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The Silver Boat
From New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice, a moving family story that "will strike a chord in every mother, daughter, or sister" ( Marie Claire ) In The Silver Boat , New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice has written a heart-wrenching yet heartwarming portrait of a family in all its flawed complexity. The McCarthy sisters have come to Martha's Vineyard to say good-bye to their family's beach house—the place they were happiest together. Each has her own complicated issues and is struggling with the difficult process of letting go, but when a cache of old letters spurs them to visit Ireland, each woman comes to see herself in a new light. True-to-life sisters, the beach, laughter, and passionate love— The Silver Boat is Luanne Rice at her very best.
336 pages, Paperback
First published April 2, 2005
898 people are currently reading
2405 people want to read
About the author
Luanne Rice
110 books3,153 followersLuanne Rice is the New York Times bestselling author of thirty-eight novels, translated into thirty languages. Rice often writes about love, family, nature, and the sea. Most recently she has written thrillers, including one based on a murder that affected her family. She received the 2014 Connecticut Governor’s Arts Award for excellence and lifetime achievement in the Literary Arts category.
Connecticut College awarded Rice an honorary degree and invited her to donate her papers to the College’s Special Collections Library. They are archived in the Luanne Rice Collection.
Rice has also received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from St. Joseph University in West Hartford, Conn.
Several of Rice's novels have been adapted for television. Her monologue for the play Motherhood Out Loud premiered at Hartford Stage and has been performed Off-Broadway in NYC and at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.
Rice is a Creative Affiliate of the Safina Center. She lives in southeastern Connecticut.
Connecticut College awarded Rice an honorary degree and invited her to donate her papers to the College’s Special Collections Library. They are archived in the Luanne Rice Collection.
Rice has also received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from St. Joseph University in West Hartford, Conn.
Several of Rice's novels have been adapted for television. Her monologue for the play Motherhood Out Loud premiered at Hartford Stage and has been performed Off-Broadway in NYC and at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.
Rice is a Creative Affiliate of the Safina Center. She lives in southeastern Connecticut.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 422 reviews
February 6, 2017
The McCarthy sisters come together to clean up & sell their mom's property after she passes. This was their girlhood home- the home they grew up together, made memories in, and the house that their Irish father left suddenly in his boat to sail across the Atlantic to Ireland. He made the incredible journey, but then was never heard from again. Can they salvage their relationships (of course which are all damaged)? Can they save the property from being sold from underneath them?
I enjoyed the journey, but know that this book will soon join the ranks of those forgotten about. I never connected with the main characters- I found some of them downright annoying. I appreciated Dar the most- the eldest sibling, the one determined to find out what happened with their father, and fighting to save their families' legacy. The narrator did a wonderful job with the Irish accents (IMO) and I appreciated the parts tracing the family history down in Ireland.
I enjoyed the journey, but know that this book will soon join the ranks of those forgotten about. I never connected with the main characters- I found some of them downright annoying. I appreciated Dar the most- the eldest sibling, the one determined to find out what happened with their father, and fighting to save their families' legacy. The narrator did a wonderful job with the Irish accents (IMO) and I appreciated the parts tracing the family history down in Ireland.
August 31, 2022
A perfectly fine light read, but without any real staying power. I finished it three days ago and have forgotten it already.
October 3, 2010
On the day I received this book, I must say it felt like Christmas. I just loved this novel. I cried at least three times, while reading it, and really related to this story of the three sisters. I felt a kinship with the main character Dar, and her personal struggle to make peace with unanswered stories from her past, her quest to keep her family beach house and her ability to separate her 'self' through her writings (Dar is a fantasy writer in the novel). What's always wonderful about a "Luanne Rice Novel" is there are layers to the story with sub-plots of minor characters that you root for, too. Mine happen to be the nephew of Dar. I loved how that story was woven in, and looked forward to finding Pete's character and his own personal demons he must conquer.
If you haven't ever read a "Luanne Rice Novel", you are missing out. Her stories are deep with textures of real characters that you feel like you have known in your own lifetime. This book will be out in APRIL 2011. Don't miss the boat on this one~m
If you haven't ever read a "Luanne Rice Novel", you are missing out. Her stories are deep with textures of real characters that you feel like you have known in your own lifetime. This book will be out in APRIL 2011. Don't miss the boat on this one~m
October 22, 2016
2 1/2 stars, but I'll be generous since it won it as a "First Read," so I'll give it 3 instead of 2.
First, some thoughts....Sometimes I wonder if an established, popular author were to submit a book for publication under a different name, posing as a first time author, would they get published? If they did, how much would their editor or publisher press them for rewrites and edits? But established authors don't do this. Why would they? They would be setting themselves up for rejection and scrutiny. As a popular author they are not held to the same standard as first time novelists. They can fall back on old habits, get lazy, rest on their laurels.
I remember how great Jude Deveraux and Anne Rice and Christopher Pike used to be. Now they don't seem to try as hard. They can skimp on details in some places and ramble in others with no one to tell them no.
Ok, not all writers fall into this pattern. I still love Linda Howard's new stuff, for example. And honestly, I have not read much Luann Rice. Only one before (Beach Girls). But I doubt that this book is up to par. She can't be this popular, with this many books published and be writing like this. It makes me want to read her early stuff to see her writing in her heyday.
Finally, I arrive at my review... Too many characters were introduced too quickly with too little detail. A couple major characters (Delia and Rory) had situations that identified them rather than personalities. If I had to explain them, one's a worrywart and the other's a pretty doormat. Their sister Dar (why would you give two characters D names? To confuse the reader? Well, you did. Come on, that basic creative writing 101!) was a little better, a 40 year old with a teenager's mind and poutiness. This would've worked better in YA; just change the ages.
With little to distinguish them, I found it even harder to decipher whose perspective I was in. Each one had no real voice. I was very confused at times. The writing did get a bit lax too. Page 81 for instance: 14 asked's and said's. Is there a good reason to repeat words that have so many synonyms? Anyway, the book was a big disappointment. It has all great ingredients: Martha's Vineyard setting, sisters with drama, love interests galore, a jaunt to Ireland, references to food, a mysterious past. Just mix together and stir. But someone forgot to turn on the stove.
First, some thoughts....Sometimes I wonder if an established, popular author were to submit a book for publication under a different name, posing as a first time author, would they get published? If they did, how much would their editor or publisher press them for rewrites and edits? But established authors don't do this. Why would they? They would be setting themselves up for rejection and scrutiny. As a popular author they are not held to the same standard as first time novelists. They can fall back on old habits, get lazy, rest on their laurels.
I remember how great Jude Deveraux and Anne Rice and Christopher Pike used to be. Now they don't seem to try as hard. They can skimp on details in some places and ramble in others with no one to tell them no.
Ok, not all writers fall into this pattern. I still love Linda Howard's new stuff, for example. And honestly, I have not read much Luann Rice. Only one before (Beach Girls). But I doubt that this book is up to par. She can't be this popular, with this many books published and be writing like this. It makes me want to read her early stuff to see her writing in her heyday.
Finally, I arrive at my review... Too many characters were introduced too quickly with too little detail. A couple major characters (Delia and Rory) had situations that identified them rather than personalities. If I had to explain them, one's a worrywart and the other's a pretty doormat. Their sister Dar (why would you give two characters D names? To confuse the reader? Well, you did. Come on, that basic creative writing 101!) was a little better, a 40 year old with a teenager's mind and poutiness. This would've worked better in YA; just change the ages.
With little to distinguish them, I found it even harder to decipher whose perspective I was in. Each one had no real voice. I was very confused at times. The writing did get a bit lax too. Page 81 for instance: 14 asked's and said's. Is there a good reason to repeat words that have so many synonyms? Anyway, the book was a big disappointment. It has all great ingredients: Martha's Vineyard setting, sisters with drama, love interests galore, a jaunt to Ireland, references to food, a mysterious past. Just mix together and stir. But someone forgot to turn on the stove.
February 7, 2017
Tinha bastante curiosidade em ler este livro que retrata as complexas relações familiares, mas não correspondeu às minhas expectativas. Se fosse possível, dar-lhe-ia 3 estrelas e meia, como não é, fico-me pelas 3.
Os personagens foram fracos, desinteressantes e complicados q.b., a história tinha uma pequena aura de mistério que quando resolvido, não ficou mais nada. Foi esse o sentimento com que fiquei...
Os personagens foram fracos, desinteressantes e complicados q.b., a história tinha uma pequena aura de mistério que quando resolvido, não ficou mais nada. Foi esse o sentimento com que fiquei...
July 9, 2011
I was really looking forward to this book. I have read several others by Luanne Rice and enjoyed them very much. And the cover is so pretty! But I have to say, this book was a disappointment. The good news is that is is a quick, easy read. I finished in 2 days. The bad news is that it is a very forgettable story.
In many ways, it is a slow moving story with not a whole lot going on. And in other ways, there is far too much happening, with too many characters and too much going on. The result is the book ends leaving many questions unanswered.
The main storyline is about 3 sisters who feel forced to sell the family property on Martha's Vineyard following the death of their mother. They gather to sort through her things and list the property. Through their reminiscing, we learn their father disappeared when they were children, after leaving their mother and setting out across see in a boat he built to persue his 'birthright', a land grant issued by the King of England. Apparently he always felt inferior to his wife because her family was established in the Vineyard and wealthy, and he was not. I truly did not think much of him, though his daughters held him in high regard.
There are sub-storylines; one sister is separated from her husband, who is in the midst of an affair, and the other has a granddaughter whose father, her drug-addicted son, has never met. He has disappeared into Alaska. And then there is the trip to Ireland when the daughters attempt to learn the whereabouts of their father and we meet even more characters. These all could have been developed into interesting storylines on their own, but in many cases, we are left hanging. I'm not sure that ANYTHING is totally resolved in this book. It left me hanging.
Having said all this, I am not recommending you put aside all your Luanne Rice books. She is a very good author and for the most part, her stories are enjoyable. But unless you are committed to reading everyone of her books, you may want to take a pass on this one. Or at least save it until you've finished the rest of your list.
In many ways, it is a slow moving story with not a whole lot going on. And in other ways, there is far too much happening, with too many characters and too much going on. The result is the book ends leaving many questions unanswered.
The main storyline is about 3 sisters who feel forced to sell the family property on Martha's Vineyard following the death of their mother. They gather to sort through her things and list the property. Through their reminiscing, we learn their father disappeared when they were children, after leaving their mother and setting out across see in a boat he built to persue his 'birthright', a land grant issued by the King of England. Apparently he always felt inferior to his wife because her family was established in the Vineyard and wealthy, and he was not. I truly did not think much of him, though his daughters held him in high regard.
There are sub-storylines; one sister is separated from her husband, who is in the midst of an affair, and the other has a granddaughter whose father, her drug-addicted son, has never met. He has disappeared into Alaska. And then there is the trip to Ireland when the daughters attempt to learn the whereabouts of their father and we meet even more characters. These all could have been developed into interesting storylines on their own, but in many cases, we are left hanging. I'm not sure that ANYTHING is totally resolved in this book. It left me hanging.
Having said all this, I am not recommending you put aside all your Luanne Rice books. She is a very good author and for the most part, her stories are enjoyable. But unless you are committed to reading everyone of her books, you may want to take a pass on this one. Or at least save it until you've finished the rest of your list.
February 16, 2019
This book was recommended to me based upon my preferences. It was not bad, but nothing special. This was my first read by this author. Are her other books better? Without encouragement I may not read another.
September 13, 2013
After reading The Ice Cream Girls by Dorothy Koomson, I needed something that was light and not too taxing. Having read and enjoyed a number of Luanne Rice novels, The Silver Boat fitted the bill. It didn’t require me to think too much but was a light bit of escapism, what I needed at the time.
It tells the story of three sisters Dar, Delia (why choose two main characters starting with the same initial unless there was an obvious reason for it? There wasn’t. ) and Rory who come back to pack up the family home. As they do, memories and old hurts surface, especially for Dar who has always found it hard to accept her father’s disappearance when she was twelve. At the time he had sailed to Ireland to try and prove an inheritance claim. They know he reached Ireland and then nothing after that.
I liked the setting and the characters but a couple of things bothered me. One was the amount of alcohol consumed in front of a recovering alcoholic. I thought that showed a lack of care and concern for the fight the alcoholic has been though. The second was that no-one followed up on the father’s s disappearance before this time.
While I enjoyed this book, I didn’t think it had the emotional impact of some of Luanne Rice’s other books. But it was a light easy read and that’s all I was looking for at the time.
It tells the story of three sisters Dar, Delia (why choose two main characters starting with the same initial unless there was an obvious reason for it? There wasn’t. ) and Rory who come back to pack up the family home. As they do, memories and old hurts surface, especially for Dar who has always found it hard to accept her father’s disappearance when she was twelve. At the time he had sailed to Ireland to try and prove an inheritance claim. They know he reached Ireland and then nothing after that.
I liked the setting and the characters but a couple of things bothered me. One was the amount of alcohol consumed in front of a recovering alcoholic. I thought that showed a lack of care and concern for the fight the alcoholic has been though. The second was that no-one followed up on the father’s s disappearance before this time.
While I enjoyed this book, I didn’t think it had the emotional impact of some of Luanne Rice’s other books. But it was a light easy read and that’s all I was looking for at the time.
August 3, 2011
i liked this book. :)
when i first started it, it seemed to have a lot in common with my last read "the lake of dreams". the books both include family drama & angst, mysterious family secrets & history to be solved, east coast "sea side" settings, and a little romance sprinkled in for good measure.
by the time i finished the book, i felt it was a book with a "moral to the story". a book about how time moves on & things change & how we have no choice really but to change with the time, for better or for worse. and how you can live through any change, no matter how unbearable it may seem at first. at the point in life i'm at right now... this book really spoke to me...
so i felt it was a many faceted book, much like "the lake of dreams". and i quite enjoyed it. i think i actually enjoyed it perhaps even more than "the lake of dreams". but they were both good & different, though similar. if you read & enjoyed one, i would not hesitate to recommend the other. :)
when i first started it, it seemed to have a lot in common with my last read "the lake of dreams". the books both include family drama & angst, mysterious family secrets & history to be solved, east coast "sea side" settings, and a little romance sprinkled in for good measure.
by the time i finished the book, i felt it was a book with a "moral to the story". a book about how time moves on & things change & how we have no choice really but to change with the time, for better or for worse. and how you can live through any change, no matter how unbearable it may seem at first. at the point in life i'm at right now... this book really spoke to me...
so i felt it was a many faceted book, much like "the lake of dreams". and i quite enjoyed it. i think i actually enjoyed it perhaps even more than "the lake of dreams". but they were both good & different, though similar. if you read & enjoyed one, i would not hesitate to recommend the other. :)
June 14, 2011
Dar McCarthy and her two sisters, Rory and Delia, are packing up their family home in Martha's Vinyard that has to be sold now that their mother has died. This was the center of all their happy memories of summers spent by the ocean. Their Irish father, a boat builder, crafted a gleaming white sailboat that he sailed solo to Ireland on to claim something that was owed him. They never saw him after that. This is a beautiful story of family ties that sometimes strangle but in the end hold everything together. The author beautifully describes Cape Cod and the seaside towns of rural Ireland. I loved it.
June 19, 2016
História de três irmãs que, após a morte da mãe, tratam de resolver assuntos relacionados com a casa de família, nos Hamptons. O pais desapareceu numa viagem num barco construído por ele próprio rumo à sua Irlanda natal. Viajam até à Irlanda para descobrir o que foi feito do pai (e aqui há alguma falta de lógica: o pai chegou e não deu notícias, o que não faz qualquer sentido...). Depois, há familiares com vidas em transformação ou em perigo, há casamentos em risco e casais que nunca se assumiram. No meio de tudo, um ambiente de praia, campo, sonho, que atrai. Achei um pouco desperdício de dinheiro esta compra, pois é um romance fraco.
November 12, 2017
A heartwarming yet heart-wrenching portrait of three far-flung sisters who come home to Martha's Vineyard one last time. Their mother's beach house is the only place any of them ever found true happiness and they need to begin the difficult process of letting go. Memories of their grandmother, mother, and their Irish father, who sailed away the year Dar turned twelve, rise up and expose the fine cracks in their family myth-especially when a cache of old letters reveals enough truth to send them back to their ancestral homeland.
Transplanted into the unfamiliar, each sister sees life, her heart, and her relationship to home in a new way. But how do they let go of a place that contains the complicated love of their imperfect family? Without the house, where will they be together?
The novel is a season on Martha's Vineyard; a mission to Ireland; a cast of friends, including one wildly off-the-grid Zen genius; passionate love in the surf; and three very different sisters with lives filled with beauty, sorrow, and deep love they'd never been quite sure they could trust. The Silver Boat is Luanne Rice at her very best, complete with her singular talent for capturing a family in all its flawed complexity.
I find most of Rice's books are hard to get into. There are so many characters you have to learn, that you can forget the reason they are so critical. But in the end they are awesome reads. 5 stars.
Transplanted into the unfamiliar, each sister sees life, her heart, and her relationship to home in a new way. But how do they let go of a place that contains the complicated love of their imperfect family? Without the house, where will they be together?
The novel is a season on Martha's Vineyard; a mission to Ireland; a cast of friends, including one wildly off-the-grid Zen genius; passionate love in the surf; and three very different sisters with lives filled with beauty, sorrow, and deep love they'd never been quite sure they could trust. The Silver Boat is Luanne Rice at her very best, complete with her singular talent for capturing a family in all its flawed complexity.
I find most of Rice's books are hard to get into. There are so many characters you have to learn, that you can forget the reason they are so critical. But in the end they are awesome reads. 5 stars.
May 4, 2025
Este livro conta a história de três irmãs: a Delia, a Rory e a Dar ; que após a perda da mãe regressam uma última vez a Martha's Vineyard para se despidirem da casa de família e tentar perceber o que aconteceu com o pai delas. O pai que partiu de barco e nunca mais souberam do seu paradeiro, e principalmente Dar quer muito ir à procura de respostas.
Faz uma longa viagem onde descobre o que foi feito do pai e alguma das suas razões para ter abandonado a mulher e as filhas.
É toda uma história desta família com muitos casamentos em riscos, dependências, mas houve partes que andava já baralhada com tantas reviravoltas.
Achei uma história um pouco confusa, houve partes que não entendi o propósito dos acontecimentos.
Era um livro que estava à espera na minha biblioteca a algum tempo mas sinceramente não foi o esperado.
Faz uma longa viagem onde descobre o que foi feito do pai e alguma das suas razões para ter abandonado a mulher e as filhas.
É toda uma história desta família com muitos casamentos em riscos, dependências, mas houve partes que andava já baralhada com tantas reviravoltas.
Achei uma história um pouco confusa, houve partes que não entendi o propósito dos acontecimentos.
Era um livro que estava à espera na minha biblioteca a algum tempo mas sinceramente não foi o esperado.
November 9, 2022
Maybe one of the best books I have ever read! It’s one of those books you never want to end!
I will be finding more books by this author soon!
I will be finding more books by this author soon!
April 5, 2011
This is the first book by Luanne Rice that I’ve read, though I see her name all the time, and have three of her other books in my To Be Read pile. So I was looking forward to finally experiencing her writing. Unfortunately, I was not overly impressed. I had trouble getting into the story, and found it sort of dragged and at times my attention tried to wander. With some authors, the writing just flows across the page, but that’s not the sense I got here, and I had to make myself concentrate on the words.
It was also pretty depressing, which, given the subject matter, is understandable – Dar and her sisters are packing up their childhood home in preparation of selling it after their mother’s death. Those scenes took me back to my own two sisters and I, along with our mother, packing up my grandmother’s belongings after she passed away. So I did relate a little. There is also a subplot about Dar's nephew Pete, trying to straighten out his life and stay sober, and those scenes kept me riveted. I have a daughter who is in recovery, so I could definitely relate there.
Once the sisters traveled to Ireland in search of answers about their father, who sailed away when they were kids and never returned, the story picked up for me. I would have liked to read more about their trip and their father.
I think part of my problem with the sisters was that when reading about them, I felt like they were young women, who have not experienced life yet and matured. I don’t remember their actual ages being mentioned, but I believe they were closer to forty than to twenty. They just didn't seem to act like it.
There are a few sex scenes, nothing graphic of course, between Dar and her boyfriend, Andy. I don’t have a problem with sex scenes, but I didn't feel they were particularly well written and could have been omitted without any effect on the overall story.
I will probably try this author again, as I know she is very popular and beloved by many readers. So I’m hoping that this particular book was just a miss for me and I’ll enjoy her others more. I didn't hate the book, I just didn't love it.
It was also pretty depressing, which, given the subject matter, is understandable – Dar and her sisters are packing up their childhood home in preparation of selling it after their mother’s death. Those scenes took me back to my own two sisters and I, along with our mother, packing up my grandmother’s belongings after she passed away. So I did relate a little. There is also a subplot about Dar's nephew Pete, trying to straighten out his life and stay sober, and those scenes kept me riveted. I have a daughter who is in recovery, so I could definitely relate there.
Once the sisters traveled to Ireland in search of answers about their father, who sailed away when they were kids and never returned, the story picked up for me. I would have liked to read more about their trip and their father.
I think part of my problem with the sisters was that when reading about them, I felt like they were young women, who have not experienced life yet and matured. I don’t remember their actual ages being mentioned, but I believe they were closer to forty than to twenty. They just didn't seem to act like it.
There are a few sex scenes, nothing graphic of course, between Dar and her boyfriend, Andy. I don’t have a problem with sex scenes, but I didn't feel they were particularly well written and could have been omitted without any effect on the overall story.
I will probably try this author again, as I know she is very popular and beloved by many readers. So I’m hoping that this particular book was just a miss for me and I’ll enjoy her others more. I didn't hate the book, I just didn't love it.
February 12, 2013
When I selected this at the library, I was wondering how this audiobook could be only 7 hours in its entirety (and yes, that is unabridged). Turns out the reason is that the story is ridiculously underdeveloped. I'm not sure a single plot line was wrapped up by the end, or maybe there just wasn't a whole lot to the plot to begin with. Either way, it felt like a book at the beginning of its writing life cycle rather than one that was already published. There were aspects of the story that held my attention, making it adequate for an in the car audiobook; however, I didn't really think and wonder about the story when I wasn't listening or feel a dire need to get back to it. Usually I'm one of those people who wants to sit in a car for an hour after I park or who will drive around aimlessly to find out what happens next in an audiobook, and this one just really didn't inspire much curiosity after we found out what the outcome of her father's trip to Ireland was. Not something I would recommend, but not the worst book I've ever read/listened to.
January 27, 2012
I have read several of Luanne Rice's books and this was not one of the best. I liked the setting of the story and the characters. The relationships between the characters weren't particularly well developed. Dar McCarthy, a recovering alcoholic, artist and graphic novelest is the central character, surrounded by her two sisters, lover and childhood friend. Dar's father abandoned the family nearly 30 years earlier to go to Ireland to look for a land grant that gave him property on Martha's Vinyard. I normally find Rice's stories a little dark, and this is certainly no exception. The story revolves around Dar's search for the truth about her father and the disposition of the family's waterfront home on the Vinyard. Dar tracks the relationship between the sisters in her graphic novels about a character named Dulse. None of that worked for me. I have the sense that the author "called it in" on this one.
April 18, 2011
I honestly can not even review this one...That's how much I truly did not enjoy it at all...It was depressing, slow, and just didn't draw me in at all...I've seen so many books by this author and this one was my first time trying to read one...I don't know if it's just this one that was a complete miss for me or if these types of books just aren't my reading preference...Once again I was suck in by such a gorgeous cover, which it is, it looks even more stunning in person...lol...But, what was inside was so disappointing to me...I can't believe I actually finished this one...I hate giving bad ratings, but, I would assume we're supposed to be honest so that's why I feel like I have to do this...I know Ms' Rice's books are extremly popular maybe I'm not mature enough to read them...And I'm almost 35...lol...
April 6, 2011
Haven't received yet, just received notice I had won! 3/23/11
Just received my copy, hope to start soon. 3/31/11
I finished last night. What a story. Three sisters, meet at their family home on Marthas Vineyard to pack the house because it has been sold. The sisters are so different, and yes, I wanted to slap some sense into one of them. They each struggle with their memories of the house, their mother, their father. The father had left when they were young children in search of proof to his inheritance and had never returned. The daughters travel to Ireland in search of information of their dad.
The characters were believable, even if the one sister seems to be stuck in junior high. The writing was beautiful. I am not much into sailing, but I LOVE the beach and the description is wonderful.
Just received my copy, hope to start soon. 3/31/11
I finished last night. What a story. Three sisters, meet at their family home on Marthas Vineyard to pack the house because it has been sold. The sisters are so different, and yes, I wanted to slap some sense into one of them. They each struggle with their memories of the house, their mother, their father. The father had left when they were young children in search of proof to his inheritance and had never returned. The daughters travel to Ireland in search of information of their dad.
The characters were believable, even if the one sister seems to be stuck in junior high. The writing was beautiful. I am not much into sailing, but I LOVE the beach and the description is wonderful.
June 12, 2011
This might be a bit better than a two-star, but two stars are "It was OK."
And this was. Suffered, I'm sure, by being read right after STARTED EARLY, TOOK MY DOG which was written with such verve and was filled with literary and contemporary puns and references.
Story of three sisters, mother recently dead, overseeing the selling -- or keeping -- of the family farmhouse on Martha's Vineyard. Includes a search for a vanished father in Ireland. These women must have been pretty wealthy to be flying all over without 14 days advance booking and hopping on Cape Air to get to the Vineyard.
(We once flew Cape Air from San Juan to Tortola. Their planes migrate south in the winter.)
Predictable, but passable.
And this was. Suffered, I'm sure, by being read right after STARTED EARLY, TOOK MY DOG which was written with such verve and was filled with literary and contemporary puns and references.
Story of three sisters, mother recently dead, overseeing the selling -- or keeping -- of the family farmhouse on Martha's Vineyard. Includes a search for a vanished father in Ireland. These women must have been pretty wealthy to be flying all over without 14 days advance booking and hopping on Cape Air to get to the Vineyard.
(We once flew Cape Air from San Juan to Tortola. Their planes migrate south in the winter.)
Predictable, but passable.
May 23, 2011
I love Luanne Rice's books. The story is so beautifully written that you can feel yourself there but it is not so bogged down with too many words that it is superfluous. This is the story of three sisters that have to sell the family home and try to find out why their father left when they were little. He sailed to Ireland to find a deed to the property and didn't return. This is the story of their journey. I really enjoyed the journey to Ireland as we were just to Cork and Cobh about two weeks ago. I could see exactly the streets they were walking. That is the beauty of Rice's writing.
May 20, 2011
I thought this book got better as it went along. Three sisters, Delia, Dar and Rory have to sort out their family home before it is sold to pay estate taxes. None of the three sisters has gotten over their father's leaving when they were young but it affected Dar the most. She has created a series of very successful graphic novels about a water spirit named Dulse to deal with her feelings. The sisters decide to travel to Ireland to uncover whatever they can about their father's last journey in his boat. There are several other plots to round out the story. I hope LuAnne Rice will write a sequel.
May 25, 2011
Luanne Rice's characters are again believable and interesting. Family ties and their "unraveling" and "strengthening" keep the reader engaged. The three sisters, Dar, Delia, and Rory, were fortunate to have memorable summers at Daggett's Way (the big house) and the Hideaway (Dar's small beach cottage located on the west end of the 15 acre property) by the Atlantic Ocean in Chilmark, Massachusetts. It's definitely a great "summer read". If you like books with Irish heritage/"connections" and wish you would have enjoyed your summers living the life in a cottage on a beach, you won't go wrong by picking this for your "to be read" pile.
June 25, 2011
This book is so amazing. I love the way it was written. It was mystical and deep. I truly didn't think I was going to enjoy this book as much as I did.
It is the journey of three very different sisters as they try to deal with their father's evident abandonment and the seemingly unrelated selling of their family home in Martha's Vineyard. The story centers mainly around Dar, an artist who uses her talent to escape her talents and express her feelings. The story leads to a trip to Ireland and eventually leads to discovering that sometimes things don't work the way that we want them to but then again, that's okay.
It is the journey of three very different sisters as they try to deal with their father's evident abandonment and the seemingly unrelated selling of their family home in Martha's Vineyard. The story centers mainly around Dar, an artist who uses her talent to escape her talents and express her feelings. The story leads to a trip to Ireland and eventually leads to discovering that sometimes things don't work the way that we want them to but then again, that's okay.
January 23, 2014
Luanne Rice é daquelas escritoras que têm um ou outro livro engraçado (e engraçado não implica que seja necessariamente bom), mas, no cômputo geral, as suas obras são maçadoras. Algo de masoquista em mim fez com que quisesse ler este livro, mesmo sabendo que outras obras dela não me fascinaram.
Aqui, a estória é tão estranha quanto mal conseguida. Uma imensidão de personagens que, a meu ver, são muito mal construídas. O único elo entre elas é que, de uma forma ou de outra, têm um qualquer "transtorno", o que ainda torna o livro mais estranho.
Que mais posso eu dizer? Foi um livro que me custou a ler e que me fez equacionar a desistência da leitura de próximas obras da autora.
Aqui, a estória é tão estranha quanto mal conseguida. Uma imensidão de personagens que, a meu ver, são muito mal construídas. O único elo entre elas é que, de uma forma ou de outra, têm um qualquer "transtorno", o que ainda torna o livro mais estranho.
Que mais posso eu dizer? Foi um livro que me custou a ler e que me fez equacionar a desistência da leitura de próximas obras da autora.
June 5, 2011
This is my first book to read by this author, but I read it all in one day and enjoyed it. Three sisters meet at their childhood vacation home on Martha's Vineyard to pack up the house before it is sold. They are really saying good-bye to a major part of their lives. I loved their relationship with each other. As with anything, one sister cared more about the house and life, but the other sisters were sensitive to her special sadness at leaving. The story involved a trip the sisters made to Ireland to get information about their father. Interesting. What, no quotes??
March 27, 2011
Thank you for the priviledge of allowing me the opportunity to read The Silver Boat before it was released for sale. This is an amazing book, all of your senses are in play. Three sisters on a journey to resolve issues from their past & plan for their future.
I felt most drawn to Dar and her relationship to her father. This book takes place in Martha's
Vineyard and in Ireland.This book is a 5 star and a must read for anyone who likes books/stories about
family and especially sisters.
I felt most drawn to Dar and her relationship to her father. This book takes place in Martha's
Vineyard and in Ireland.This book is a 5 star and a must read for anyone who likes books/stories about
family and especially sisters.
April 22, 2011
I generally like this author's books. The island setting, the Irish connection and the sisterly bonding were my favorite parts. What left me cold was part of the ending. Instead of using the 3 sisterly bond, 2 of them went behind the back of the 3rd. It did not fit with the rest of the book, and the supportive feeling throughout. If I were Dar, it would be hard for me to forgive my sisters for not discussing it with me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 30, 2011
There is just something so comforting about reading Luanne Rice's books. They are about families, some who have major problems, but they are overcome with a great deal of stamina in the characters and a great deal of love. Old friends.
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