Sea Change
£9.90£14.20 (-30%)
For fans of Julia Armfield’s Our Wives Under the Sea
‘Absolutely stunning . . . Full of longing, mystery, fear and hope. I loved this book to pieces!’ – Frances Cha, author of If I Had Your Face
Ro is stuck. She’s just entered her thirties, she’s estranged from her mother, and her boyfriend has just left her to join a mission to Mars.
Her days are spent dragging herself to her menial job at an aquarium, and her nights are spent drinking sharktinis (mountain dew and copious amounts of gin, plus a hint of jalapeno). With her best friend pulling away to focus on her upcoming wedding, Ro’s only companion is Dolores, a giant Pacific octopus who also happens to be Ro’s last remaining link to her father, a marine biologist who disappeared while on an expedition when Ro was a teenager.
When Dolores is sold to a wealthy investor intent on moving her to a private aquarium, Ro finds herself on the precipice of self-destruction. Wading through memories of her youth, Ro has one last chance to come to terms with her childhood trauma, recommit to those around her, and find her place in an ever-changing world.
‘Utterly original‘ – Bryan Washington, author of Memorial
‘Sea Change stole my big weirdo heart‘ – Jean Kyoung Frazier, author of Pizza Girl
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Additional information
| Publisher | Main Market edition (10 Aug. 2023), Picador |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 288 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1035019396 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1035019397 |
| Reading age | 18 years and up |
| Dimensions | 13.8 x 2.4 x 21.6 cm |
by Lou Lou
I took this book on holiday with me and couldn’t put it down!! Lot’s of twists and turns and a really magical storyline. Highly recommend.
by In A Bookish Mood
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher, Pan Macmillan for a digital ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily.
I was drawn to this book by both the octopus and the tagline: “Ro is stuck. She’s just entered her thirties, she’s estranged from her mother, and her boyfriend has just left her to join a mission to Mars.”. But this is literary fiction, (which I hadn’t appreciated when I started reading it) and the octopus and Mars don’t really feature beyond being devices that set up the story.
In fact there is not much of a story here, Sea Change is a set of remembrances by our protagonist Ro. Whilst experiencing challenges in her present, Ro revisits memories of her distant and recent past, focussing on family and close relationships.
As a general rule I dislike literary fiction, considering it to be pretentious nonsense. Whilst the lack of plot, conflict and resolution is not something that typically appeals, I found Sea Change to be pleasantly surprising. For me, Ro’s (dysfunctional) family dynamics were very relatable and I found some passages very moving, to the point where I may even have cried a little. I wouldn’t read it again, but this was different, interesting and well written.
by kimberley
Ro’s in her thirties. She’s feeling lost as she’s estranged from her mother, her boyfriend has just left for a mission to Mars and her only companion, an octopus called Dolores who is her last link to her father who disappeared, is being sold to a wealthy investor. Ro starts to wade through her childhood trauma, recommit to those around her and find where she belongs.
I read this book slowly for the past few weeks and I am obsessed with it. So many passages of this book hit so deep to me and I felt like I could relate so much to Ro, with her journey of finding herself and navigating through loss and grief as well as trying to move forward. I truly think that this book found me at the perfect time – it is one that I think I will think about long after I finished. The writing is so beautiful and I love how everything flowed together, even the jumps to previous years which normally I’m not a fan of but I really like how they were done here. I loved getting to know the characters especially Ro who was my favourite and getting to see her flaws and how she developed through the book. I loved how realistic Ro’s hopelessness and depression felt and how she eventually finds hope but not in a happily ever after way, in a way where she’s just trying to take it day by day, figuring out what is next for her in this journey. I found it so interesting to learn more about marine biology, especially about the adorable octopus Dolores who was also one of my favourite characters.
by Getting lost in a good book
An original and funny debut novel.
“I wanted, if I was being honest, to slow down, just a little while. Everything felt like a race for which there wasn’t even a definitive prize and that didn’t seem to end until you died”
Ro is struggling through life, a Korean American woman, recently dumped by her boyfriend, estranged from her mother and on the verge of losing her job at the local aquarium.
Her only friend is Delores, the large octopus at the aquarium.
Loved the premise of the book and the unusual friendship, felt so real and normal.
You really feel for Ro, she feels slightly abandoned and having issues letting go, especially the loved ones in her life
You feel you’ve become friends with Ro by the end of the book.
Thanks @ginathechung @picadorbooks & @netgalley for the eARC
by A. Ross
I have no idea what led me to put this on my “to read” list, but my book sonar failed me. The book is about a 30ish alcoholic woman in a menial job at an aquarium, struggling with loss and not really getting anywhere. Her father was an obsessive marine biologist who went missing on an expedition years ago, and that loss has colored her entire life since. Meanwhile, her boyfriend has been selected for the first manned mission to Mars, and so once again she is being left behind. Her best friend from childhood works in fundraising for the aquarium, and is pushing a deal to sell their special octopus — the only creature the protagonist has feelings for. I just couldn’t find much to care about in this millennial’s tussle with grief and not-quite-midlife crisis. I suppose readers grappling with similar loss might find something of value in it, but it sure wasn’t for me.
by Oliver Merryweather
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up this novel, but what I received was a very emotional story about connection (and lack thereof) and how it feels to be someone who has lost their sense of direction in life and doesn’t have the willpower to find it again.
This is set in a somewhat dystopian future where Earth is so polluted and ruined it’s steadily becoming uninhabitable to the point that plans are now underway to inhabit Mars. We follow Ro, a young woman who works in an aquarium and has a strong relationship with a giant Pacific octopus, Dolores. Ro has it tough – her boyfriend is one of the hopefuls heading up to Mars and her father disappeared into the ocean years ago and never returned. This is a story told in a mix of flashbacks through her life alongside glimpses of how she is coping in the present.
This book doesn’t have a lot of plot and the main focus of this story is about how Ro deals with her emotions and experiences. This is a coming-of-age story so don’t let the premise fool you to think otherwise! Although space travel and giant ocean creatures feature in this book there isn’t much focus on those aspects and this is purely a book about what it means to be human.
This was a well written and lovely book. Literary fiction isn’t my favourite but I have no regrets after reading this one and it turned out to be an emotional and interesting experience.