When my husband entered the room and saw me quietly sobbing, I held up my (library copy) of Wild Dark Shore as the reason. Some authors are famous for “tearjerker” novels, and those rarely get me – I don’t like to feel manipulated into crying when reading a book. We watched some palate cleanser television, while I thought about what I had just read. Here’s my take – while I found it moving and at times beautiful, it’s like I read two books at the same time – one of them I loved, and the other I didn’t like at all.
Wild Dark Shore crosses several genres, but the underlying tone is that of a thriller. It’s also climate fiction – the main plot revolves around negative consequences of climate change and there are several overt mentions of impending doom for the planet and some characters more than others express an overall sense of helplessness.
The premise: The Salt family lives on a remote island near Antarctica, the last remaining inhabitants of a research lab and seed bank (a storehouse for seeds from plants all over the globe including some rare and endangered species). Due to rising sea levels and melting permafrost, the island is no longer a viable place to house the precious seed collection, and, with increasing flooding, it is becoming uninhabitable to humans as well, and the family is doing the final work of packaging some of the seeds (sadly, many will have to be sacrificed) while they await transport off the island and back to a more traditional way of life. The story begins when the family finds an unconscious woman in the waters near their home and they rescue her.
The book I liked:
The setting is atmospheric, lovely, and a little spooky – I could imagine myself there, smelling the sea water and the wildlife, almost hearing the disembodied voices some of the characters hear. The nature descriptions are rich and evocative. I loved reading about the animals, the albatross in particular – I have only known the negative connotation (an albatross as an encumbrance) but hadn’t given mind to the majestic bird – now I wonder whether I have ever seen one of these creatures and if not, I would like to.
Orly – I love that kid. He’s the nine-year-old youngest child, wise and intellectually curious. There are several short chapters told through his POV where he enthusiastically teaches about a particular plant or animal – as written, his words are like tiny love letters to Earth, and I felt thankful and inspired by them. His description of clever, determined, mangrove seeds had me searching through my photos and thinking that, though I often miss living in a big city, it’s also kind of a privilege to be surrounded by such a variety of plant and animal life.
Parenting is one of the main themes of the book. Not only do we have the perspective of the dad, raising three children on his own after his wife died in childbirth, but there is a lot of contemplation about parenthood, what we sacrifice for our children, the ethics and responsibility in parenting, mistakes made and potential burdens placed on those those we care for, and above all, what a remarkable gift it is to love – whether a child, another person, or even a place. My child recently left for college (but has been back home twice so far) – being her mother is my greatest joy, and I had a lot of feelings reading this book (and yes, I cried at the end).
My favorite thing about the book is the message that, even though the future is not guaranteed, though everyone will leave this planet someday, you should still put everything you have into the people and things you love. The characters are in various stages of mourning, and some of their ruminations about grief really resonated with me, particularly with regard to how the pain experienced after a loss is a direct reflection of how much we have loved. Grief is horrible, but worth it if we have had the opportunity to love – I think about this a lot.
The book I didn’t like (mild spoilers):
- The entire story hinges around secrets and lies. Because everyone is hiding something, most of the characters are also paranoid and distrustful of everyone else, and in order to preserve their secrets, they all make terrible choices, some of which have life or death consequences. This became tedious after awhile.
- The “twist” is awful – not all stories have to include a twist, and this one has so much buildup and potential foreshadowing that it is extremely disappointing to finally arrive at the “reveal” only to have no real payoff.
- It makes sense that living in isolation for a long period of time can cause some people to struggle with their mental health. I think this topic is important, and I’m sad to say it is very poorly handled in this novel.
- Insta-lust. Maybe it’s just me, but if I thought someone might be plotting to murder me, there is no way I would want to jump into a “relationship” with them.
To sum up, I enjoyed this novel – it made me feel immense gratitude and awe for this extraordinary world and for my one-of-the-kind family. That said, it could have been even better.
