FOL annual book sale purchase.

Not getting into this after two tries, will release for someone else.

offered: tobysrus. Mailed 02/06/16.

For wishlist RABCK challenge:
http://www.bookcrossing.com/forum/23/527136

Thanks ghir!!! This arrived last week. I couldn't believe how quickly it came across the ocean and the country to Massachusetts! I appreciate the thought! All the best!

This book was among the generous boxes-o-books that BCer tobysrus brought me on this very hot day, as part of her downsizing/decluttering efforts. Looks quirkily intriguing, so I'll give it a try!

Later: Well, "quirky" certainly applies - this one opens with desperate villagers on a storm-swept Newfoundland shore waiting for a beached whale to die so they can butcher it for much-needed meat. But when they cut it open, a stark-white man reeking (understandably) of dead fish tumbles out...

The Jonah-myth opening does not follow through to making Judah a reformed prophet - and the reek never quite leaves him, an interesting touch. Instead, this is our introduction to this remote community where people eke out a living, from brief periods of prosperity to long intervals of peril. There are strong personalities here, and the phrase "colorful characters" doesn't begin to cover the range of traits revealed as the people vie for power, seek love, plot vengeance, commune with ghosts, believe in magic...

I admit that after the strong introduction, I found that I had trouble following the story; the genealogy up front was of some help in reminding me who was connected to whom, but the elements of magical realism (in which characters sometimes seemed to transcend time and space altogether) and the scope of the story rather got away from me. By the end, we get a strong hint about Judah's lingering nature in his soldier-descendant Abel - not only does that dead-fish reek leap in to save Abel from German soldiers, but a whale appears to summon him to his fate. Or is it to send him into the past and begin things again?

I left this book on a bench near the entrance of the hotel; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2020 One Word Title challenge. ***

*** Released for the 2020 Keep Them Moving challenge. ***