Friday 29 July 2016

The Cephalopod Coffeehouse: July 2016

http://armchairsquid.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/the-cephalopod-coffeehouse-july-2016.html

The Armchair Squid hosts this monthly book meeting and he says: 

Welcome one and all to the Cephalopod Coffeehouse, a cozy gathering of book lovers, meeting to discuss their thoughts regarding the works they enjoyed most over the previous month.  Pull up a chair, order your cappuccino and join in the fun.  If you wish to add your own review to the conversation, please sign on to the link list at the end of my post.

This has been a very good reading month for me, reading several short stories and some longer novels as well. 

My pick for this month is: 


The Oyster Catcher
by 
Jo Thomas

4*
402 pages.

PRODUCT REVIEW FROM Amazon

Dooleybridge, County Galway: the last place Fiona Clutterbuck expects to end up, alone, on her wedding night.
But after the words 'I do' have barely left her mouth, that's exactly where she is - with only her sequined shoes and a crashed camper van for company.
One thing is certain: Fi can't go back. So when the opportunity arises to work for brooding local oyster farmer, Sean Thornton, she jumps at the chance. Now Fi must navigate suspicious locals, jealous rivals and an unpredictable boss if she's to find a new life, and love, on the Irish coast. And nothing - not even a chronic fear of water - is going to hold her back.

MY REVIEW
4*

This novel is set in Ireland and is a well written contemporary novel.

It starts off with a bang and leads on at a nice pace afterwards.  

As a reader who knows nothing about oyster farming it was fascinating without becoming too technical or boring about the oysters. It had good descriptions of the work that goes in to this sort of farming.

There are lots of colourful characters in this tiny Irish village, giving a good sense of a small Irish coastal town running against big city/businesses.  The community pulls together to try and put the village back on the map.

There is also a love interest that isn’t just the same/same love theme which made the book enjoyable.

I did read other commentators remarking on the poor editing and typo’s – usually one of my biggest complaints – but this must be a re-edited version that I downloaded as I didn’t spot any errors.

A very enjoyable read.           

5 comments:

  1. It does sound good! Might have to had it to my list to read soon books.

    betty

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  2. MFK Fisher's Consider the Oyster might be an interesting follow up. It's more about the eating than the catching but it's good stuff.

    Also, the oystercatcher is one of my favorite bird species.

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  3. Sounds good. Some people publish books without having them edited and then read all the comments that say "I like this book, but it needs to be edited." I've edited a couple of books that had already been published.

    Love,
    Janie

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  4. I love how authors come up with unusual plots involving something unusual like oyster farming. This story might be set in Ireland, but it could just as well be the Eastern Shore of Virginia, another big oyster farming location.

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  5. Probably not a book I will pick up.
    And not because I don't like oysters.

    ReplyDelete