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Sea Creatures
When Georgia returns to her hometown of Miami, her toddler son and husband in tow, she is hoping for a fresh start. They have left Illinois trailing scandal and disappointment in their wake: Graham's sleep disorder has cost him his tenure at Northwestern; Georgia's college advising business has gone belly up; and three-year old Frankie is no longer speaking. Miami feels emptier without Georgia's mother, who died five years earlier, but her father and stepmother offer a warm welcome-as well as a slip for the dilapidated houseboat Georgia and Graham have chosen to call home. And a position studying extreme weather patterns at a prestigious marine research facility offers Graham a professional second chance.
When Georgia takes a job as an errand runner for an artist who lives alone in the middle of Biscayne Bay, she's surprised to find her life changes dramatically. Time spent with the intense hermit at his isolated home might help Frankie gain the courage to speak, it seems. And it might help Georgia reconcile the woman she was with the woman she has become.
But when Graham leaves to work on a ship in Hurricane Alley and the truth behind Frankie's mutism is uncovered, the family's challenges return, more complicated than before. Late that summer, as a hurricane bears down on South Florida, Georgia must face the fact that her choices have put her only child in grave danger.
Sea Creatures is a mesmerizing exploration of the high stakes of marriage and parenthood, the story of a woman coming into her own as a mother, forced to choose between her marriage, her child, and the possibility of new love.
When Georgia takes a job as an errand runner for an artist who lives alone in the middle of Biscayne Bay, she's surprised to find her life changes dramatically. Time spent with the intense hermit at his isolated home might help Frankie gain the courage to speak, it seems. And it might help Georgia reconcile the woman she was with the woman she has become.
But when Graham leaves to work on a ship in Hurricane Alley and the truth behind Frankie's mutism is uncovered, the family's challenges return, more complicated than before. Late that summer, as a hurricane bears down on South Florida, Georgia must face the fact that her choices have put her only child in grave danger.
Sea Creatures is a mesmerizing exploration of the high stakes of marriage and parenthood, the story of a woman coming into her own as a mother, forced to choose between her marriage, her child, and the possibility of new love.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published July 30, 2013
71 people are currently reading
4473 people want to read
About the author
Susanna Daniel
3 books107 followersAuthor Susanna Daniel was born and raised in Miami, Florida, where she spent much of her childhood at her family’s stilt house in Biscayne Bay.
Her debut novel, Stiltsville, was awarded the PEN/Bingham prize for best debut work published in 2010. Stiltsville was also named a 2011 Summer Reading List pick by Oprah.com, a Best Debut of 2010 by Amazon.com, a Best Book of 2010 by the Huffington Post, and a Discover Great New Writers pick by Barnes & Noble.
Susanna is a co-founder, with author Michelle Wildgen, of the Madison Writers’ Studio, an intimate, university-level writing workshop (www dot madisonwriters dot com), which will begin enrolling new students in June of 2013. She is a graduate of Columbia University and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and was a Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow at the University of Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. Her writing has been published in Newsweek, Slate, One Story, Epoch, and elsewhere.
Susanna lives with her husband and two young sons in Madison, Wisconsin, where during the long winter she dreams of the sun and the sea, and of jumping off the stilt house porch at high tide.
Susanna’s second novel, Sea Creatures, about a woman who ultimately must face the unthinkable choice between her husband and young son, is forthcoming from HarperCollins in the summer of 2013.
Her debut novel, Stiltsville, was awarded the PEN/Bingham prize for best debut work published in 2010. Stiltsville was also named a 2011 Summer Reading List pick by Oprah.com, a Best Debut of 2010 by Amazon.com, a Best Book of 2010 by the Huffington Post, and a Discover Great New Writers pick by Barnes & Noble.
Susanna is a co-founder, with author Michelle Wildgen, of the Madison Writers’ Studio, an intimate, university-level writing workshop (www dot madisonwriters dot com), which will begin enrolling new students in June of 2013. She is a graduate of Columbia University and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and was a Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow at the University of Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. Her writing has been published in Newsweek, Slate, One Story, Epoch, and elsewhere.
Susanna lives with her husband and two young sons in Madison, Wisconsin, where during the long winter she dreams of the sun and the sea, and of jumping off the stilt house porch at high tide.
Susanna’s second novel, Sea Creatures, about a woman who ultimately must face the unthinkable choice between her husband and young son, is forthcoming from HarperCollins in the summer of 2013.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 416 reviews
November 26, 2023
Beautifully written, this is one of my favorite chic-lit books. The story involves family, motherhood, being a daughter, marriage, and starting over. Daniel’s writing style is lyrical and perfectly paced. Towards the end of the novel, it becomes a suspense novel.
It’s written from Georgia Quillian’s point of view. It begins as she and her husband, Graham, are starting over in Miami(Georgia’s childhood home town). The reader learns of Graham’s sleep disorder, parasomnia, and the stress this has caused on the family, along with this disorder being the major reason that the family was forced to start over in Miami.
There are marriage problems: Georgia doesn’t think Graham is a good father; Graham feels Georgia has lost her spontaneity. Georgia and Graham have a 3 year old son, Frankie, who mysteriously stopped speaking when he was 18 months old.
Georgia works with him in learning sign language so he can communicate. Graham feels they should force him to speak. Issues in child rearing add to the domestic problems. Georgia discusses marriage with her childhood friend Sally, who sums up her marriage “I don’t love him like I did. But I love him in a new way, and we are in this thing together. We are going to raise these children or die trying.”
Georgia thinks what many mothers feel, “Sometimes I think that when I had Frankie, I became a little bit crazy. And a little bit invisible.”
Georgia decides to take a part time job as an assistant to an artist who is a bit of a recluse. A friendship builds with the artist, Charlie, who is kind and thoughtful to Frankie.
Parenting and being a good mother are a major themes in this novel. There are heart-wrenching scenes. I was emotionally involved in Georgia’s life. I felt her feelings, and understood her self doubts. Daniels is a wonderful author.
It’s written from Georgia Quillian’s point of view. It begins as she and her husband, Graham, are starting over in Miami(Georgia’s childhood home town). The reader learns of Graham’s sleep disorder, parasomnia, and the stress this has caused on the family, along with this disorder being the major reason that the family was forced to start over in Miami.
There are marriage problems: Georgia doesn’t think Graham is a good father; Graham feels Georgia has lost her spontaneity. Georgia and Graham have a 3 year old son, Frankie, who mysteriously stopped speaking when he was 18 months old.
Georgia works with him in learning sign language so he can communicate. Graham feels they should force him to speak. Issues in child rearing add to the domestic problems. Georgia discusses marriage with her childhood friend Sally, who sums up her marriage “I don’t love him like I did. But I love him in a new way, and we are in this thing together. We are going to raise these children or die trying.”
Georgia thinks what many mothers feel, “Sometimes I think that when I had Frankie, I became a little bit crazy. And a little bit invisible.”
Georgia decides to take a part time job as an assistant to an artist who is a bit of a recluse. A friendship builds with the artist, Charlie, who is kind and thoughtful to Frankie.
Parenting and being a good mother are a major themes in this novel. There are heart-wrenching scenes. I was emotionally involved in Georgia’s life. I felt her feelings, and understood her self doubts. Daniels is a wonderful author.
July 24, 2014
When will I learn! "Literature!" Another theme done to death - married mid-30s white woman of upper-middle class liberal background with child just can't seem to grow up, frets about child, whines about it for the entire book, and looks for new love because her husband isn't exactly what she wants now. Ugh!
August 13, 2013
Better than anticipated, worse than I'd have hoped for. I can't remember the summary I read, but it involved a mother's choice for the safety of her child, yadda yadda, and her dilemma over her husband, which, yes, ultimately, that's what it's about.
It's an easy read; it's engaging; there's supposed to be some pathos there at the end, but really by the time I was done I was sick to death of the heroine's whiny 'all about me' viewpoint. Everything ends up all tidy and she didn't really work for it. Pah. I am getting all worked up thinking about it.
No, really, go ahead, read it, it's well done and she's worked in quite an interesting plot device. Just, well, that one drawback, that the mom is such a self-centered idiot.
December 3, 2013
I loved this book. I wrote about it on my Tumblr: http://roxanegay.tumblr.com/post/6890...
August 15, 2013
In the summer of 1992, thirty-six year old Georgia Quillian packs up the island cottage in Illinois and drives down to Miami, Florida, with her husband Graham and their two-year-old son, Frankie. Graham has a rare sleep disorder called parasomnia - in fact, their trouble sleeping was how Georgia and Graham met, at a sleep clinic they dubbed Detention - and during the rare times he does sleep at night, he sleepwalks and does strange things. After he crashed through a glass window at a hotel, he lost his position at the university and the neighbours spoke of how creepy the family was in the media. It was time to leave, and Graham had been offered a position at the university in Miami which seemed fortuitous, using his IT skills as part of a team researching hurricanes.
Georgia had grown up in Miami, and her father lives there still, with his second wife, Lidia. Lidia's house backs onto a canal, and with his usual tendency towards recklessness, Graham proposes they buy a houseboat. They rename it Lullaby, and tether it to Lidia's dock. While Graham is busy at the lab, Georgia busies herself pruning Lidia's plants and looking after Frankie, who hasn't spoken or made little more than slight sounds since he was eighteen months old. They've taken him to several paediatricians and specialists, but still don't have a diagnosis or much of a plan to help him start speaking again.
In an effort to help and keep Georgia busy, Lidia recommends she take up a part-time job as an assistant to Charlie Hicks, a man her father's age who lives in one of the fourteen houses built on stilts in the Bay of Biscayne, called Stiltsville. Georgia remembers Charlie only vaguely; his wife Vivian had been a friend of her mother's, who often had parties at the house when Georgia's father, a musician, was away for months at a time. But everyone knows the story, how they lost their daughter, how Charlie left to live in Stiltsville like a regular old hermit while Vivian's health deteriorated and she ended up in a nursing home. Charlie is a quiet man who prefers solitude, but with the help of Frankie, whom Charlie makes time for, Georgia develops a warm friendship with "the hermit", and greatly admires the painstaking artwork he creates.
When Graham leaves for what was meant to be five weeks on board a ship with the rest of the scientific team in Hurricane Alley, to test their work, things change in subtle ways. Frankie starts to speak, and Georgia draws closer to Charlie and begins to see that there may be a connection between Frankie's selective mutism and his father's disturbing nocturnal wanderings. As news of a big hurricane - Hurricane Andrew - approaches, Georgia's decisions lead to the same recklessness she sees in her husband, and with an outcome just as terrifying.
For the first half or so of this book, I was full of admiration and praise for Sea Creatures. The prose was clean and smooth and unpretentious, the story simple and equally unpretentious, with a focus on Georgia as a mother and wife, trying to find her way and get some firm footing. Yet towards the end, it became more eventful, and the events that occur were not, I felt, in keeping with the tone of the rest of the book. It all got surprisingly melodramatic, and this drama - or we could call it "Georgia's decisions and their predictable fallout" - overshadowed and let down the strength of the book as a whole.
Perhaps if there had been less foreshadowing from Georgia herself, who narrates from the perspective of, I think it was, eight years into the future, it would have read more naturally. And perhaps if Georgia were less aloof from the reader, someone I could understand and relate to better, her choices wouldn't have seemed so ... tacky. Because I did find that the big drama around the time of Hurricane Andrew in August 1992 was almost cheesy in the way it was presented.
Georgia narrates in an omniscient, carefully-crafted storytelling style. She shares inside information about Graham and his childhood, for example, as if she were an author writing a story. It's a bit odd at first, but her ability to shed light on others adds a great deal to the depth of the story, which focuses on the characters and their connections to each other, their secrets and their desire to live a life of their choosing. Each character has the feel of a carefully crafted doll or game piece, each from a different game but occupying the same playing board, moving around like little islands, sometimes gently bumping into each other, sometimes connecting and sticking, like magnets, until something should pull them apart. I don't know how else to describe it, but that was how the characters move through this book. And for the most part, I really enjoyed it.
The dynamic between Georgia and Graham and Frankie is at the heart of the story, and Georgia's increasingly unflinching analysis of her marriage and the relationship between Frankie and his father is the main point of the whole novel. Everything that happens is a catalyst or an influence or a bump in the road on this journey of Georgia's. I could relate to Georgia in some ways, as we did have a few things in common - mostly a toddler - but Georgia is an over-protective, second-guessing, hovering sort of mother, so afraid that she's a bad mother or the reason Frankie won't talk that her ability to clearly reflect on her own parenting style or her decisions is clouded by this anxiety.
There was no real sense of chemistry between Georgia and Graham, not in how Georgia relates their relationship's early years, though I found Graham to be one of the most interesting characters in the whole novel. Far from black-and-white, Graham both loved his son and was impatient with his speech problem. He was considerate towards him but never really wanted to spend the quality time with him. Likewise, Frankie both adored his father - as all small children do - and feared him. It was Graham I pitied the most, though, when all was said and done. He came out the victim, in the end, I suppose, considering there was nothing he could do about his sleep disorder or what it made him do, the rare times he actually slept.
There is another character in this novel, one that Daniel clearly has a keen interest in: Stiltsville itself. Her first novel, Stiltsville, was set there as well, and it features prominently in Sea Creatures. In fact, the setting of Miami - which comes across as a small, somewhat sleepy town - as well as Stiltsville comes across strongly, and was one of the things I enjoyed most about this novel. I've never been to Florida, but the area in all its heat and reptilian glory came vividly to life.
The theme of sea creatures, too, was a rather beautiful one, and nicely incorporated. The obvious representation was in the artwork that Charlie Hicks creates, but it radiates out into Frankie's delight with snorkeling and the little sea creature toys Charlie gives him and the paper mobile he makes for him, as well as the scene in which Graham rescues a giant turtle from a lobster net (sharks had already bitten off one flipper). There's the woman who lives across the canal from Lidia who often dives into the alligator-infested waters for a swim (in fact, "recklessness" could be another theme of the novel), and the sense that the human characters on land are their own kind of creature, the way they're presented. (Coming back to that analogy from before, of the pieces from different games - different species - all occupying the same game board, in the way of sea creatures occupying the same sea.) There's something poignant and tender and genuinely heartfelt about the sea creatures, and it's also a way into understanding Charlie and humanising him.
I have a lot more to say about this book - it would be ideal for a book club discussion! - but my reviews are always too long so I need to wrap things up. Overall, I did like this book, I liked it a lot, it was atmospheric and felt authentic, realistic, without ever being dull. It was easy to become emotionally invested, as a silent, unobtrusive observer, and it was a story I was interested in. But the drama of the ending (not the actual end of the book, but the climactic events that signal major shifts and an ending to the story of that summer) was like an off, jarring note in an otherwise lovely musical performance. I was amazingly disappointed in how things went, because up until then this had been a wonderfully captivating, well-written story.
My thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book via TLC Book Tours.
Georgia had grown up in Miami, and her father lives there still, with his second wife, Lidia. Lidia's house backs onto a canal, and with his usual tendency towards recklessness, Graham proposes they buy a houseboat. They rename it Lullaby, and tether it to Lidia's dock. While Graham is busy at the lab, Georgia busies herself pruning Lidia's plants and looking after Frankie, who hasn't spoken or made little more than slight sounds since he was eighteen months old. They've taken him to several paediatricians and specialists, but still don't have a diagnosis or much of a plan to help him start speaking again.
In an effort to help and keep Georgia busy, Lidia recommends she take up a part-time job as an assistant to Charlie Hicks, a man her father's age who lives in one of the fourteen houses built on stilts in the Bay of Biscayne, called Stiltsville. Georgia remembers Charlie only vaguely; his wife Vivian had been a friend of her mother's, who often had parties at the house when Georgia's father, a musician, was away for months at a time. But everyone knows the story, how they lost their daughter, how Charlie left to live in Stiltsville like a regular old hermit while Vivian's health deteriorated and she ended up in a nursing home. Charlie is a quiet man who prefers solitude, but with the help of Frankie, whom Charlie makes time for, Georgia develops a warm friendship with "the hermit", and greatly admires the painstaking artwork he creates.
When Graham leaves for what was meant to be five weeks on board a ship with the rest of the scientific team in Hurricane Alley, to test their work, things change in subtle ways. Frankie starts to speak, and Georgia draws closer to Charlie and begins to see that there may be a connection between Frankie's selective mutism and his father's disturbing nocturnal wanderings. As news of a big hurricane - Hurricane Andrew - approaches, Georgia's decisions lead to the same recklessness she sees in her husband, and with an outcome just as terrifying.
For the first half or so of this book, I was full of admiration and praise for Sea Creatures. The prose was clean and smooth and unpretentious, the story simple and equally unpretentious, with a focus on Georgia as a mother and wife, trying to find her way and get some firm footing. Yet towards the end, it became more eventful, and the events that occur were not, I felt, in keeping with the tone of the rest of the book. It all got surprisingly melodramatic, and this drama - or we could call it "Georgia's decisions and their predictable fallout" - overshadowed and let down the strength of the book as a whole.
Perhaps if there had been less foreshadowing from Georgia herself, who narrates from the perspective of, I think it was, eight years into the future, it would have read more naturally. And perhaps if Georgia were less aloof from the reader, someone I could understand and relate to better, her choices wouldn't have seemed so ... tacky. Because I did find that the big drama around the time of Hurricane Andrew in August 1992 was almost cheesy in the way it was presented.
Georgia narrates in an omniscient, carefully-crafted storytelling style. She shares inside information about Graham and his childhood, for example, as if she were an author writing a story. It's a bit odd at first, but her ability to shed light on others adds a great deal to the depth of the story, which focuses on the characters and their connections to each other, their secrets and their desire to live a life of their choosing. Each character has the feel of a carefully crafted doll or game piece, each from a different game but occupying the same playing board, moving around like little islands, sometimes gently bumping into each other, sometimes connecting and sticking, like magnets, until something should pull them apart. I don't know how else to describe it, but that was how the characters move through this book. And for the most part, I really enjoyed it.
The dynamic between Georgia and Graham and Frankie is at the heart of the story, and Georgia's increasingly unflinching analysis of her marriage and the relationship between Frankie and his father is the main point of the whole novel. Everything that happens is a catalyst or an influence or a bump in the road on this journey of Georgia's. I could relate to Georgia in some ways, as we did have a few things in common - mostly a toddler - but Georgia is an over-protective, second-guessing, hovering sort of mother, so afraid that she's a bad mother or the reason Frankie won't talk that her ability to clearly reflect on her own parenting style or her decisions is clouded by this anxiety.
There was no real sense of chemistry between Georgia and Graham, not in how Georgia relates their relationship's early years, though I found Graham to be one of the most interesting characters in the whole novel. Far from black-and-white, Graham both loved his son and was impatient with his speech problem. He was considerate towards him but never really wanted to spend the quality time with him. Likewise, Frankie both adored his father - as all small children do - and feared him. It was Graham I pitied the most, though, when all was said and done. He came out the victim, in the end, I suppose, considering there was nothing he could do about his sleep disorder or what it made him do, the rare times he actually slept.
There is another character in this novel, one that Daniel clearly has a keen interest in: Stiltsville itself. Her first novel, Stiltsville, was set there as well, and it features prominently in Sea Creatures. In fact, the setting of Miami - which comes across as a small, somewhat sleepy town - as well as Stiltsville comes across strongly, and was one of the things I enjoyed most about this novel. I've never been to Florida, but the area in all its heat and reptilian glory came vividly to life.
The theme of sea creatures, too, was a rather beautiful one, and nicely incorporated. The obvious representation was in the artwork that Charlie Hicks creates, but it radiates out into Frankie's delight with snorkeling and the little sea creature toys Charlie gives him and the paper mobile he makes for him, as well as the scene in which Graham rescues a giant turtle from a lobster net (sharks had already bitten off one flipper). There's the woman who lives across the canal from Lidia who often dives into the alligator-infested waters for a swim (in fact, "recklessness" could be another theme of the novel), and the sense that the human characters on land are their own kind of creature, the way they're presented. (Coming back to that analogy from before, of the pieces from different games - different species - all occupying the same game board, in the way of sea creatures occupying the same sea.) There's something poignant and tender and genuinely heartfelt about the sea creatures, and it's also a way into understanding Charlie and humanising him.
I have a lot more to say about this book - it would be ideal for a book club discussion! - but my reviews are always too long so I need to wrap things up. Overall, I did like this book, I liked it a lot, it was atmospheric and felt authentic, realistic, without ever being dull. It was easy to become emotionally invested, as a silent, unobtrusive observer, and it was a story I was interested in. But the drama of the ending (not the actual end of the book, but the climactic events that signal major shifts and an ending to the story of that summer) was like an off, jarring note in an otherwise lovely musical performance. I was amazingly disappointed in how things went, because up until then this had been a wonderfully captivating, well-written story.
My thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book via TLC Book Tours.
August 4, 2013
Few writers can capture the angst of the human condition, wrap it into a lyrical tale of time and place, and tell a compelling, page turning story yet Susanna Daniel manages to accomplish all of this in her latest novel, Sea Creatures. In the opening pages readers are introduced to Georgia Quillian in 1992, as she and her husband, Graham, and their three year old son Frankie are en route to her home town of Miami. Georgia’s business has failed, and they have has endured a bit of scandal related to Graham’s sleep disorder. To make matters worse, Frankie is selectively mute, a fact that has put additional strain on the marriage. At the age of thirty six Georgia is feeling a bit like a failure, somewhat unmoored by her present situation and unsure of her shifting roles as wife and mother. Unsure of their next steps the family is welcomed home by Georgia’s father and stepmother and offered the slip behind their home where they intend to live aboard a houseboat. When Georgia accepts a part time job delivering supplies to a hermit in nearby Stiltsville, the group of homes on stilts built out in the midst of Biscayne Bay, she has no idea the many ways her life will change. Before long Georgia is forced to choose between the woman she once was and the woman she has become, this will also entail choosing between her marriage, her son, and the possibility of new love. Sea Creatures is a novel to become lost within; filled with vivid descriptions of natural world, and keen insight into the workings of the human heart, it is a novel to be cherished.
October 17, 2013
One of my favorite reads this summer. A beautifully crafted and moving novel. I expected a lot from this author after loving her first novel, Stiltsville, and the complex and compassionately realized characters in Sea Creatures delivered.
July 31, 2013
Georgia, Daniel’s main character and sole narrator, was a protagonist I not only liked but with whom I sympathized and empathized. I put myself in her place and understood the great weight she carried on her thin shoulders. I absolutely hated Graham, Georgia’s husband, who suffered from parasomnia, a condition in which he experienced an erratic sleep pattern. He sometimes sleepwalked. “Sleep was the yardstick by which all other fears were measured, and everything else dwarfed. It’s the stuff of horror films, sleep terror, but the sleep goblins of film are imaginary. Graham’s problems were real, and all the more alarming for their unpredictability.” SeaCreatures_3DBookshot
Despite having parasomnia, Graham scoffed at his son Frankie’s selective mutism. This, I must confess, was the ultimate of his transgressions for me. Graham seemed to want Frankie to be “normal,” when Graham himself had medical problems.
Daniel expertly underscored how parenthood can change a marriage. Georgia just could not understand her husband’s mindset, “Sometimes I thought that in becoming a parent, I’d morphed into an entirely different person, while he’d remained exactly the same person he’d always been.” As Daniel’s tale progressed, husband and wife only withdrew farther and farther away from each other.
Georgia and Frankie, though, grew even closer. Frankie stole my heart time and again in this novel. “Just as he’d started to speak words, he’d stopped…[The doctors] quizzed me about my marriage and about Graham and his parasomnia, which led me to understand that children in difficult homes sometimes go mute….” Frankie finally found his voice thanks to Charlie the hermit.
I loved the transformation in which Charlie’s character underwent. Like Frankie, he discovered a part of himself that had been closed off for years. Sea Creatures came to dazzling and vivid life whenever Georgia and Frankie visited Charlie in Stiltsville. Those passages just hummed with energy.
683af41910938771f187ff55921f44d6I could not help but hope that Georgia and Charlie would develop a lasting romance. Of course, I also hoped she would give Graham the boot. Everything comes to a shuddering climax as Hurricane Andrew approaches South Florida, lending a threatening, uncertain atmosphere to the story: “The course of a life will shift—really shift—many times over the years. But rarely will there be a shift that you can feel gathering in the distance like a storm, rarely will you notice the pressure drop before the skies open.” Indeed, the hurricane heralded a new chapter for Daniel's characters. For them, everything changed. Just as residents of South Florida cleaned up after the storm, the people in Daniel's novel must pick up the pieces of their tattered and torn lives.
Thus, Daniel adeptly weaved together various conflicts throughout her narrative, cleverly moving from man against man to man against himself to man against nature. The plot of Sea Creatures expertly revolved around these struggles.
All in all, Daniel’s second book was an absorbing, lyrical journey. Sea Creatures left me spellbound, sleepless, speechless, and completely oblivious to the rest of the world.
Despite having parasomnia, Graham scoffed at his son Frankie’s selective mutism. This, I must confess, was the ultimate of his transgressions for me. Graham seemed to want Frankie to be “normal,” when Graham himself had medical problems.
Daniel expertly underscored how parenthood can change a marriage. Georgia just could not understand her husband’s mindset, “Sometimes I thought that in becoming a parent, I’d morphed into an entirely different person, while he’d remained exactly the same person he’d always been.” As Daniel’s tale progressed, husband and wife only withdrew farther and farther away from each other.
Georgia and Frankie, though, grew even closer. Frankie stole my heart time and again in this novel. “Just as he’d started to speak words, he’d stopped…[The doctors] quizzed me about my marriage and about Graham and his parasomnia, which led me to understand that children in difficult homes sometimes go mute….” Frankie finally found his voice thanks to Charlie the hermit.
I loved the transformation in which Charlie’s character underwent. Like Frankie, he discovered a part of himself that had been closed off for years. Sea Creatures came to dazzling and vivid life whenever Georgia and Frankie visited Charlie in Stiltsville. Those passages just hummed with energy.
683af41910938771f187ff55921f44d6I could not help but hope that Georgia and Charlie would develop a lasting romance. Of course, I also hoped she would give Graham the boot. Everything comes to a shuddering climax as Hurricane Andrew approaches South Florida, lending a threatening, uncertain atmosphere to the story: “The course of a life will shift—really shift—many times over the years. But rarely will there be a shift that you can feel gathering in the distance like a storm, rarely will you notice the pressure drop before the skies open.” Indeed, the hurricane heralded a new chapter for Daniel's characters. For them, everything changed. Just as residents of South Florida cleaned up after the storm, the people in Daniel's novel must pick up the pieces of their tattered and torn lives.
Thus, Daniel adeptly weaved together various conflicts throughout her narrative, cleverly moving from man against man to man against himself to man against nature. The plot of Sea Creatures expertly revolved around these struggles.
All in all, Daniel’s second book was an absorbing, lyrical journey. Sea Creatures left me spellbound, sleepless, speechless, and completely oblivious to the rest of the world.
July 31, 2013
I don't give a lot of 5-star reviews. This book is amazing. Captivated me from beginning to end, loved the complexity of the characters, lots of twists to keep you guessing. READ IT! http://www.thewellreadredhead.com/201...
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July 24, 2013The best and worst thing about Sea Creatures is how utterly realistic it is. Ms. Daniels brilliantly captures the full range of emotion that comes with parenthood – the complete devotion, the frustrations, the constant worry, the fear, the love, and so much more. Georgia’s worries are every reader’s worries, so strong is the evocative language, just as her failures resonate a bit too close for comfort as they provide a stark reminder of just what can happen in spite of one’s best attempts. Every mother knows that it is impossible to protect her child from all possible ills, but that does not stop one from trying. It makes for a beautiful story, if uncomfortable at times because of its accuracy.
Sea Creatures does not just shine from the emotional depiction of parenting; it also showcases the ambiguity of real life. Ms. Daniel does not use omniscient narrators, so that a reader only knows what Georgia knows and must speculate the rest – just like in real life. It is frustrating but so effective in establishing uncertainty and suspense.
Another item of brilliance is how Ms. Daniel does not let the hurricane overshadow the drama occurring among her characters. It would be all too easy to let the hurricane become the story’s focal point. Instead, it is nothing more than the backdrop in front of which the rest of the action occurs. This deliberate lack of emphasis on a life-altering storm solidifies the character-driven action of the story and again mirrors life, as Georgia’s focus is not on the weather but rather solely on her son. When it comes to a mother’s love and worry, not even Mother Nature’s fury is a distraction.
Sea Creatures is a haunting, thought-provoking story about motherhood and marriage, the compromises we make for spouse and/or child, and the consequences of them. Ms. Daniels’ superb writing personifies every mother’s fears through Georgia’s own struggles to do right by her child while balancing her own happiness. It is an amazing story that will evoke a torrent of emotions and leave a reader breathless.
Sea Creatures does not just shine from the emotional depiction of parenting; it also showcases the ambiguity of real life. Ms. Daniel does not use omniscient narrators, so that a reader only knows what Georgia knows and must speculate the rest – just like in real life. It is frustrating but so effective in establishing uncertainty and suspense.
Another item of brilliance is how Ms. Daniel does not let the hurricane overshadow the drama occurring among her characters. It would be all too easy to let the hurricane become the story’s focal point. Instead, it is nothing more than the backdrop in front of which the rest of the action occurs. This deliberate lack of emphasis on a life-altering storm solidifies the character-driven action of the story and again mirrors life, as Georgia’s focus is not on the weather but rather solely on her son. When it comes to a mother’s love and worry, not even Mother Nature’s fury is a distraction.
Sea Creatures is a haunting, thought-provoking story about motherhood and marriage, the compromises we make for spouse and/or child, and the consequences of them. Ms. Daniels’ superb writing personifies every mother’s fears through Georgia’s own struggles to do right by her child while balancing her own happiness. It is an amazing story that will evoke a torrent of emotions and leave a reader breathless.
June 11, 2013
I received an Advance Reader Copy from HarperCollins.
This book pulled me in from the beginning, with phrases like "the steeped-tea sunlight of early evening" catching my eye as early as page nine. In Sea Creatures, Georgia tells her story about her disrupted life after her husband Graham, who suffers from parasomnia, has an incident that costs him tenure and leads to them leaving Chicago in disgrace. To make matters worse, their son, three year old Frankie, has stopped speaking.
Most of the character details in this book are fairly eccentric. Georgia's father is a lifelong musician, wandering from band to band, Georgia herself chooses to work for Charlie, an artist but also a hermit, and Georgia and her husband met because they both suffer from insomnia and encountered one another at a sleep clinic. Yet Georgia draws attention to and reflects on how others view her and her idiosyncrasies, saying "we were referred to as 'eccentric neighbors,' which I never understood. Surely, to be labeled as such, there must have been something other than Graham's parasomnia. Did it have to do with the fact that I hadn't grown up in the area? Was it Graham's prematurely white hair, his all-season bicycling and refusal to drive a car? Was there something about us I didn't recognize, some odd mannerism or behavior? It was more likely sloppy reporting than anything else, but still, I was humiliated" (138). I like how introspective and vulnerable Georgia seems. She does not seem to take anything about herself from her mother's opinion of her to what kind of mother she herself is for granted.
The character that remained the biggest enigma for me was Graham. I never understood what he felt for Georgia, why Georgia was interested in him, or even what Graham was studying in terms of weather patterns. In addition to his odd behavior brought on by his sleep disorder, Graham is reckless and seems to care little for his son. It seems as if a critical juncture in their marriage is reached when Graham and Georgia make different decision while kayaking in the Keys. Graham wants to press on, even in the face of an oncoming storm, while Georgia decides to go back. Motherhood has made her more cautious as she she says "the stakes, [...] they're higher now" (130). Georgia reflects on how they have diverged and how their marriage has changed, "For years, I'd trusted him nearly blindly. Life with Graham had always been filled with small excitements, like walking the frozen lake behind the cottage as the ice groaned and cracked under our feet" (130). Although Georgia claims to reserve judgment about her marriage until later, it seems as if her choice that day spells out her later actions.
However, this book lost steam for me after the first half. The central conflict - what caused Frankie's mutism and what Georgia is going to do about it - seems like not a conflict at all. In a few pages, Georgia shuts the book on that story line, and abruptly decides her course of action, with seemingly little reflection, which seems out of character for her - "What happened next, I'll tell quickly, because it's difficult for me to do any other way" (223). Georgia abruptly decides that her sin was marrying a reckless man, and choosing to have a child in a reckless home.
I liked the title's relevance to the setting and plot of the novel, and it centered in until the end, with the force of Hurricane Andrew that sweeps through the landscape. Harry, the recluse Georgia works for, is an artist who draws different sea creatures, Harry gives Frankie plastic sea animals to play with throughout the book, the novel is set largely on the ocean or on a houseboat, and hidden demons are confronted. Yet the ocean's involvement in the conclusion of Graham's tale was perplexing to me. It seemed not only slightly improbably but Georgia seems largely unaffected by it.
While the writing style and characters of this book drew me in, the lack of coherence of the plot prevented me from awarding this read more stars.
This book pulled me in from the beginning, with phrases like "the steeped-tea sunlight of early evening" catching my eye as early as page nine. In Sea Creatures, Georgia tells her story about her disrupted life after her husband Graham, who suffers from parasomnia, has an incident that costs him tenure and leads to them leaving Chicago in disgrace. To make matters worse, their son, three year old Frankie, has stopped speaking.
Most of the character details in this book are fairly eccentric. Georgia's father is a lifelong musician, wandering from band to band, Georgia herself chooses to work for Charlie, an artist but also a hermit, and Georgia and her husband met because they both suffer from insomnia and encountered one another at a sleep clinic. Yet Georgia draws attention to and reflects on how others view her and her idiosyncrasies, saying "we were referred to as 'eccentric neighbors,' which I never understood. Surely, to be labeled as such, there must have been something other than Graham's parasomnia. Did it have to do with the fact that I hadn't grown up in the area? Was it Graham's prematurely white hair, his all-season bicycling and refusal to drive a car? Was there something about us I didn't recognize, some odd mannerism or behavior? It was more likely sloppy reporting than anything else, but still, I was humiliated" (138). I like how introspective and vulnerable Georgia seems. She does not seem to take anything about herself from her mother's opinion of her to what kind of mother she herself is for granted.
The character that remained the biggest enigma for me was Graham. I never understood what he felt for Georgia, why Georgia was interested in him, or even what Graham was studying in terms of weather patterns. In addition to his odd behavior brought on by his sleep disorder, Graham is reckless and seems to care little for his son. It seems as if a critical juncture in their marriage is reached when Graham and Georgia make different decision while kayaking in the Keys. Graham wants to press on, even in the face of an oncoming storm, while Georgia decides to go back. Motherhood has made her more cautious as she she says "the stakes, [...] they're higher now" (130). Georgia reflects on how they have diverged and how their marriage has changed, "For years, I'd trusted him nearly blindly. Life with Graham had always been filled with small excitements, like walking the frozen lake behind the cottage as the ice groaned and cracked under our feet" (130). Although Georgia claims to reserve judgment about her marriage until later, it seems as if her choice that day spells out her later actions.
However, this book lost steam for me after the first half. The central conflict - what caused Frankie's mutism and what Georgia is going to do about it - seems like not a conflict at all. In a few pages, Georgia shuts the book on that story line, and abruptly decides her course of action, with seemingly little reflection, which seems out of character for her - "What happened next, I'll tell quickly, because it's difficult for me to do any other way" (223). Georgia abruptly decides that her sin was marrying a reckless man, and choosing to have a child in a reckless home.
I liked the title's relevance to the setting and plot of the novel, and it centered in until the end, with the force of Hurricane Andrew that sweeps through the landscape. Harry, the recluse Georgia works for, is an artist who draws different sea creatures, Harry gives Frankie plastic sea animals to play with throughout the book, the novel is set largely on the ocean or on a houseboat, and hidden demons are confronted. Yet the ocean's involvement in the conclusion of Graham's tale was perplexing to me. It seemed not only slightly improbably but Georgia seems largely unaffected by it.
While the writing style and characters of this book drew me in, the lack of coherence of the plot prevented me from awarding this read more stars.
September 12, 2013
The writing style of this book is appealing and immensely readable. The story covers the subject of family intimately. South Florida is also prominently on display. This is the South Florida of houseboats, extreme heat, Coral Gables and well, regular folk. We follow Georgia, Graham and their son Frankie fresh from failure in Chicago back to her hometown, Miami. Graham suffers a raging sleeping disorder and Frankie is a mute toddler, so there are some issues from the get-go. They’re now living in a houseboat tethered in the backyard of her stepmothers home after failed careers and spent savings. Ostensibly, the story is the adjustment to this new life and the changes that occur. It’s also the story of the complicated feelings that are brought when you move back to your home town. And these ideas develop nicely. But it also seems to be a story of the most dedicated mother in the world. Even when things go wrong, and they do, every ounce is focused on Frankie-but not about him as much as her focus on him. Yeah, he’s mute but I guess I wanted the Universe to be bigger. I found I wanted to know about other characters more.
That I cared one way or the other what happened is a testament to the enjoyable writing, I sped through the book quite easily. I think the actions of the mother should be characterized as not self-sacrificing to benefit her son but more along the lines of how to create one of the most self-centered only children on the face of the planet. To the extent that toward the end I wasn't really rooting for her or this new life she’s created and thought some of the choices and revelations weren’t liberating but at times, unfair.
It’s definitely a book written to appeal to a certain type of woman’s sensibility. I’m guessing I’m not that type of woman.
That I cared one way or the other what happened is a testament to the enjoyable writing, I sped through the book quite easily. I think the actions of the mother should be characterized as not self-sacrificing to benefit her son but more along the lines of how to create one of the most self-centered only children on the face of the planet. To the extent that toward the end I wasn't really rooting for her or this new life she’s created and thought some of the choices and revelations weren’t liberating but at times, unfair.
It’s definitely a book written to appeal to a certain type of woman’s sensibility. I’m guessing I’m not that type of woman.
August 24, 2013
A family drama with slightly offbeat characters, this book is a satisfying read. This author can write—the style and pacing are both spot-on, and I was emotionally drawn in to the main character—a mother struggling with a mute child, a husband with a dangerous sleep disorder, and an older hermit man who makes her look at life through fresh eyes. The characters and setting are vivid. With ease—and without boring us with long descriptive paragraphs—Daniel creates a clear and colorful picture of life in a rural Florida beach town. But it’s not all peaches and cream; there’s real drama that pulls you in. I just put Daniel’s previous work, Stiltsville, on my to-read list. I want to hear more from this author. Recommend.
March 25, 2019
This was another book that surprised me with how really good it was. This is a lovely story about all kinds of love with a little turbulence thrown in there. There is a part of the story about a man who has a sleep disorder There is a part about a young boy involved in a horrible accident and then there's the man who lives in a stilt house off the coast of Miami. Thrown in with all this are all the family members related to these 3 people. Very interesting story told from the viewpoint of the wife/mother. Another book that I could not stop reading once I got into it
June 16, 2024
I found this on the library sale rack .really loved it but disturbing and sad as well . Very interesting setting on a house boat and stilt house on Florida i world i do not know- its alot about love and when to let go and how to gently move on in life -all crazy hard things .
August 23, 2025
I loved this book! The main character’s doubts and internal dialogue seemed so authentic to me given the situation she finds herself in. A flawed parent trying to do what is right for her family and often falling short. So readable.
May 17, 2022
FINALLY FINISHED THIS BOOK. It's been a minute that's for sure...
Not terrible, the writing is pretty good and there is some real heart behind the story telling. Unfortunately, I wasn't 100% invested. It picked up nearing the last third, but the first portion was a slog to get through. This book gave me the biggest reading slump of I've ever experienced... But again it wasn't terrible :/ felt like a slow burn for too long, making it hard to care about the plot IMHO.
Not terrible, the writing is pretty good and there is some real heart behind the story telling. Unfortunately, I wasn't 100% invested. It picked up nearing the last third, but the first portion was a slog to get through. This book gave me the biggest reading slump of I've ever experienced... But again it wasn't terrible :/ felt like a slow burn for too long, making it hard to care about the plot IMHO.
September 27, 2013
Full review here: http://everydayiwritethebookblog.com/...
Sea Creatures by Susanna Daniel is one of those books that makes you feel lonely while reading it. I don’t mean that in a bad way; it’s just that there is a lot of sadness and isolation in this book that permeates even the experience of reading it.
Sea Creatures takes place in Miami, like Daniel’s earlier novel Stiltsville. Georgia and Graham Quillian have moved to Miami from their home in Chicago, along with their three year-old son, Frankie. The family has undergone a lot of stress: Frankie has stopped speaking altogether, and Graham, a parasomniac, was forced to leave Chicago because of some incidents that occurred at night while he was sleepwalking. His extreme sleep issues have put a tremendous strain on the family, but they’ve decided to start over fresh living on an houseboat on a canal outside Georgia’s father and stepmother’s house.
The first half of the book establishes Georgia and Graham in their new home, and explores their past as well as Frankie’s selective mutism, which Georgia has learned to accommodate. As she gets to the heart of why Frankie no longer communicates verbally, Graham becomes increasingly resentful of her enabling Frankie and, as he sees it, continually choosing Frankie over him. Their marriage becomes more and more distant, to the point where he takes a months-long job on a ship studying hurricanes, and Georgia starts working for an older man with his own troubled past with whom she develops a complicated relationship.
Ultimately, Sea Creatures is about parenthood - sacrifices we make to keep our kids safe and mistakes in judgment that sometimes have ramifications far beyond what we feared. There is a lot else going on in Sea Creatures: a lot of sadness and death, marriages and divorce, and the hugely important roles played by Miami and its distinctive weather and neighborhoods and Graham’s sleep disorder. It’s a sad book, for sure, but it’s also rich and thought-provoking. I found it lonely, I think, because so much of it takes place in Georgia’s mind. She kept so many of her feelings to herself, and bore the burden of many difficult things going on around her. She was frustrating at times – for someone who was so in touch with her son and his needs, she could be oddly lax about things like vaccines and the need for pre-school – and made some choices that were clearly not well-founded. But of course, that’s what propelled the story and made Sea Creatures the engrossing story that it is.
So, if you’re looking for a melancholy, moody read that will also make you want to move to Florida and live on the water (something I’ve never been interested in doing before), give Sea Creatures a try. Just be prepared to feel a little lonely. Incidentally, I think Sea Creatures would make an excellent book club choice – lots to discuss here.
Sea Creatures by Susanna Daniel is one of those books that makes you feel lonely while reading it. I don’t mean that in a bad way; it’s just that there is a lot of sadness and isolation in this book that permeates even the experience of reading it.
Sea Creatures takes place in Miami, like Daniel’s earlier novel Stiltsville. Georgia and Graham Quillian have moved to Miami from their home in Chicago, along with their three year-old son, Frankie. The family has undergone a lot of stress: Frankie has stopped speaking altogether, and Graham, a parasomniac, was forced to leave Chicago because of some incidents that occurred at night while he was sleepwalking. His extreme sleep issues have put a tremendous strain on the family, but they’ve decided to start over fresh living on an houseboat on a canal outside Georgia’s father and stepmother’s house.
The first half of the book establishes Georgia and Graham in their new home, and explores their past as well as Frankie’s selective mutism, which Georgia has learned to accommodate. As she gets to the heart of why Frankie no longer communicates verbally, Graham becomes increasingly resentful of her enabling Frankie and, as he sees it, continually choosing Frankie over him. Their marriage becomes more and more distant, to the point where he takes a months-long job on a ship studying hurricanes, and Georgia starts working for an older man with his own troubled past with whom she develops a complicated relationship.
Ultimately, Sea Creatures is about parenthood - sacrifices we make to keep our kids safe and mistakes in judgment that sometimes have ramifications far beyond what we feared. There is a lot else going on in Sea Creatures: a lot of sadness and death, marriages and divorce, and the hugely important roles played by Miami and its distinctive weather and neighborhoods and Graham’s sleep disorder. It’s a sad book, for sure, but it’s also rich and thought-provoking. I found it lonely, I think, because so much of it takes place in Georgia’s mind. She kept so many of her feelings to herself, and bore the burden of many difficult things going on around her. She was frustrating at times – for someone who was so in touch with her son and his needs, she could be oddly lax about things like vaccines and the need for pre-school – and made some choices that were clearly not well-founded. But of course, that’s what propelled the story and made Sea Creatures the engrossing story that it is.
So, if you’re looking for a melancholy, moody read that will also make you want to move to Florida and live on the water (something I’ve never been interested in doing before), give Sea Creatures a try. Just be prepared to feel a little lonely. Incidentally, I think Sea Creatures would make an excellent book club choice – lots to discuss here.
August 5, 2013
(originally published at http://nomadreader.blogspot.com)
The backstory: When I read Susanna Daniel's debut novel, Stiltsville, I gushed that "it's the most emotionally engaging novel I've read in quite some time." It not only made my top ten of 2010, it came in at number two. Given my love for Stiltsville, I was eager to see Daniel return to Miami with her second novel, Sea Creatures.
The basics: In 1992, Georgia's college admissions consulting business has failed. When her husband Graham doesn't receive tenure at Northwestern, they move back to her native Miami, where a friend of Graham's has offered him a job studying hurricanes. Their three-year-old son Frankie hasn't spoken for eighteen months, but there seems to be no medical reason why.
My thoughts: I foolishly sat down to start reading Sea Creatures before work one morning, and it was a struggle to not call in sick. One again, Daniel's writing captured me from the opening page. It's the first print book to capture me with writing and character since I read Curtis Sittenfeld's Sisterland last month.
Georgia narrates her story from the future, which gives an air of importance to all of the novel's events. There is also a poignancy to her story, one that perhaps only reflecting on the events yet to come for the reader. The result is a brilliantly plotted, masterful contemporary novel. When I turned the last page, I was in awe of how much Daniel fit into the novel. Each character, even the minor ones, are fully formed. Parts of the novel feel like an epic, as Daniel fills the story with past, present and future.
Favorite passage: "People speak of strength in times of crisis, as if strength were some great beast that swoops in to gird us, to repair our voices and limbs when it seems they might fail. But to this day, I don't know exactly what we mean when we speak of strength."
The verdict: Sea Creatures is the best book I've read in 2013. It's a beautiful, intelligent, and heart-wrenching novel, and I hope it becomes a modern classic.
The backstory: When I read Susanna Daniel's debut novel, Stiltsville, I gushed that "it's the most emotionally engaging novel I've read in quite some time." It not only made my top ten of 2010, it came in at number two. Given my love for Stiltsville, I was eager to see Daniel return to Miami with her second novel, Sea Creatures.
The basics: In 1992, Georgia's college admissions consulting business has failed. When her husband Graham doesn't receive tenure at Northwestern, they move back to her native Miami, where a friend of Graham's has offered him a job studying hurricanes. Their three-year-old son Frankie hasn't spoken for eighteen months, but there seems to be no medical reason why.
My thoughts: I foolishly sat down to start reading Sea Creatures before work one morning, and it was a struggle to not call in sick. One again, Daniel's writing captured me from the opening page. It's the first print book to capture me with writing and character since I read Curtis Sittenfeld's Sisterland last month.
Georgia narrates her story from the future, which gives an air of importance to all of the novel's events. There is also a poignancy to her story, one that perhaps only reflecting on the events yet to come for the reader. The result is a brilliantly plotted, masterful contemporary novel. When I turned the last page, I was in awe of how much Daniel fit into the novel. Each character, even the minor ones, are fully formed. Parts of the novel feel like an epic, as Daniel fills the story with past, present and future.
Favorite passage: "People speak of strength in times of crisis, as if strength were some great beast that swoops in to gird us, to repair our voices and limbs when it seems they might fail. But to this day, I don't know exactly what we mean when we speak of strength."
The verdict: Sea Creatures is the best book I've read in 2013. It's a beautiful, intelligent, and heart-wrenching novel, and I hope it becomes a modern classic.
November 8, 2013
They fled from the home they had in Illinois, back to Miami where Georgia had grown up. Graham, Georgia, and their three-year-old son Frankie were trailing scandal and disappointment in their wake.
Their flight followed a string of incidents related to Graham's sleep disorder. They would settle in a houseboat in the canal behind the home owned by Georgia's father and stepmother. They were hoping for a chance to start over.
But soon the problems would resurface. When Graham takes a job that keeps him away from them for weeks at a time, they can almost forget the problems. The niggle of doubt remains, however.
Then Georgia starts working as an assistant for a man named Charlie. Nicknamed "The Hermit," he lives in one of the stilt houses in the bay, and is an artist. Frankie accompanies his mother to the stilt house when she works, and soon is bonded to Charlie and loving the life on the water, as well as the sea inhabitants.
As I read "Sea Creatures," I was reminded of the previous novel, "Stiltsville: A Novel," as some of the characters from that novel showed up in this one. I was also drawn into the watery world that defined these characters, the foreboding that precedes hurricane season, and the constant dread about Graham and the threat he might pose.
Narrated in Georgia's first person voice, we learn about her, her relationships, and the family dynamics, as the story moves back and forth over the years.
And as we follow along, there are questions that are slowly answered. Like why does Frankie stop speaking at the age of eighteen months? What events might have triggered this loss? How can Georgia help her son find his voice again, while still saving her family? What horrible event happens just before Hurricane Andrew that would change everything for her?
The story begins by showing what has happened and revealing bits and pieces of the new life they are creating. But always there is that sense of foreshadowing. That feeling that something horrific will happen that will destroy their hope. The characters felt so real, and as I watched them connect and then disengage, I felt such a sadness, as if the losses were my own. An emotional read that will stay with me. Five stars.
Their flight followed a string of incidents related to Graham's sleep disorder. They would settle in a houseboat in the canal behind the home owned by Georgia's father and stepmother. They were hoping for a chance to start over.
But soon the problems would resurface. When Graham takes a job that keeps him away from them for weeks at a time, they can almost forget the problems. The niggle of doubt remains, however.
Then Georgia starts working as an assistant for a man named Charlie. Nicknamed "The Hermit," he lives in one of the stilt houses in the bay, and is an artist. Frankie accompanies his mother to the stilt house when she works, and soon is bonded to Charlie and loving the life on the water, as well as the sea inhabitants.
As I read "Sea Creatures," I was reminded of the previous novel, "Stiltsville: A Novel," as some of the characters from that novel showed up in this one. I was also drawn into the watery world that defined these characters, the foreboding that precedes hurricane season, and the constant dread about Graham and the threat he might pose.
Narrated in Georgia's first person voice, we learn about her, her relationships, and the family dynamics, as the story moves back and forth over the years.
And as we follow along, there are questions that are slowly answered. Like why does Frankie stop speaking at the age of eighteen months? What events might have triggered this loss? How can Georgia help her son find his voice again, while still saving her family? What horrible event happens just before Hurricane Andrew that would change everything for her?
The story begins by showing what has happened and revealing bits and pieces of the new life they are creating. But always there is that sense of foreshadowing. That feeling that something horrific will happen that will destroy their hope. The characters felt so real, and as I watched them connect and then disengage, I felt such a sadness, as if the losses were my own. An emotional read that will stay with me. Five stars.
October 19, 2013
Sea Creatures
By
Susanna Daniel
I have always been a reader...a lifelong reader...but one of the first books I read as a blogger/reviewer was Stiltsville by this author. It was overwhelmingly breathtakingly lovely. It was laden with Florida history, it was character driven and throughout it was the ocean...the beautiful powerful scary ocean and all of it's amazing creatures. When I chose this book...I didn't fully realize that it was written by my beloved Stiltsville author!
When I finally made the connection...I worried...I worried that I could not love it the way I loved Stiltsville. How silly and wrong I was!
This is another book that takes place in Florida...Miami, actually. It is Georgia's story of her life with her young son Frankie...who is selectively mute...and her husband Graham...who has that horrible sleep disorder where you never sleep and where you do horrible things while you are in that sleepwalking phase. Graham has scared neighbors, caused damage and lost tenure because of this disorder.
This family needs a fresh start so they return to Miami...where Georgia was raised. They buy a houseboat, Graham gets another research position, Georgia becomes an assistant to Charlie and they try to get the help that Frankie needs to begin to talk again.
Charlie...older, hermit like, lives in a Stiltsville house...with secrets of his own. Georgia becomes his assistant. A few days a week she and Frankie boat out to his house with supplies. A bond grows between them. Charlie sees very few people but begins to love seeing Georgia and Frankie. Their relationship is complex but this book is laden with complex relationships.
I am learning that Susanna Daniel's books have surprises...surprises that take your breath away...surprises that delight...and surprises that break your heart and make you sob...
I loved this book. I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful it is. The characters, the way she writes...just truly wonderful. I know this is cliche but I didn't want this book to end and yet I couldn't put it down. It was beautiful...sad...lovely...beautiful.
By
Susanna Daniel
I have always been a reader...a lifelong reader...but one of the first books I read as a blogger/reviewer was Stiltsville by this author. It was overwhelmingly breathtakingly lovely. It was laden with Florida history, it was character driven and throughout it was the ocean...the beautiful powerful scary ocean and all of it's amazing creatures. When I chose this book...I didn't fully realize that it was written by my beloved Stiltsville author!
When I finally made the connection...I worried...I worried that I could not love it the way I loved Stiltsville. How silly and wrong I was!
This is another book that takes place in Florida...Miami, actually. It is Georgia's story of her life with her young son Frankie...who is selectively mute...and her husband Graham...who has that horrible sleep disorder where you never sleep and where you do horrible things while you are in that sleepwalking phase. Graham has scared neighbors, caused damage and lost tenure because of this disorder.
This family needs a fresh start so they return to Miami...where Georgia was raised. They buy a houseboat, Graham gets another research position, Georgia becomes an assistant to Charlie and they try to get the help that Frankie needs to begin to talk again.
Charlie...older, hermit like, lives in a Stiltsville house...with secrets of his own. Georgia becomes his assistant. A few days a week she and Frankie boat out to his house with supplies. A bond grows between them. Charlie sees very few people but begins to love seeing Georgia and Frankie. Their relationship is complex but this book is laden with complex relationships.
I am learning that Susanna Daniel's books have surprises...surprises that take your breath away...surprises that delight...and surprises that break your heart and make you sob...
I loved this book. I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful it is. The characters, the way she writes...just truly wonderful. I know this is cliche but I didn't want this book to end and yet I couldn't put it down. It was beautiful...sad...lovely...beautiful.
March 1, 2016
A surprisingly good read!
Years before Georgia gave birth, her own mother blurted out to her one day that "not everyone" was meant to be a parent. Despite her mom's vaguely worrying prediction of her future abilities, Georgia adores her little boy. She is torn up by his inability to speak and works hard at helping him communicate. Because they've both lost their jobs, Georgia and her likable husband - a brilliant man who suffers from severe bouts of sleepwalking - move back to Georgia's hometown of Miami where her family can help them re-boot their lives. Their finances are understandably shaky, so they move into an old houseboat tied up on the canal behind the house of Georgia's father.
With grandparents on-hand to assist and a new science position for her husband found, Georgia can take on an errand-running job for extra cash and bring their three year old along with her. She revels in her home waters of south Florida, and happily, their little preschooler is beginning to speak again. And then things turn stormy.
"Sea Creatures" surprised me with its characters, including Key Biscayne itself. I grew up in South Florida, and with the beautifully described inhabitants in this novel, it felt like being home. Loved this book.
Years before Georgia gave birth, her own mother blurted out to her one day that "not everyone" was meant to be a parent. Despite her mom's vaguely worrying prediction of her future abilities, Georgia adores her little boy. She is torn up by his inability to speak and works hard at helping him communicate. Because they've both lost their jobs, Georgia and her likable husband - a brilliant man who suffers from severe bouts of sleepwalking - move back to Georgia's hometown of Miami where her family can help them re-boot their lives. Their finances are understandably shaky, so they move into an old houseboat tied up on the canal behind the house of Georgia's father.
With grandparents on-hand to assist and a new science position for her husband found, Georgia can take on an errand-running job for extra cash and bring their three year old along with her. She revels in her home waters of south Florida, and happily, their little preschooler is beginning to speak again. And then things turn stormy.
"Sea Creatures" surprised me with its characters, including Key Biscayne itself. I grew up in South Florida, and with the beautifully described inhabitants in this novel, it felt like being home. Loved this book.
April 14, 2015
Thanks to the weather I actually had time to sit and read like I used to and finished this one in 2 days. It definitely kept me interested. I really liked Georgia's voice. I found the way she deals with loss and pain very relatable. Overall a very good read.
September 21, 2019
It started out so well, and then fizzled out about about 1/3 through, and I gave up at the halfway point :(
August 12, 2018
I liked this book for the most part. There was a very clichéd bit where, of course, the woman gets punished for straying. It was a pretty obvious construct. Even so, the book was engaging and well-written. Great detail and development.
December 4, 2017
I picked up sea creatures because the title and cover spoke to me...Boy am I glad I did. It tells an incredible story of a mothers love and the trials that are faced when one loves so greatly. I would definitely recommend this book - and you don't have to be a mother to appreciate it.
December 22, 2017
This is a book about a couple who moves to Miami after they have both lost their jobs and house. The wife is from there and her dad still lives there, so they move back and buy a houseboat, and the husband finds a last ditch job after his reputation has been ruined. The wife finds a job as a personal assistant to a reclusive man. I did not like the characters and could not get into the book. I read a substantial amount, but found I did not care what happened and I gave up on the book.
December 16, 2025
What a beautifully heartbreaking story.
July 7, 2016
Do you have one of those friends that you like but you don't really want to see because all they do is talk about their problems and just refuse to do anything about them; instead they just wallow in their own self-pity?
That is what Sea Creatures felt like.
The book is written in a very conversational way, and that is one of its greatest hits. The plot and the characters; however, come up in a rather inconsistent and flat way. My main problem is with Georgia, the main character and narrator, who apparently solely exists in the role of 'mother'. Do mothers really feel like this? I've recently read Jeanette Walls' The Glass Castle, which offers a completely opposite kind of parenting. And although one might be inclined to think that Walls' parents are more on the terrible kind, I can't help but think that Georgia's style is as harmful, if not worse. What bothers me is that never did she consider her own happiness, or anything else beyond her son's absolute safety, which I think, is beyond any parent's powers.
Her husband, Graham, suffered from lack of thought from part of the author. Too bad, because I believe his perspective would have provided interesting insight into the unfolding of his family life. What does he feel towards it, and why? How does he cope with his problems? Sadly, we're stuck in Georgia's mind and she doesn't care about this enough to spare a thought on it. Georgia's father doesn't serve any purpose, but to introduce Lidia, his new wife, against whom Georgia can continue questioning her role as a mother in comparison to Lidia's and her own late mother's. A childhood friend, Sally, also appears, and having 3 sons of her own, you can pretty much guess what this friendship is going to be all about.
Is this review as annoying as reading the book was?
Maybe if the voice that tells us this story wasn't hers, the book could have been much more enjoyable. The geographical descriptions are well achieved to the point of transporting the reader to this world of boat houses, stilt homes over the shallows and sailing instead of driving to move around. The circumstances that set up the events are also interesting, even if the decisions the characters make are exasperating. But at the end, Sea Creatures is set up to be a character forward plot, and the characters -particularly the main one- just don't live up to save the book.
That is what Sea Creatures felt like.
The book is written in a very conversational way, and that is one of its greatest hits. The plot and the characters; however, come up in a rather inconsistent and flat way. My main problem is with Georgia, the main character and narrator, who apparently solely exists in the role of 'mother'. Do mothers really feel like this? I've recently read Jeanette Walls' The Glass Castle, which offers a completely opposite kind of parenting. And although one might be inclined to think that Walls' parents are more on the terrible kind, I can't help but think that Georgia's style is as harmful, if not worse. What bothers me is that never did she consider her own happiness, or anything else beyond her son's absolute safety, which I think, is beyond any parent's powers.
Her husband, Graham, suffered from lack of thought from part of the author. Too bad, because I believe his perspective would have provided interesting insight into the unfolding of his family life. What does he feel towards it, and why? How does he cope with his problems? Sadly, we're stuck in Georgia's mind and she doesn't care about this enough to spare a thought on it. Georgia's father doesn't serve any purpose, but to introduce Lidia, his new wife, against whom Georgia can continue questioning her role as a mother in comparison to Lidia's and her own late mother's. A childhood friend, Sally, also appears, and having 3 sons of her own, you can pretty much guess what this friendship is going to be all about.
Is this review as annoying as reading the book was?
Maybe if the voice that tells us this story wasn't hers, the book could have been much more enjoyable. The geographical descriptions are well achieved to the point of transporting the reader to this world of boat houses, stilt homes over the shallows and sailing instead of driving to move around. The circumstances that set up the events are also interesting, even if the decisions the characters make are exasperating. But at the end, Sea Creatures is set up to be a character forward plot, and the characters -particularly the main one- just don't live up to save the book.
February 14, 2017
Bizarre character and situational backgrounds make this one interesting. Severe insomnia, childhood trauma, houses on stilts, Hurricane Andrew...and the kitchen sink. This one explores so many reasons why people should be licensed to raise children, and how those too immature to take care of themselves still end up doing their best in raising a child, with mixed results. It's also why a license to marry isn't a guarantee that'll work out for the best either. Humans are ridiculous, and this group of misfit toys makes the book work. Lots to hash out at book club, folks.
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