Safe From the Sea: Review and Giveaway

By:  Peter Geye

From Goodreads:  Set against the powerful lakeshore landscape of northern Minnesota, Safe from the Sea is a heartfelt novel in which a son returns home to reconnect with his estranged and dying father thirty-five years after the tragic wreck of a Great Lakes ore boat that the father only partially survived and that has divided them emotionally ever since. When his father for the first time finally tells the story of the horrific disaster he has carried with him so long, it leads the two men to reconsider each other. Meanwhile, Noah's own struggle to make a life with an absent father has found its real reward in his relationship with his sagacious wife, Natalie, whose complications with infertility issues have marked her husband's life in ways he only fully realizes as the reconciliation with his father takes shape. Peter Geye has delivered an archetypal story of a father and son, of the tug and pull of family bonds, of Norwegian immigrant culture, of dramatic shipwrecks and the business and adventure of Great Lakes shipping in a setting that simply casts a spell over the characters as well as the reader.

I had wanted to wait to post this a little closer to the publish date, which is September 28, but thanks to the great people at Unbridled Books, I got a copy of this a couple of weeks ago and fell in love with this book and couldn't wait!  There was also a little snafu in their shipping department so I ended up with a 2nd copy so guess what that means?  Giveaway!!

As I said, I loved this book.  LOVED. IT.   You know that song The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot?  (if you don't I suggest you go listen to it!)  I felt like it was that song, in a book.  It wasn't really, because it was nothing about the Edmund Fitzgerald, but it was about a shipwreck in the Great Lakes and the impact it had on this family's life. 

I really enjoyed the characters.  Noah and his dad seemed so real and alive.  I would have liked a little more information about where Noah's skiing went later in life, I assume he dropped it, but why and when?  I really hated Natalie when she first appeared in the book.  I felt like she was self absorbed and selfish and bratty, but later on in the book I decided she wasn't so bad.

I thought the author's best quality was writing the setting.  I would get so absorbed into the book, I'd look up and be completely suprised it was 90 degrees outside.  It seemed like I should be snowed in a cabin too!

So, I have 2 copies of this book I'll give away.  Just fill in the form below, easy peasy nothing hard and I'll pick a winner on 9/15.  Open internationally.   Winners will have to 48 hours to respond.