Eh. Well-written, but the storyline just drifted along aimlessly, and I couldn't get interested in any of the characters. ( )

Eh. Well-written, but the storyline just drifted along aimlessly, and I couldn't get interested in any of the characters. ( )

I thought The House on Salt Hay Road was excellent. Most definitely worth a read. ( )

Carin Clevidence's debut novel THE HOUSE ON SALT HAY ROAD focuses on a patchwork family—young Clayton and his older sister Nancy, their aunt Mavis and uncle Roy, and grandfather Scudder—who live together in the town of Fire Neck on Long Island. The book traverses the seasons from 1937 to 1938, leading up to a 1938 hurricane that killed 50 people.

Orphaned brother-sister pair Clayton and Nancy Poole have spent the past few years of their lives in "the house on Salt Hay Road," a cottage belonging to their grandfather Scudder. Nancy is tired of the small-town atmosphere of Fire Neck and has plans to make her own way in the world as a big-city typist, but Clayton grows ever more attached to the town as he begins assisting a pair of clammers and putting away money to buy his own boat. He looks up to his uncle Roy (despite Roy's aversion to boats and the ocean) and his grandfather Scudder, who used to risk his life out on the sea with a Coast Guard-like rescue organization. They and Aunt Mavis, a nervous and superstitious woman whose bad marriage left her with a habit of getting up to bake in the middle of the night, have been surrogate parents to Clayton and Nancy. The family is disappointed in Nancy's hasty decision to marry an exciting stranger from Boston, Robert Landgraf, and move away with him.

All does not go well in Nancy's marriage, however, as she comes to realize that her husband is a stranger to her and she feels alienated from her family. Meanwhile, Mavis is haunted by her missing husband's financial obligations, while Roy struggles to make Clayton understand why he hates the sea and never married (the loss of the woman he wanted to marry caused him to attempt suicide in the bay). When Scudder becomes ill, his strength and lucidity fading fast, Nancy hurries back to Fire Neck and remains there separated from her husband, while Clayton continues to feel alienated from the sister who abandoned him. As the family struggles with relationships gone sour, a hurricane blows in from the sea and sweeps away one of their number.

THE HOUSE ON SALT HAY ROAD is a testament to the author's skill at simple but evocative imagery. She paints a detailed portrait of a Long Island beach town in the 1930s and writes with a keen eye for effective metaphors and similes. But the characters don't seem vivid and fleshed-out enough; although Mavis with her superstitions and tics was an interesting presence in the story, the other characters felt generic and bland, and I never quite felt emotionally connected with them and their struggles. The prose has its moments of blandness as well; though the imagery is effective and well-used, the narrative jumps too quickly from point of view to point of view to allow the reader to establish a connection with any particular character and suffers from an over-abundance of exposition. Fire Neck sounds lovely, but the journey through the characters' lives there was unsatisfying.
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THE HOUSE ON SALT HAY ROAD
Carin Clevidence, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2010, $25.00/C$18.50,HC, 304pp, 978-0-374-17314-2.

Clayton and his sister Nancy lost both parents and have moved in with their mother’s family on Salt Hay Road on Long Island. In the Spring of 1937 a firework factory explosion rocks the community as the story opens and you soon get a sense of the family dynamics. Nancy takes on the role of mother to Clayton causing some resentment on his part. She never quite accepts her circumstances or the love of her Aunt, Uncle, grandfather. When Nancy meets Robert, a visitor from Boston, she is swept away by his charm and with impulsivity agrees to marry him. Nancy assumes that Clayton will move with her, but when he refuses she is forced to leave her only family and move to Boston.

After her departure, Grandfather Scudder, is filled with sorrow and his health deteriorates as he grieves her absence. Aunt Mavis questions her own marriage left abandoned by her husband. Uncle Roy, never married becomes interested in a newcomer to the island. Clay finds a job and avoids school whenever possible. Nancy feels isolated and unhappy. When the hurricane of 1938 slams the eastern seaboard, all are caught off guard. This is not a story about this devastating hurricane, but more about the choices made, consequences, and ultimate forgiveness.

The first half sets the tone and the rhythm of daily life for the Poole family. The setting is vivid and charming as anyone who lives or visits the shore will embrace. Each character touches you with compassionate familiarity. Readers may find the pace at the beginning slow, however, the second half is much more engaging as the family struggles through the hurricane and its aftermath. The House on Salt Hay Road is a pensive and memorable achievement with a timeless message.


© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2011]. ( )