Review: The Silver Boat: A Novel

The Silver Boat: A Novel by Luanne Rice

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

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 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.

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