PotsandPlots

Seedling Reviews are my shorter overview of books. Written to try to keep up with the pile.

Growing Information:

Plant With: Contemporary Fiction, Small Towns, Hopes and Dreams

Grows Into: A meditative piece on a vanished time and the dream of outgrowing your upbringing.

Rating: Vibrant Annual 🌻🌻 (Check here for rating information.)

Available now in paperback (affiliate link).

The Review:

I didn’t want to read Seascraper. I’d seen it pop up on various lists and at the front of my local Waterstones, and it didn’t really seem like my sort of book. Unfortunately, we needed something slim for our book group this month, and so, here I am.

Seacraper is a slow, lyrical literary read, full of description and low on action. It follows Thomas, a man who scrapes the beach for shrimp with a horse and cart, using traditional methods. He is the son of a woman seduced by her teacher at the age of fifteen. Thomas’ father absconded before he was born, and he was raised by his grandfather, also a shrimper.

Thomas has a secret, he loves folk music and playing guitar. He has an unvoiced love for a girl at the post office. He sees no other existence.

That is, until a film director turns up, asking to see the beach in all its misty glory. It’s perfect for a film adaptation of a long-forgotten book. Mr Acheson’s energy, his creativity open Thomas up to a world of new possibilities.

Yet, things are not what they seem, and Thomas is chained by the bonds of reality.

The book plods like Thomas’s faithful horse, but it weaves a gentle spell. It is not a thrilling story, but it is a touching one. In under 200 pages, we learn about Thomas’ inner world. His hopes and fears. The novel builds to a quiet crescendo before ebbing away in its emotionally resonant final few pages.

Seascraper is not really my sort of book. I guess it’s more “literary,” bordering on navel gazing. I tend to like books with big ideas, and lets face it more speculative and fantastic elements. Seacraper deals with everyday minutiae and the overwhelming crush of existence. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the time spent with the book. Benjamin Wood has an eye for detail, and a deft touch for laying life’s difficult choices bare.