When Noah and his sister were young children their lives were forever changed when their father’s ore ship burned and sunk in the tormented waters of Lake Superior. Though their father survived, much of him was left behind when the ship went down, and Noah’s relationship with his father would never be the same. Decades later, when Noah is grown man with a wife living in Boston, his father becomes ill and Noah faces a tough choice: should he go to his father’s side? The man who shut him out and all but left him so many years ago? Journeying to the northern Minnesota town of his youth, Noah faces more than just his father when he arrives. History comes back as Noah confronts the man who changed so many years ago.
Safe from the Sea is heartbreaking and sad, but also cathartic. Noah must deal with many issues by choosing to face his father again: guilt, blame, and a deeply rooted anger. The bond of family, for better or worse, makes us who we are, and Noah is the man he is today because of his relationship with his father. This is the story of a man facing his past, for both Noah and his father.
It’s hard for me to review this novel because I’m torn in two directions. First is my loyalty to my own past, which also came from Minnesota. Geye’s writing of the north and the harsh winters carries true emotional weight. Likewise, my whole family is also in Minnesota, while I am also in Boston, much like Noah and his family are parted. Though I didn’t leave under the same circumstances and return often, the bond Noah has to Minnesota touched my heart.
The other direction I am pulled in is that of a reviewer analyzing a novel. It’s not because this is Geye’s first novel that I feel why I do, because I read many first novels, but the writing of Safe from the Sea didn’t grab me the way I wish it had. The topics did, the scenes and places, but the dialogue felt forced, and parts of Noah’s relationship with his father and wife seemed contrived. Here is a situation where a man is facing the person who destroyed him and tore him apart. I see the word “anger” but I do not feel it. I see a scene of “longing” and “regret” but do not feel those sensations. There was more true emotion in the description of snow and ice than in the setup of Noah and his relationships, and that’s the one fallback of the book.
3 1/2 stars
(I received an advance copy from the publisher)
To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions:
Waiting on Wednesday is hosted at Breaking The Spine and Wishful Wednesday is hosted at The Bluestocking Guide.The Next Queen of Heaven by Gregory Maguire (October 2010)
