The Lobster Kings

by Alexi Zentner

A mythical family saga steeped in the legends of the sea, The Lobster Kings is "a powerhouse of a novel" (Ben Fountain).

The Kings family has lived on Loosewood Island for three hundred years. Now, Woody Kings, the leader of the island's lobster fishing community and the family patriarch, teeters on the throne, and Cordelia, the oldest of Woody's three daughters, stands to inherit the crown. To do so, however, she must defend her island from meth dealers from the mainland, while navigating sibling rivalry and the vulnerable nature of her own heart when she falls in love with her sternman.

Genres: Fiction, Canada, Literary Fiction, Magical Realism, Audiobook, Book Club, Mystery

352 pages, Paperback

First published May 6, 2014

About the author

Alexi Zentner lives in upstate New York with his wife and children. His novels have been published in sixteen countries and more than a dozen languages. He is the author of the novel, COPPERHEAD, forthcoming from Viking Penguin on July 9, 2019. He is also the author of the internationally acclaimed novels, THE LOBSTER KINGS, and TOUCH. Under the pseudonym Ezekiel Boone, Alexi is the author of the internationally bestselling THE HATCHING series (THE HATCHING, SKITTER, and ZERO DAY) as well as THE MANSION. Alexi's short fiction has appeared in The Atlantic, Tin House, Glimmer Train, and many other publications, and has won the O. Henry Prize and the Narrative Prize. He holds citizenship in both the USA and Canada. Alexi also has two dogs, both of whom are poorly behaved.

Reviews

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alexi Zentner's first novel 'Touch' is one that has stuck in my mind, with its evocative setting and wealth of surreal imagery - a deer glittering with gold dust, a building buried for a whole winter under thirty feet of snow, the villain who refused to stay dead - and so his second novel was one of the books I was most looking forward to this year.

Sadly, 'The Lobster Kings' doesn't live up to its predecessor. I found it to be a confused mess of a novel. The dose of magic realism which Zentner so skillfully intertwined throughout 'Touch' is present again, but instead of feeling integral, here it feels like a box that has been ticked, with the more surreal elements confined to occasional chapters harking back to the mid-1700s and a character called (preposterously) Brumfitt Kings, who comes from Ireland to Loosewood Island (a fictional island somewhere between St John's and Maine, whose ownership is disputed by both the US and Canada) and founds a dynasty of lobster fishermen. Brumfitt's wife - who might be a selkie - emerges from the sea one day bedecked in pearls and offers to Brumfitt and his line the bounty of the sea, with one slight caveat: the sea will claim back the first born son of every generation. This, and much else, Brumfitt records in a series of journals and his paintings, which he somehow finds time to knock out whilst working his lobster traps.

By the present day Brumfitt's paintings (which seem to closely resemble the work of Winslow Homer despite being painted over a century earlier) have become famous and acquired a devoted following (art tourists and researchers come to the island every summer), and the Kings still rule Loosewood Island, in the form of Woody Kings and his three daughters, Cordelia, Rena and Carly. Here Zentner tries to weave in a bit of Shakespeare with Woody representing King Lear. And whilst in one scene he does divide up his kingdom between the three daughters the novel never becomes a reworking of the play and so I'm left wondering what the point of the allusion was.

Mainly the plot of the novel resembles a Canadian version of 'Howard's Way' (the British tv series from the 1980s) blended with a bad Western. The lives of the islanders and their relationships are pure soap opera, whilst the 'cutting war' (where the lines that secure lobster traps to buoys are cut by competitors and replaced with their own traps) that develops between Loosewood Island and James Harbour on the mainland is both dull and ridiculous. The Kings and the James Harbour Boys sound like the Earps and the Clantons and act like it too - it all gets terribly gung-ho and the dialogue descends to the level of a comic strip (Harrison Ford famously told George Lucas that he could type this stuff, but you sure as hell couldn't say it - he'd have had the same problem with Zentner). There is something thrown in about the James Harbour boys using lobster trapping as a cover for smuggling meth but this is never fully developed. Actually that is one of the main problems with the novel - Zentner introduces plot strands and just leaves them dangling and whenever things start to slip from his control his default solution seems to be to kill a character off or get them shot at. Eventually a 'villain' emerges, but he is so one-dimensional and needlessly brutal he is hard to believe - his assertion that Woody Kings is nothing but a bully who has no automatic rights to the waters echoed my own feelings, yet Zentner seems to want us to think this view is part of his wickedness (trying to think of a better word, but 'wickedness' suits the cartoonish characterisation).

The novel also spends a lot of time on the day-to-day of lobster fishing. I've learned one thing from this: lobster fishing is incredibly boring. The one saving grace of the novel is the narrator: Cordelia Kings isn't the most original character, but she's so plucky and feisty that the reader can't help but be engaged by her and like her. The novel does contain some good scenes, some arresting imagery, but had this been the first time I'd read Zentner, I'd have probably abandoned it halfway through.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

"And this will also happen."

Atmosphere! Hands down, my first and last point, Zentner knows how to write (and show, and tell, and dammit soak you into) the atmosphere in which the novel takes place.

Set on an island in the north Atlantic, the book focuses on the live and myths of one family of lobstermen, the Kings. Unexpected scenes of suspense litter the tale, constantly surprising me.

What it comes down to though, is the craft with which the author sets the scenes. Sometimes, I find authors overly describe their worlds, wasting page after page on setting every detail to word. Alexi Zentner wastes nothing however, and the words used transport me there in such a way that I don't even realize it's happening.

Most often, when I read, it's in the evenings, before bed. I think the highest praise I can set for this book, is that every night as I fell asleep, I felt the mists and ocean spray of that island draw in around my dreams.

Blood and seawater: salt calling to salt.

[LibraryReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

“This well-crafted story truly captures the beauty and brutality of living by the sea. The characters show what it’s like to have saltwater in your veins and commitment to family and community. Zentner depicts a way of life that is fast disappearing. Perfect for summer reading.”

Lisa Marie Joyce, Portland Public Library & South Portland Public Library, Portland, ME

[Guinevere · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful - one of those books where the synopsis of the plot really tells you very little about what the book really IS. Just thinking about the book now, I am immediately back in the atmosphere. I loved the interlacing of the artwork and the mysticism it inspired

2 difficult moments near the beginning - I actually had to take a break for each but felt that it would be worth it to hang in there, and it certainly was.

I received this book through a Goodreads Giveaway, in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to read it!

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book! It possessed everything I love in a novel: great writing, family and friends, personal character flaws and growth... And I would be remiss if I didn't mention how much I loved the author's skill in describing the environment. Beautiful and lyrical. A Superb atmospheric experience. Plus, the book had a mythical component (which I really don't seek out in stories) that I found fascinating. I must track down another book by Mr. Zentner soon. I will miss these characters, and will think of this book often!

[Brittany McCann · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Lobster Kings is written by Alexi Zentner, is a fictional semi-fantastical story about Loosewood Island, located between Canada and the US. The book revolves around the history of the Kings family.

Cordelia Kings is the daughter of Woody Kings and comes from a long line of Kings who can trace their ancestry back to the original Lobster fisher of the Brumfitt Islands three hundred years earlier. Cordelia’s only wish is to follow in her father’s footsteps, living on the sea, which calls to her, and fishing for lobster.

The Kings live with both a gift and a curse. Brumfit was promised by the sea always to have the bounty of the sea and never want for lobsters. In return, the sea will claim the first born son of every king's family. With so much of her history wrapped up in myth, Cordelia never quite knows the line between truth and fiction. Woody, her father, believes every tale of their family ancestry whole-heartedly. He delights in telling them to his family.

The story begins with Cordelia as a pre-teen and the oldest of three girls when her little brother is born. Instantly, Cordelia, as her father’s favorite, feels jealousy in having to share her father, the sea, and her inheritance with her little brother, who does not feel the call to the sea as she does.

The Lobster Kings is a tumultuous tale of both the beauty and the tragedy that is being a part of the sea. There is a roller coaster of emotions as we follow through the story with Cordelia as a young girl and as she enters adulthood and finds he owns as a hardworking 30-year-old with her own lobster boat. Cordelia's challenges range from her fight for the inheritance of the sea to keeping meth out of her town.

My only complaint was that in the beginning of the book, I wasn’t sure that the narration was still following Cordelia in her youth between chapters. However, as the story went on, I found myself so vested in the characters that I felt joy and sorrow with them and even had tears in my eyes in several places.

I give this book 5/5 stars. I loved the connection of grandiose descriptions in relation to the Brumfitt paintings. I love how myth was interwoven with life in a way that it couldn’t be true… and yet… it just might be. I also loved how Zentner created realistic characters, realistic struggles, and real growth in the story. I highly recommend this story for anyone interested in the sea, fishing, women empowerment, mythology, fantasy, fiction, adventure, suspense, family, etc.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this. A great story about family, loss, and redemption. I was still thinking about the characters after I put it down. I love that there is some myth/magic to the story. There were some violent parts that were hard to read.

[Isabella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meine Meinung

Als ich diesen Roman bei vorablesen.de entdeckt habe, war mein Interesse sofort geweckt – ich liebe außergewöhnliche Familiengeschichten und die Kings klangen nach einem ganz besonders faszinierenden Clan.

Der Einstieg in die Geschichte ist mir dann allerding ein bisschen schwergefallen, da es eine Weile dauert, bis die Handlung wirklich ins Rollen kommt. Im Grunde konnte mich der Roman erst ab dem Zeitpunkt, als Protagonistin Cordelia erwachsen ist, richtig fesseln. Der Teil, in dem es um ihre Kindheit auf der Insel geht, hat sich dagegen etwas gezogen. Die Geduld lohnt sich auf jeden Fall, denn am Ende überschlagen sich die Ereignisse, während der Konflikt um Hummerfang-Gebiete mit einer nahegelegenen Kleinstadt eskaliert. Was die Geschichte ausmacht, ist vor allem das komplexe und glaubwürdig dargestellte Verhältnis der Kings untereinander. Sehr berührend fand ich auch die Liebesgeschichte von Cordelia und Kenny. Obwohl dieser Handlungsstrang relativ plötzlich einsetzt, vermittelt der Autor die besondere Beziehung zwischen den beiden wunderbar glaubhaft.

Überhaupt fällt es leicht, Alexi Zentner die leichte Handlungsarmut seines Romans zu verzeihen – angesichts so eines tollen Schreibstils. Der Autor findet starke sprachliche Bilder und schreibt poetisch, ohne ins Blumige abzudriften. Von Anfang an gelingt es ihm, eine mystische Stimmung zu erzeugen und die Magie des Schauplatzes, einer fiktiven Hummerfang-Insel vor der Küste Maines, einzufangen: Eine raue, karge Landschaft von wilder Schönheit. Beeindruckend fand ich, wie wandelbar der Stil des Autors ist, wie leicht er zwischen romantischen Beschreibungen der See und derben Kneipen-Gesprächen wechselt. Gut gefallen haben mir auch die Schilderungen von Brumfitts Bildern, ein Maler, der für seine Gemälde der Insel bekannt ist. Cordelia hat eine besondere Verbindung zu diesen Bildern, daher passt es, dass gerade in emotionalen Momenten oft ein Werk von Brumfitt herausgegriffen und beschrieben wird. Häufig spiegelt dieses Gemälde dann Cordelias Gefühlswelt perfekt wieder – eine außergewöhnliche und im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes kunstvolle Art, Emotionen zu vermitteln.

Protagonistin Cordelia war mir von Anfang an sympathisch. In einer Branche, die traditionell eine Männerdomäne ist, und einer Familie, in der traditionell die Söhne das Sagen haben, hat die selbstbewusste junge Frau gelernt, sich durchzusetzen. Schon früh erkennt Cordelia, dass sie für die See geboren ist – und arbeitet hart, um sich die Anerkennung ihres Vaters und der anderen Hummerfischer zu verdienen. Obwohl er das Erzähltempo wie gesagt verlangsamt hat, war der Einblick in ihre Kindheit ganz hilfreich dabei, mich in sie einzufühlen. Auch alle anderen Charaktere sind gut ausgearbeitet und interessant, selbst den eher unwichtigen Nebenfiguren gibt der Autor etwas Einzigartiges mit.

Fazit

Eine Familiensaga, die mich nach einem eher schleppenden Start für sich begeistern konnte. Der außergewöhnliche Schreibstil und interessante Charaktere trösten über eine etwas handlungsarme Story hinweg.

[Pam Forgash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seldom does a book capture me and keep me "in" the story as did Alexi Zentner's novel "The Lobster Kings" The descriptive quality to the book is beautiful. I love the ocean, the beach. The setting was palpable. The Kings family is irrevocably tied to the past - to the first lobsterman on Loosewood Island.
Truth and death and the past becomes part of the present. The oldest sister Cordelia brings honest emotion to the pages when relating to her father. This book made me think once again about life, how fleeting it is and how lucky we are to participate. This book is sticking with me and I look forward to reading it again. Highly recommend!

[Ruthie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I seem to have an affinity for stories situated in the Maritime provinces, even though I have only ever been to PEI. Something about the simple yet often dangerous way of life and the remoteness from many modern conveniences makes for engrossing stories and fantastic characters.

The setting for this novel is more recent than most I have read, and yet the way of life still retains many aspects that are centuries old. I felt that the characters were well developed and the family relationships rang true. I didn't love the last little bit where things got very intense, but I still loved this novel!

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real page-turner that, while it has elements of a thriller, mystery, and fantasy, is more of a story about a daughter who truly loves her father. I've never caught lobsters, dealt with crystal meth tweakers or lived on a coastal town, but those aren't at the keys to getting something out of this. If you have had anything close to the kind of relationship Cordelia and Woody have, you'll find a lot of truth here. Recommended.

[Autumn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sea as a source of life and death, the maker of cads and kings, is an important theme of Alexi Zentner’s new novel, The Lobster Kings.

In the 300 plus years since the first Kings, Brumfitt, made his permanent home on Loosewood Island, the Kings family has never lost its grip on their rocky throne. Through good times and bad, the residents of the close-knit island have turned to a Kings for advice and decisions: “…everybody understood that the Kings’ word was the final word…the few times he (Woody Kings) settled a matter, it was settled.”

It’s not surprising, then, that Woody Kings is the final arbiter of what to do when a meth smuggling operation moves onto his island. As his health fails, it falls to his oldest daughter and likely heir, Cordelia, to stave off the smugglers, placate her sisters, and persevere to the end.

There is a strong and acknowledged link between The Lobster Kings and King Lear, and it goes beyond the name Cordelia. There is a curious playfulness in the way Zentner invokes a classic, only to have his characters play ‘against type’. Woody, though he is a king of his world is not the attention seeking dilettante Shakespeare created; Cordelia is not a paragon of forbearance. Both characters are richly drawn from beginning to end, having both the positive and negative character traits that make them live and breathe to the reader. Their interactions and especially Cordelia’s Shakespeare-like devotion to her father and how he would do things, are the heart of this novel.

A second strength of The Lobster Kings is Zentner’s effective use of the imagery from Brumfitt’s paintings. Zentner uses discussions of the Kings’ long-gone ancestor’s history and his works as foreshadowing, exposition, and symbolism. It is a neat way to advance the story without bogging down the narrative, and is very effective.

Less effective is the budding romance between Cordelia and her sternman. In the midst of the sturm and drang of this family and community drama, it falls somewhat flat. The single love scene becomes unintentionally humorous in its depiction of clichéd sex-role shifting; simply making the man the reluctant partner is still a cliché.

There are also a few frustrating issues with repetition—a scene repeated either with slightly different wording or exposed through later dialogue. These few instances seemed to be a waste of words and slowed down the passages in which they occurred.

Still, these are small things in an overridingly strong novel. Alexi Zentner’s The Lobster Kings is a thought provoking novel that challenges one to question whether belief in what ‘must’ happen can limit what ‘can’ happen in life. In a brief, enlightening passage, Cordelia tosses off an observation about the island to which the “Kings’ had chained themselves.” And maybe that’s where Shakespeare’s Lear has the last word: Kingship, his Lear found, was more than worship; it was obligation. The Lobster Kings is well worth a summer read; in fact, it’s likely the reader will want to devour it again and again.

[Corinne Wasilewski · Rating 3 out of 5]

I absolutely adored the first 100 pages of this book: the story of the Kings as children, Cordelia's love for the sea and tradition, and the magical realism elements. If the novel had continued on in this vein I would have given it a full 5 stars. Unfortunately, the story took a significant turn with the James Harbor drug smuggling/dealing element which didn't appeal to me so much.

I grew up in New Brunswick and am very familiar with Charlotte county and the Fundy Isles. Loosewood Island seems very much like Grand Manan Island to me. In fact, I can't help but wonder if the story was inspired by an event that happened on Grand Manan back in 2006 which was very well publicized. Check out this link: www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national...

Any other readers notice this Grand Manan connection?

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never read Shakespeare when I was young, other than Romeo and Juliet (9th grade English) and Taming of the Shrew (because I wanted to see how well it matched the Taylor-Burton film which was not very well at all). So when someone says a story is based on Hamlet, The Tempest... whatever... and that it's a tragedy, I just have to take them at their word.

This is, by the author's own admission, based on King Lear and set on a small island somewhere in the waters between Maine and Nova Scotia -- between the US and Canada -- changeable as to its national identity but utterly certain of its identity as a place where lobster is fished and always has been and will ever be. The progenitor or the Kings family, Brumfitt Kings, settled on the island nearly 300 years earlier as a fisherman and his family continues both as fishermen and as the kings of the island in more than just name to the present day. Of the present family, eldest daughter Cordelia works very hard at being her Daddy's favorite, his successor, at being the one who will take over from him when the time comes. This is both a tale of family history and relationships and one of changing times when meth-addled fishermen from a neighboring harbor begin poaching on the waters of Loosewood Island.

But aside from what the story is about, the reader should know that Alexi Zentner tells a story very, very well. I was captivated by his style from the very first pages and remained captivated to the very end. I will definitely read his previous novel and look for anything that might come in the future.

For me this is the first 5 star book of the year -- and we're more than half through. I'm pretty stingy with my stars so that's saying something, I think.

For those who enjoyed The Story of Edgar Sawtelle you will LOVE The Lobster Kings -- and your heart will not be broken at the end!

[Almira · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of "those" books that this reader didn't want to end!

The story "flips" effortlessly from current times (2014) back to the 1720's and back again.

Set on Loosewood Island, claimed by both the USA and Canada, Brumfitt Kings' family have lived, and worked the waters for lobsters, for all these 300 years. Brumfitt is said to have been the only man on the island for many years, and that his wife was a "selkie" who came to him from the waters and returned - she might even still be in the waters at this time. The one drawback to being a Kings family is the "curse" that the waters will take back the first-born son. In addition to being a lobsterman, Brumfitt was also an artist - world famous, to the point that summer tourists come to Loosewood Island to see where he lived, died, "fished" and painted.

Current family members are now faced with a new breed of interlopers of the waters - James Harbor is known for invading the waters to "steal" lobster catches from the Loosewood community, however, James Harbor now is a hub of drug dealers, particularly meth. These fellows are a very violent and revengeful group.

At times, this story is quite brutal in the telling, yet the love of the family is evident throughout, and they pull together when the things become particularly awful.

I enjoyed the writing, the way the author brought to "life" the area of Loosewood, I could almost feel the winds, taste the salt sea, see the lobster traps and imagine being bounced around during one vicious storm. Of course, I do live on an island so the winds and sea are not something I have to imagine, but the storm on the lobster boat was not something I experience frequently, although we do see the buoys for crab pots during the season.

[Kenneth Hursh · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Kings family founded Loosewood Island and rule it to this day. The Kings family are lobstermen, and rich lobsterman because their ancestor, Brumfitt Kings, produced paintings which are now highly regarded and valuable. The Kings family is also cursed in that every generation’s first born son dies at sea.

The curse bit the current generation, taking Cordelia’s little brother, and leaving her to carry on the manly family tradition. Will she be up to the task? Her father’s health is failing and Loosewood’s lobster waters are being invaded by James Harbor fishermen and drug runners.

It started out good. I did want to see if Cordelia, a spoiled daddy’s girl, would grow into a kinder, wiser island matriarch. I wanted to see if the ocean mysticism in Brumfitt’s paintings would invade today’s reality.

Ultimately, I got neither. Cordelia’s “coming of age” turned out to be a selfish, needless act of vigilantism that hurt the people Cordelia was supposed to care for. Yet, Zentner treated Cordelia’s self-centered brutality like a great deed which left her smelling like a rose. And the supernatural undercurrent, hinted at throughout the book in references to Brumfitt’s paintings, never amounted to more than hints. The big problem was Cordelia’s failure to grow. She started out privileged and self-righteous and stayed that way to the end, learning nothing different.

Zentner crafted a cool mythology for the island, and his descriptions of today’s island and the lobster business were very well done. His dialogue and character descriptions were excellent, too. So, if you read Kings for those elements, you’ll be pleased. Just don’t expect the plot to go anywhere.

[Paltia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started out with promise. Before too longer the writing felt too basic and predictable.

[nomadreader (Carrie D-L) · Rating 4 out of 5]

(originally published at http://nomadreader.blogspot.com)

The basics: The Lobster Kings is the story of the Kings family, who have lived and fished off of Loosewood Island, Maine for generations, beginning with Brumfitt King, a famous artist. The current generation of Kings, and the focus of most of the novel, are patriarch Woody and his three daughters, but mostly Cordelia, who loves the sea as much as her father.

My thoughts: There's an ethereal quality to the writing and setting of this novel that captured me from the novel's first pages. Zentner's writing has a calm fluidity that perfectly matches the maritime setting and the novel's pace. Big moments happen in short, unassuming sentences, which I quite enjoyed, but it sets a specific tone for this novel.

Despite the presence of many tragic and depressing events, the novel itself isn't marred by those emotions. Zentner's writing matches the demeanor of the Kings: there's an acceptance of how life is, which might be tragic by many standards, but is the norm for generations of Kings.

The verdict: The Lobster Kings is a gripping and absorbing family saga. The characters haunted me as I read, and they made this novel impossible for me to put down. As I read, I felt like I was living with the Kings on Loosewood Island, and this novel showcases Zentner's gift for writing about places with a strong setting.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

In case you couldn't tell by my 5 star rating and having devoured this in under 24 hours, I loved this book. I prepared myself from other people's' reviews to not look for things that would not be in this book. I was not going to compare it to Touch until the end. I think that's where a lot of readers are doing Zentner wrong. And now that I have completed The Lobster Kings, there's not much to compare in terms of one being better than the other. They are simply different books. That being said, certain things Zentner touched on in Touch (yay unintentional puns) appear once again in TLK's. Both stories show the significance of fathers and family history. I especially liked how in TLK Woody King affected everyone around him to such a deep extent. As someone who is not close with her father on an emotional level, but shares a love of nature, I was able to find a lot of my father and me in Cordelia and Woody. I also appreciate the fact that Zentner deals with the climactic points in this story rather than skipping over them and leaving holes. The atmosphere in this book is so tangible that last night I fell asleep to dreams of being on a boat. His writing is beautiful. This book is beautiful. And as I mentioned in an earlier comment, with TLK Zentner once again has broken my heart perfectly.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Kings family have fished lobster in Loosewood Island, Maine, for nearly three hundred years. They have always been successful, but times are changing. Woody Kings, the current patriarch, is getting old and his health is slowly fading. Lobster fishing has always been a male-dominated profession, in this rugged, marine world. His only son died young and he now has three grown daughters. His eldest, Cordelia, is the only one interested in carrying on the family legacy, so Woody passes the torch to her. Of course, nothing is simple and a bad element has moved onto the island, meth dealers and other nefarious individuals, making it a daunting challenge for Cordelia.
This is a wonderful novel, with strong evocative prose and a perfect sense of place. King Lear looms large in this tale and there is also a mystical quality to the narrative, touching on the local mythology.
The characters are well-drawn, there is romance and adventure and one of my favorite types of dog, the Newfoundland, are featured heavily. Highly recommended.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's see, a beautiful remote setting on an island off the coast of Maine/New Brunswick, it's got that going for it. A female protagonist who's smart and focused, also yes. That protagonist, Cordelia, is the scion (however much her father sometimes doesn't want her to be) of the Kings family, who have lived on Loosewood Island for 300 or so years. As much as anyone is in charge of the Island, they are. So you've got personal Kings (and man, that last name kept messing with me, it's hard to read it as plural) family drama, and then bigger island drama, mostly to do with another nearby island, and then also Cordelia's non-family relationships. It's a fair amount packed into 350 pages, and it also touches on folk tales and maritime adventure (there's a drive toward land in a bad storm that's pretty thrilling) and (fake) art history.

Reminds me of Russo, a bit, without the dark humor. If you like him, I think you'll like this.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

In "The Lobster Kings," Alexi Zentner weaves a story that feels at once perfectly realistic and like a legend borrowed from another era. His modern-day tale (meth dealers, cell phones, female ship captains) unfolds on an island on the U.S.-Canada border. Loosewood Island and its hard-working lobstermen may be fictional, but by the end of the book just the description of the harbor full of boats brought me to tears. This novel owes something to Shakespeare's "King Lear" but has an entirely original sense of mystery and wonder. As in his first novel, "Touch," Zentner adds a touch of magical realism as well as a few scenes of stomach-churning violence to the mix. Highly recommended.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found Zentner's second novel lacked the technical perfection of Touch. I read an ARC, so perhaps the published version will be a bit more polished. The story is good and the characters are engaging, but the narrative voice can get a bit clumsy and certain sections felt shallow. Still, I enjoyed reading this novel. My disappointment comes from the hopes and expectations I built after my moving experience with Touch. The Lobster Kings did not deliver in the same way.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Kings family, lobstermen on Loosewood island for over three hundred years, are blessed with the bounty of the sea but cursed with the death of the firstborn son of every generation. Cordelia, eldest child and first female Kings to own her own lobster boat must contend with this mythical heritage, the aging of her legendary father, and the neighboring islanders poaching and drug running in the Loosewood waters. An utterly absorbing read.

[Melissa Acuna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maine Island life is rapidly changing, but this is a pitch perfect tale of family life on a small Maine island, and the beauty and hardship of life in the Gulf of Maine. The author is a master at setting the scene and unlike so many authors from away, who visit for a few weeks in the summer and think that they understand Maine, he nails both the joys of island life and the heartbreaking sorrow that so many fishing families know all too well.

[Laura Beck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful, vivid, heart-wrenching, and true to life in an island fishing community, which is where I live. I absolutely loved the way Zentner painted this story - completely immersing the reader in sights and emotion from beginning to end.

[Stacy Bearse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great American novel. The focus is on a family living on a remote island off the coast of Maine. The rich, complex story is tough to characterize, other than to say that it is about family, fishing, heritage, tragedy, love and conflict. Keep your eye on this young author.

[Jane Russo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writing is superb and you immediately get drawn into the story. I felt as if I was a part of the story, just off to the side quietly observing. When tragedy strikes I felt it personally. Highly recommend this as a summer read.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Lobster Kings is a wonderful literary novel. The main character got under my skins and I found myself very emotionally involved. Zentner does a terrific job giving and withholding information. I'm planning on getting a copy of his first novel and look forward to future ones.

[Bernadette · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my kind of book: atmospheric, salt soaked, with a haunting narrative, a not to Shakespeare, a touch of magical realism, and incandescent prose. Loved it.