’t like much: 1
Bechdel Test: Pass!!!
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