The Silver Boat: A Novel

I was really looking forward to this book. I have read several others by Luanne Rice and enjoyed them very much. And the cover is so pretty! But I have to say, this book was a disappointment. The good news is that is is a quick, easy read. I finished in 2 days. The bad news is that it is a very forgettable story.

In many ways, it is a slow moving story with not a whole lot going on. And in other ways, there is far too much happening, with too many characters and too much going on. The result is the book ends leaving many questions unanswered.

The main storyline is about 3 sisters who feel forced to sell the family property on Martha's Vineyard following the death of their mother. They gather to sort through her things and list the show more property. Through their reminiscing, we learn their father disappeared when they were children, after leaving their mother and setting out across see in a boat he built to persue his 'birthright', a land grant issued by the King of England. Apparently he always felt inferior to his wife because her family was established in the Vineyard and wealthy, and he was not. I truly did not think much of him, though his daughters held him in high regard.

There are sub-storylines; one sister is separated from her husband, who is in the midst of an affair, and the other has a granddaughter whose father, her drug-addicted son, has never met. He has disappeared into Alaska. And then there is the trip to Ireland when the daughters attempt to learn the whereabouts of their father and we meet even more characters. These all could have been developed into interesting storylines on their own, but in many cases, we are left hanging. I'm not sure that ANYTHING is totally resolved in this book. It left me hanging.

Having said all this, I am not recommending you put aside all your Luanne Rice books. She is a very good author and for the most part, her stories are enjoyable. But unless you are committed to reading everyone of her books, you may want to take a pass on this one. Or at least save it until you've finished the rest of your list. show less

The Silver Boat was ok. It was readable enough, but I didn’t feel connected to the characters. Even though one of the sisters was given much greater prominence in the story I didn’t really care about her. I felt like the two sisters who were less prominent didn’t even get endings, we didn’t really find out what happened with their marriages. It felt like all three sisters could have had interesting stories (maybe even more interesting than the main character), but they were not given the attention they deserved.

The character I cared the most about was the nephew/son Pete, but his story was just a side current.
Also, the crux of the issue in the story, that these women couldn’t afford their family home, didn’t seem to jibe show more with their actions, flying off to Ireland without any notice, in and out of Martha’s Vineyard, giving their son money,…

I was also annoyed by the detailed references to food, I didn’t need to know precisely what they were having for dinner and how they prepared it. The copy I read was an advanced uncorrected proof, so maybe some of these will be changed. show less

When you see white shells on a book cover, it is generally a pretty good indication that the book itself is a beach read. That is very definitely the case with Luanne Rice's latest, The Silver Boat.

Dar and her sisters are having to say goodbye to their family home on Martha's Vineyard after the long illness and eventual death of their mother. Dar is the only one remaining on the island, her sisters having built their lives and families elsewhere so she is perhaps the most affected by the hard decision to sell the family's house and land. As time winds down for the McCarthy daughters and the memories they have rooted in this home, Dar finds letters from her father to her mother. He had always maintained that his family had a royal land show more grant on the island and so he left to sail to Ireland in search of proof of his claim. Michael was always assumed lost at sea but something in the letters makes Dar believe that he could possibly have made it to Ireland and found the proof about which existence he was so adamant and so she heads off to investigate for herself.

While Dar takes the majority of the focus here, there is a veritable crush of other characters as well, all of whom seem to be suffering in some way. Both Delia and Rory, the other two sisters, are facing family dysfunction of grand proportions and Dar is a rather prickly, curmudgeonly, recovering alcoholic. Their friends on Martha's Vineyard are not terribly well-fleshed out and are unremittingly eccentric. Family drama this has in spades but it has too much going on and too little focus on the primary storyline to be terribly effective. It does, however, fulfill the promise of the cover: a superficially entertaining beach read albeit one that will stay in memory for a shorter time than the sand will stay in your beach bag. show less

Three sisters return to the family home on Martha's Vineyard after the death of their mother to clear out the home they can no longer afford to keep. We get back story on each and especially the parents. The father left the family when the children were 12 and under to sail to Ireland, his home country, to search for documentation that proved an old land grant. He landed, called home and then disappeared presumed shipwrecked on the coast. The second half of the book deals with resolving the disappearance question and final decisions affecting each sister's future. Interesting but left a few holes for me. Also had a touch of magical realism to solve some problems, not a plot device I like.

Three sisters are forced to sell their family home; memories of times past come flooding back and mysteries are discovered as they pack up the house and deal with legal issues. With the themes of family, friendships, unresolved questions and escapism, this novel is ultimately about a quest to find peace with the family history and build a new dynamic.

There are some strong passages: a trip to Ireland, a rediscovered "treasure", struggles with alcohol and drug, but there are also many inadequacies: a sunk boat which has been creepily kept in a hangar for 28 years, a kooky friend who lives in storage unit, strained marital relationships that don't really add to the main thread. The book lacks balance and focus, shifting from one to other show more sisters although clearly Dar is the main character. While the ending is tidy enough, the reader still has questions as to what's next, and after all the sisters have been through, is this a happy ending? Some of the ocean's imagery is beautiful, but there are also clichés (the storm when Dar learns the house will be sold).
Overall, a book with potential, enjoyable even, if not analyzed too closely, but not one that will remain with me long. show less

After the death of their mother, three sisters get together to pack up the family beach house on Martha's Vineyard prior to finalizing its sale. They puzzle over why their father sailed away across the Atlantic on a mysterious journey to Ireland, never to return. When some letters are discovered they decide to go to Ireland themselves to try and find out what happened to him.

Although the story relates the anguish of parting with a cherished family home, many of the details are unrealistic and fanciful. The characters did not come alive but remained flat and uninteresting, without colour. There are many elements that are unconnected, such as how the main character creates illustrations for graphic novels, or how the characters she has show more created affect her thoughts and actions. Unfortunately the human complexities that Rice tried to inject into the story have only served to bog it down. show less

This is the story of three sisters who are dealing with the sale of the family home following the death of their mother. Each of the sister is struggling with relationship issues, and memories of their father who sailed away when they were young.

This is a light read and a fair bit of angst without a lot of depth of character development. The plot was somewhat implausible with the sisters finding answers about their father and his quest rather easily and most of the loose ends wrapped up by the end of the story.

A quick, not unenjoyable story, but nothing that will stay with me or prompt me to read more by the same author.