The Unpredictability of Water - Jeremy Page's Sea Change

Sunshine and rainwater flow through the first page of Jeremy Page’s Sea Change, beautifully written, with the incredible attention to detail that unfailingly draws me into a book. 

With the same deliberateness, Sea Change twisted my heart, though I was prepared for it by reading the description of the book.

The story seamlessly moves through time; past, present, and future are woven together, the future imagined through Guy’s extensive journals. His writings can be disconcerting; both he and the reader are aware that the future he paints exists only in the words in the pages of his hardbound journals, carefully protected in waterproof plastic.

Guy’s choice to live on a boat, untethered and drifting, is in direct contrast to his desire to hold onto his family. At one point he claims: “It’s a wonderful thing to write. You can reclaim the things you lost.”

As the story unfolds, Guy begins to wonder if that’s necessarily true, and the changes in his journals reflect his change in perspective.

Sea Change uses the setting to its best advantage; like the sea on which he lives, there are lulls and storms, unexpected twists and turns that can’t be avoided, even when Guy is furiously trying to rewrite his family’s future.

Guy encounters Marta and Rhona, a mother and daughter looking for closure on the sea as well, and they breathe a sense of hope into his journey. They are a reminder of the ways in which water can throw an unblemished shell at your feet when you least expect it, though the threat of it being swept away by the tide is always lurking underwater.

Sea Change rocks back and forth between hope and despair. Guy’s insistence on trying to build a future without truly facing the ruins on which he is building, leads to a sense of foreboding.

The reader may be forced to choose between believing in the fatality of some emotional wounds and the power of the survival instinct.

Join the discussion about Sea Change over at the BlogHer Book Club, where we’re discussing the power of small moments or learn more about Jeremy Page’s Sea Change.

I was compensated for this book review and provided with a copy of the book to review, courtesy of BlogHer and Penguin Books. All opinions expressed are my own. Your experience with the book may be different, as all readers come to the couch with different expectations and experiences.

this is Lake Michigan

not the North Sea

my travel budget for blog photos is a bit limited