Set sail aboard The Plover with Declan O'Donnell who only wants to escape humanity out on the Pacific with his beloved writings of Edmund Burke. "No man is an island, my butt" he is quick to say, but it seems that people are much harder to leave behind than he thought. Bit by bit he accumulates more humans and animal life on his journey than he bargained for. This is so well written, Brian Doyle has a gift for making the most mundane situations sound so beautifully poetic. I listened to the audiobook and was completely spellbound, even when I wasn't quite sure what the heck he was talking about or how he got there. There were a lot of sentences that were kind of stream of consciousness and out of left field, it seemed to me. That didn't really bother me so much though, I really just wanted to sit back and enjoy the journey, knowing we would be back on track soon enough.
My favorite characters were Pipa and the minister. One is a child that is wise way beyond her years, the other is a man who has the unfettered optimism and delight in what life could be, like that of a child. The interplay of all of the folks on the boat, the stories they tell and the way that they look out for each other is beautiful beyond words. What a ragtag band of folks, they will change Declan and bring love and fellowship into his life. Whether he wants it or not.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I would love to hear from you!