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The Midcoast
Audiobook Length: 9H 47M
The story of a family of lobstermen who skyrocket from poverty to wealth, a local writer obsessed with their rise, and the small-town secrets that bind them all together.
It's spring in the tiny town of Damariscotta, a tourist haven on the coast of Maine known for its oysters and antiques. Andrew, a high school English teacher recently returned to the area, has brought his family to Ed and Steph Thatch's riverside estate to attend an extravagant reception for the Amherst Women's Lacrosse Team, where everyone's wearing an Amherst shade of purple. Back when they were teenagers, Andrew never could have guessed that Ed--descended from a long line of lobstermen--would one day send his daughter to a place like Amherst, but clearly the years have been good to Ed. Andrew's enjoying the party, if a little jealously--a part of him wishes he could afford for his own family even a fraction of what Ed's provided for his.
As Andrew wanders through the Thatches' house, he stumbles upon a police file he's not supposed to see. In the file are pictures of a burned-out sedan: a blackened trunk, a torched body. Andrew's confusion and envy turn to horror. And when the police arrive an hour later, the true story of the Thatches--a family Andrew thought he understood--begins.
A propulsive drama that cares as deeply about its characters as it does about the crimes they commit, The Midcoast explores the machinations of privilege, the dark recesses of the American dream, and the lies we tell as we try, at all costs, to achieve it.
The story of a family of lobstermen who skyrocket from poverty to wealth, a local writer obsessed with their rise, and the small-town secrets that bind them all together.
It's spring in the tiny town of Damariscotta, a tourist haven on the coast of Maine known for its oysters and antiques. Andrew, a high school English teacher recently returned to the area, has brought his family to Ed and Steph Thatch's riverside estate to attend an extravagant reception for the Amherst Women's Lacrosse Team, where everyone's wearing an Amherst shade of purple. Back when they were teenagers, Andrew never could have guessed that Ed--descended from a long line of lobstermen--would one day send his daughter to a place like Amherst, but clearly the years have been good to Ed. Andrew's enjoying the party, if a little jealously--a part of him wishes he could afford for his own family even a fraction of what Ed's provided for his.
As Andrew wanders through the Thatches' house, he stumbles upon a police file he's not supposed to see. In the file are pictures of a burned-out sedan: a blackened trunk, a torched body. Andrew's confusion and envy turn to horror. And when the police arrive an hour later, the true story of the Thatches--a family Andrew thought he understood--begins.
A propulsive drama that cares as deeply about its characters as it does about the crimes they commit, The Midcoast explores the machinations of privilege, the dark recesses of the American dream, and the lies we tell as we try, at all costs, to achieve it.
Audible Audio
First published June 7, 2022
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About the author
Adam White
1 book248 followersAdam White grew up in Damariscotta, Maine, and now lives in New Hampshire, where he teaches English and coaches lacrosse. He holds an MFA from Columbia University. The Midcoast is his first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,337 reviews
March 29, 2023
I actually liked this book, especially the 457th time I read it.
June 7, 2022
I requested this title from NetGalley expecting some sort of crime thriller, but the book is more of a character study than a taut mystery. And, sadly, I had little interest in most of the characters.
The main story involves Ed and Steph Thatch, and Ed's involvement in the illegal activities that finance his plush lifestyle. This part was fascinating, and should have been explored more fully. Why the tale is told by one of Ed's old acquaintances . . . I'm not sure. There are too many characters here, and they distract from the interesting pair at the center of the drama. Also, W-A-Y too much time is wasted on Ed's boring daughter.
Maybe an editor with a firmer hand might have helped . . .
On the plus side, I did enjoy the author's chatty tone; it made the book seem more memoir than fiction.
I see plenty of other readers enjoyed this one, so perhaps - you might, too.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the read.
The main story involves Ed and Steph Thatch, and Ed's involvement in the illegal activities that finance his plush lifestyle. This part was fascinating, and should have been explored more fully. Why the tale is told by one of Ed's old acquaintances . . . I'm not sure. There are too many characters here, and they distract from the interesting pair at the center of the drama. Also, W-A-Y too much time is wasted on Ed's boring daughter.
Maybe an editor with a firmer hand might have helped . . .
On the plus side, I did enjoy the author's chatty tone; it made the book seem more memoir than fiction.
I see plenty of other readers enjoyed this one, so perhaps - you might, too.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the read.
June 13, 2022
Though it has its thrilling, suspenseful elements, The Midcoast is not a thriller, a mystery, or a suspense novel. It’s a tale of love, family, ambition and corruption.
Like the author, I grew up in small-town Maine, lived “away” for a long time and then, like his Andrew character, returned to Maine. We now live just a few short miles down the road from Damariscotta, which has long been my favorite town in Maine. We spend a lot of time in town, and know a lot of its people, especially my spouse, who is active in one of the town’s arts organizations. My familiarity with Damariscotta—and all the other Maine locations in the novel, especially Lewiston and Lisbon Falls—affected my reading of the book. And you’ll see in this review that it also affected my feelings about it.
First off, I was surprised that a novelist would use an actual small town by name to set a contemporary novel, complete with details about real businesses, streets, look and feel. It was kind of thrilling to read about characters eating, drinking and shopping in the same Damariscotta establishments I’ve frequented, driving along roads I know well and knowing exactly where they were as the author mentions what they pass by as they drive. But this is not a love letter to Damariscotta. (Oh, and one tiny quibble about the descriptions about real places: Adam White refers to “Lewiston-Auburn, the former logging metropolis.” It’s actually textile factories that made L-A, not logging.)
One of the themes of the book is small-town corruption. Ed Thatch, having turned to a secret life of crime so that he can give his wife, Steph, everything he thinks she deserves, corrupts a local cop and even gets his son to join the local police department so he can keep an eye on anything that might affect Ed’s criminal enterprises. If I were a member of the Damariscotta PD or the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department, even though this is a work of fiction I would feel defamed because the real names of the forces are used and the novel is written to mimic true-crime nonfiction. I fully expected to read an author’s note at the end of the book discussing his thoughts about this very real place and its people, but there is only the standard fiction disclaimer on the verso of the title page. Most readers either won’t see that or will just treat it like boilerplate.
Another, more minor theme is how catering to the tourist trade damages the very authenticity that this place is supposed to be prized for. In actuality, along with its everyday working-town places, Damariscotta now has a few good restaurants, a couple of tourist-oriented shops, and events meant to draw in tourists—just like the Steph Thatch character’s ambition for her adopted home. But in the book, this isn’t seen as necessarily a good thing. So it feels like Adam White is indirectly criticizing the direction Damariscotta has gone in the last couple of decades.
I can’t help but feel that this book is unfair to the town. I’ve already seen remarks musing/questioning about what kind of place Damariscotta must be. Am I being oversensitive and defensive on behalf of the town and its people? Maybe; I can’t step back and view it dispassionately.
OK, so there are my feelings about the book that will be irrelevant to 99-point-something percent of its readers and potential readers. Now on to more general comments.
I did have some issues with the narrative structure of the book. While I liked the idea of using Andrew’s writing about the Thatches as a framing device, there was so much Andrew couldn’t know about, and more that he heard about second- or third-hand, so there is a mishmash of narratives. You’re reading Andrew’s first-person point of view and suddenly you’re off into omniscient-narrator-land, reading about what Ed, Steph, or their kids are doing. It makes for a choppy feeling. And speaking of the kids, there is a long part in the second half of the book about Allie Thatch’s experiences in college at Amherst. It’s only modestly related to the rest of the book, it’s frankly not very interesting, and it should have been shortened—a lot.
Is anybody still reading this review? If so, I should get on to the more positive aspects of the book. Despite my criticisms of the narrative style, there is a lot of like about the writing. Adam White excels at depicting characters and setting a scene. It was easy to imagine each character in the book based on White’s descriptions. He also makes many striking, sometimes funny, and often thought-provoking observations. Right from the get-go, he writes about the experience every native Mainer has had when we are away: “Back when I lived out of state, people always used to get excited when they found out where I was from. They didn’t meet all that many Mainers—I was like a moose descended from a log cabin, wandering their backyard.” White’s plot is compelling, and it’s hard to put down the book when you’re anxious to know what will happen. I can definitely see this being adapted for the screen.
Despite my criticisms and misgivings, this book should appeal to a lot of people, and I will add Adam White to my list of authors to look for in the future.
Like the author, I grew up in small-town Maine, lived “away” for a long time and then, like his Andrew character, returned to Maine. We now live just a few short miles down the road from Damariscotta, which has long been my favorite town in Maine. We spend a lot of time in town, and know a lot of its people, especially my spouse, who is active in one of the town’s arts organizations. My familiarity with Damariscotta—and all the other Maine locations in the novel, especially Lewiston and Lisbon Falls—affected my reading of the book. And you’ll see in this review that it also affected my feelings about it.
First off, I was surprised that a novelist would use an actual small town by name to set a contemporary novel, complete with details about real businesses, streets, look and feel. It was kind of thrilling to read about characters eating, drinking and shopping in the same Damariscotta establishments I’ve frequented, driving along roads I know well and knowing exactly where they were as the author mentions what they pass by as they drive. But this is not a love letter to Damariscotta. (Oh, and one tiny quibble about the descriptions about real places: Adam White refers to “Lewiston-Auburn, the former logging metropolis.” It’s actually textile factories that made L-A, not logging.)
One of the themes of the book is small-town corruption. Ed Thatch, having turned to a secret life of crime so that he can give his wife, Steph, everything he thinks she deserves, corrupts a local cop and even gets his son to join the local police department so he can keep an eye on anything that might affect Ed’s criminal enterprises. If I were a member of the Damariscotta PD or the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department, even though this is a work of fiction I would feel defamed because the real names of the forces are used and the novel is written to mimic true-crime nonfiction. I fully expected to read an author’s note at the end of the book discussing his thoughts about this very real place and its people, but there is only the standard fiction disclaimer on the verso of the title page. Most readers either won’t see that or will just treat it like boilerplate.
Another, more minor theme is how catering to the tourist trade damages the very authenticity that this place is supposed to be prized for. In actuality, along with its everyday working-town places, Damariscotta now has a few good restaurants, a couple of tourist-oriented shops, and events meant to draw in tourists—just like the Steph Thatch character’s ambition for her adopted home. But in the book, this isn’t seen as necessarily a good thing. So it feels like Adam White is indirectly criticizing the direction Damariscotta has gone in the last couple of decades.
I can’t help but feel that this book is unfair to the town. I’ve already seen remarks musing/questioning about what kind of place Damariscotta must be. Am I being oversensitive and defensive on behalf of the town and its people? Maybe; I can’t step back and view it dispassionately.
OK, so there are my feelings about the book that will be irrelevant to 99-point-something percent of its readers and potential readers. Now on to more general comments.
I did have some issues with the narrative structure of the book. While I liked the idea of using Andrew’s writing about the Thatches as a framing device, there was so much Andrew couldn’t know about, and more that he heard about second- or third-hand, so there is a mishmash of narratives. You’re reading Andrew’s first-person point of view and suddenly you’re off into omniscient-narrator-land, reading about what Ed, Steph, or their kids are doing. It makes for a choppy feeling. And speaking of the kids, there is a long part in the second half of the book about Allie Thatch’s experiences in college at Amherst. It’s only modestly related to the rest of the book, it’s frankly not very interesting, and it should have been shortened—a lot.
Is anybody still reading this review? If so, I should get on to the more positive aspects of the book. Despite my criticisms of the narrative style, there is a lot of like about the writing. Adam White excels at depicting characters and setting a scene. It was easy to imagine each character in the book based on White’s descriptions. He also makes many striking, sometimes funny, and often thought-provoking observations. Right from the get-go, he writes about the experience every native Mainer has had when we are away: “Back when I lived out of state, people always used to get excited when they found out where I was from. They didn’t meet all that many Mainers—I was like a moose descended from a log cabin, wandering their backyard.” White’s plot is compelling, and it’s hard to put down the book when you’re anxious to know what will happen. I can definitely see this being adapted for the screen.
Despite my criticisms and misgivings, this book should appeal to a lot of people, and I will add Adam White to my list of authors to look for in the future.
July 26, 2022
Clearly not the most subtle try at the Great American Novel, but I was hooked: In his debut, White tells the story of the Thatch family whose rise, wealth and political influence in Damariscotta, Maine, are, as it turns out, built on crime and denial. The novel starts with our narrator, Andrew, who witnesses a police raid at the Thatch family home. Andrew has known patriarch Ed Thatch as a teenager and has now come back to his hometown after spending years away. The revelation of the secrets of the Thatch family makes him re-assess his memory and his concept of Damariscotta and its citizens.
Slowly, we learn what writer Andrew has pieced together (and, clearly, dramatically semi-fictionalized): Ed wanted to offer his family more than he could earn with his lobster business, so he turned to burglaries and drug running; his wife Steph took the money and started to chase her political ambitions without asking the crucial (and obvious) questions - and the children also became involved. So basically, Ed and Steph were trying to fulfill the American Dream, but with unethical sources funding their goals.
While the whole book lacks in character development (what is so fascinating about Steph that her husband is blindly devoted to her? who is the son as a person?), the first half remains intriguing throughout - the second half drags a little. Still, this is a solid debut, aiming to contribute to the classic American family tale that intends to extrapolate from one group of people that allegedly are at the heart of the nation - the family unit - to the nation as a whole. I enjoyed listening to the audiobook and I'm curious what White will write next.
Slowly, we learn what writer Andrew has pieced together (and, clearly, dramatically semi-fictionalized): Ed wanted to offer his family more than he could earn with his lobster business, so he turned to burglaries and drug running; his wife Steph took the money and started to chase her political ambitions without asking the crucial (and obvious) questions - and the children also became involved. So basically, Ed and Steph were trying to fulfill the American Dream, but with unethical sources funding their goals.
While the whole book lacks in character development (what is so fascinating about Steph that her husband is blindly devoted to her? who is the son as a person?), the first half remains intriguing throughout - the second half drags a little. Still, this is a solid debut, aiming to contribute to the classic American family tale that intends to extrapolate from one group of people that allegedly are at the heart of the nation - the family unit - to the nation as a whole. I enjoyed listening to the audiobook and I'm curious what White will write next.
June 21, 2022
Vacation read no. 2. Much promise here, and I love how it inhabits the setting. But uneven and tedious execution. Who exactly is narrating this? Ineffective blending of omniscience and the first person. Way too much stuff about lacrosse and failure to develop the antagonists at the center of the story.
June 27, 2022
The Midcoast by Adam White is a mystery, a crime drama and a family saga all rolled into one. It takes the reader along in such a way that you feel like a voyeur, observing the personal lives of strangers that you wish you knew. The Midcoast is in Maine and the state is beautifully depicted here. The characters in Damariscotta are realistically drawn New Englanders, surely due to the fact that the author grew up in the very same town. This is the story of the Thatch family: Ed, Steph and their two children and the story is narrated by Andrew who is from Maine and is observing and writing about the mystery of how Ed Thatch, who used to be a humble lobsterman, has achieved wealth and popularity during the time that Andrew was away from Damariscotta. The rest of the novel you must read for yourself. The story moves moves along at an unpredictable pace and will have the reader second-guessing throughout. The Midcoast is Adam White’s first novel and that comes as a surprise. The book reads like it was written by someone with many novels already in his writing career. Hopefully, there will be many more to come. If you are looking for a book that is different from many, this novel would be a great choice. Highly recommended. Thank you to Random House Publishing Group, NetGalley and the author for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
January 18, 2023
I’m really torn on how to rate this. It’s a 3.5, but rating it down to a 3 for a couple of reasons.
The book has a narrative flow issue that staggers me - how did this get past his editor? It’s so mixed up - sometimes the narrator is speaking, then all of the sudden you’re getting an update on another character told from that character’s point of view. How does the narrator come to acquire that knowledge? It’s never explained. Some books have multiple narrators with alternating chapters. This is just a hodgepodge of randomness.
Some of the characters are also not very fleshed out. I never understood Steph or what she saw in Ed Thatch. She seemed to genuinely care for him but why? He seemed like a brainless dolt.
That said, I did find the overall story arc interesting - just told in a very convoluted fashion. The ambiance of Maine is nicely done.
The book has a narrative flow issue that staggers me - how did this get past his editor? It’s so mixed up - sometimes the narrator is speaking, then all of the sudden you’re getting an update on another character told from that character’s point of view. How does the narrator come to acquire that knowledge? It’s never explained. Some books have multiple narrators with alternating chapters. This is just a hodgepodge of randomness.
Some of the characters are also not very fleshed out. I never understood Steph or what she saw in Ed Thatch. She seemed to genuinely care for him but why? He seemed like a brainless dolt.
That said, I did find the overall story arc interesting - just told in a very convoluted fashion. The ambiance of Maine is nicely done.
June 20, 2022
Audiobook….read by George Newbern
….9 hours and 47 minutes
One of the added pleasures of this novel, by Adam White, was ‘George Newbern’ as the audiobook narrator.
Newbern was ‘so easy-to-listen-to terrific’— I’d like to check into other books he’s read.
He made following this story set in the small town of Damariscotta, Maine……the oyster capital of New England, stimulating and fulfilling with his very natural and believable voice.
The town is a popular tourist destination and considered one of the best places to live in Maine.
I haven’t been to Maine …. (I’d love to) ….but not only have I read numerous summer breezy type books that take place in Maine and other coaster towns in New England over the years,
but I just spent the last few days binge listening to 2 different books taking place in Maine —
— it’s amazing I didn’t get the families- characters - lobster dishes-restaurants-lies-secrets-and conflict fixations mixed up between the two books…..(amazingly, I didn’t - both were plenty different and distinct)….credit to both authors keeping me interested.
The other book I ‘binged’ was by Meg Mitchell Moore. The setting for her coastal town was also in Maine: Rockland, Maine…..in a little treasure of a spot called “Owl’s Head”…..
…..but that review is coming soon.
Back to “Midcoast”.
We are first introduced to Andrew - (a high school English teacher and Lacrosse coach) who begins by painting a gorgeous description of Damariscotta. The town itself is a main character.
And even though there is a suspenseful crime to solve, ‘Midcoast’ is primarily a strong character driven story weighing in on class, greed, aspirations, ambitions, eagerness, aggressiveness motivation, gumption, and deception.
Two couples - their kids - parenting styles - community politics - social status values - climbing the ladder- comparisons - outside viewing of a wealthy family - judging and evaluating - with a mystery crime slowly unraveling.
Andrew grew up in the area - and recently moved back with his family….(for a simpler life and lower cost of living) …..He’s the perfect outside observer …. focused on Ed, his wife Steph….even their daughter Allie. ( Ed has higher ambitions for their daughter to go to Amhurst and play lacrosse than she did)….
As a teen, Andrew had worked summers as a dockhand at a place called Lobster Pound, owned by the Thatch family. However, given everything Andrew knew about Ed growing up, he found it very surprising — puzzling — that he was now such a successful businessman.
Andrew was right to be ‘surprised’ about Ed’s wealth … (drug trafficking secrets surface s l o w ly)……
overall….
….the entire novel with its rustic charm was compelling and enjoyable….(a few lagging parts — but only ‘few’)…..
4 stars
….9 hours and 47 minutes
One of the added pleasures of this novel, by Adam White, was ‘George Newbern’ as the audiobook narrator.
Newbern was ‘so easy-to-listen-to terrific’— I’d like to check into other books he’s read.
He made following this story set in the small town of Damariscotta, Maine……the oyster capital of New England, stimulating and fulfilling with his very natural and believable voice.
The town is a popular tourist destination and considered one of the best places to live in Maine.
I haven’t been to Maine …. (I’d love to) ….but not only have I read numerous summer breezy type books that take place in Maine and other coaster towns in New England over the years,
but I just spent the last few days binge listening to 2 different books taking place in Maine —
— it’s amazing I didn’t get the families- characters - lobster dishes-restaurants-lies-secrets-and conflict fixations mixed up between the two books…..(amazingly, I didn’t - both were plenty different and distinct)….credit to both authors keeping me interested.
The other book I ‘binged’ was by Meg Mitchell Moore. The setting for her coastal town was also in Maine: Rockland, Maine…..in a little treasure of a spot called “Owl’s Head”…..
…..but that review is coming soon.
Back to “Midcoast”.
We are first introduced to Andrew - (a high school English teacher and Lacrosse coach) who begins by painting a gorgeous description of Damariscotta. The town itself is a main character.
And even though there is a suspenseful crime to solve, ‘Midcoast’ is primarily a strong character driven story weighing in on class, greed, aspirations, ambitions, eagerness, aggressiveness motivation, gumption, and deception.
Two couples - their kids - parenting styles - community politics - social status values - climbing the ladder- comparisons - outside viewing of a wealthy family - judging and evaluating - with a mystery crime slowly unraveling.
Andrew grew up in the area - and recently moved back with his family….(for a simpler life and lower cost of living) …..He’s the perfect outside observer …. focused on Ed, his wife Steph….even their daughter Allie. ( Ed has higher ambitions for their daughter to go to Amhurst and play lacrosse than she did)….
As a teen, Andrew had worked summers as a dockhand at a place called Lobster Pound, owned by the Thatch family. However, given everything Andrew knew about Ed growing up, he found it very surprising — puzzling — that he was now such a successful businessman.
Andrew was right to be ‘surprised’ about Ed’s wealth … (drug trafficking secrets surface s l o w ly)……
overall….
….the entire novel with its rustic charm was compelling and enjoyable….(a few lagging parts — but only ‘few’)…..
4 stars
June 12, 2022
THE MIDCOAST is a suspenseful, funny, and chilling exploration of the costs of pursuing the American dream. Adam White expertly weaves an intriguing uncovering of small town secrets with a propulsive family drama. A perfect summer read about a perfect vacation haven.
(Also, if you read and love this book, come join us at East City Books in DC. Live streamed for those unable to attend in person. Or you can leave a comment here with a Q for Adam, and I'll ask and report back! Registration here: https://eastcitybookshop.com/events/1...)
(Also, if you read and love this book, come join us at East City Books in DC. Live streamed for those unable to attend in person. Or you can leave a comment here with a Q for Adam, and I'll ask and report back! Registration here: https://eastcitybookshop.com/events/1...)
June 15, 2022
Awful
I was so looking forward to reading this book, after reading the press for it. I am from New England and have spent a lot of time in Maine.
The plot was discombobulated, all the characters were unlikable and I didn’t care about any of them. All in all a waste of time.
I was so looking forward to reading this book, after reading the press for it. I am from New England and have spent a lot of time in Maine.
The plot was discombobulated, all the characters were unlikable and I didn’t care about any of them. All in all a waste of time.
June 12, 2022
They say that when your write your first novel, you should write ‘what you know‘. It is very obvious that Adam White is familiar with his setting and his characters because his writing is so authentic. The narrator in the story is an English teacher who coaches lacrosse and is writing a novel. All of which can be said for the author.
The cadence of this novel was discomforting. As I turned the pages, I came to know these characters better, but although there was no dramatic event for most of the book, you felt one coming. An unsettling feeling that things would come to a head and that someone was going to get hurt.
The book shows the detrimental effect that all-consuming love can have on a family. Ed Thatch wanted it all – not for himself, but for his wife Steph. A lobsterman and a high-school dropout, he always felt she was too good for him. In order to keep her, he felt he had to give her everything she ever wanted, everything he thought she deserved. The only thing was, he never asked her what that was, he assumed…
The novel speaks to the phrase “a big fish in a small pond“. The Thatch family were definitely the big fish in their Maine town. How they got that way is the crux of the book.
“the kind of quiet you were only supposed to hear in outer space”.
The writing was skilled, as can be expected from a man who teaches writing. I was impressed by this debut novel and have great expectations for his writing career. The somewhat ambiguous ending worked well here. “The Midcoast” was an accomplished debut literary novel that I can readily recommend.
The cadence of this novel was discomforting. As I turned the pages, I came to know these characters better, but although there was no dramatic event for most of the book, you felt one coming. An unsettling feeling that things would come to a head and that someone was going to get hurt.
The book shows the detrimental effect that all-consuming love can have on a family. Ed Thatch wanted it all – not for himself, but for his wife Steph. A lobsterman and a high-school dropout, he always felt she was too good for him. In order to keep her, he felt he had to give her everything she ever wanted, everything he thought she deserved. The only thing was, he never asked her what that was, he assumed…
The novel speaks to the phrase “a big fish in a small pond“. The Thatch family were definitely the big fish in their Maine town. How they got that way is the crux of the book.
“the kind of quiet you were only supposed to hear in outer space”.
The writing was skilled, as can be expected from a man who teaches writing. I was impressed by this debut novel and have great expectations for his writing career. The somewhat ambiguous ending worked well here. “The Midcoast” was an accomplished debut literary novel that I can readily recommend.
November 4, 2022
A debut book that I found was half mystery and half contemporary fiction and just well written and uniquely told. I do love a good story set in the North East as I spend much of my time there and have so come to love the place and the people.
This story takes place in the midcoast of Maine. Our narrator is a young man who returns to live in Damariscotta, a small, less wealthy town on the coast. A particular family he knows from his youth has risen to prominence which both surprises and intrigues him. Thus he begins this story of a lobsterman, his wife and children who have beat the odds and risen in a way that is more than a little unusual in these times on the coast.
It is a debut so I give it some leeway as far as the telling. Some of the transitions, the back and forth in time were a little hard to follow. I did find the print was easier to follow in that respect but the audio is well done and I for the most part could not put it down. I did not find it primarily a mystery more a family drama and more a story about how a good man goes wrong and how that escalates. And it is a good story, so easy to see how it might happen and the unintended consequences.
Really a great first novel. Keep writing Adam White. Looking forward to your next.
*The audio is read by George Newbern and his narration perfectly fit the voice of the well educated young man who tells the story. He certainly made it easy to listen to.
This story takes place in the midcoast of Maine. Our narrator is a young man who returns to live in Damariscotta, a small, less wealthy town on the coast. A particular family he knows from his youth has risen to prominence which both surprises and intrigues him. Thus he begins this story of a lobsterman, his wife and children who have beat the odds and risen in a way that is more than a little unusual in these times on the coast.
It is a debut so I give it some leeway as far as the telling. Some of the transitions, the back and forth in time were a little hard to follow. I did find the print was easier to follow in that respect but the audio is well done and I for the most part could not put it down. I did not find it primarily a mystery more a family drama and more a story about how a good man goes wrong and how that escalates. And it is a good story, so easy to see how it might happen and the unintended consequences.
Really a great first novel. Keep writing Adam White. Looking forward to your next.
*The audio is read by George Newbern and his narration perfectly fit the voice of the well educated young man who tells the story. He certainly made it easy to listen to.
June 11, 2022
Andrew and his family return to live in the area where he grew up, along the midcoast of Maine. A teacher, coach, and would be writer, he unravels the sordid story of just how Ed Thatch, an uneducated, struggling lobsterman became wealthy and his wife the political and social leader of the town.
Don’t read this expecting a thriller or great mystery to be solved, but rather for a well written, character driven, atmospheric narrative. White’s descriptions help the reader imagine the different midcoast locations, feel the weather, experience the environment. In addition to the main storyline, he explores class distinctions and provides a good exposition of the pressure sometimes exerted in small towns trying to promote themselves just to end up losing what makes them desirable.
The book goes back and forth in time and sometimes I found myself trying to figure out just where we were in the timeline.
All in all, a great debut offering!
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the DRC.
*******
Follow me on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/shereadbook...
Don’t read this expecting a thriller or great mystery to be solved, but rather for a well written, character driven, atmospheric narrative. White’s descriptions help the reader imagine the different midcoast locations, feel the weather, experience the environment. In addition to the main storyline, he explores class distinctions and provides a good exposition of the pressure sometimes exerted in small towns trying to promote themselves just to end up losing what makes them desirable.
The book goes back and forth in time and sometimes I found myself trying to figure out just where we were in the timeline.
All in all, a great debut offering!
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the DRC.
*******
Follow me on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/shereadbook...
July 16, 2022
This book was a weird combination of anxious-making and incredibly boring.
I mean, we all know from the get-go that _something_ bad is coming down in The Midcoast, but even the "big bads" don't really seem that interesting when they do finally happen.
I think a large part of this has to do with Adam White's choice to have his narrator provide all manner of details that the man could not possibly have known about other characters' actions, choices, and feelings, even through meticulous reconstructions of records and/or in-depth interviews. That made it impossible for me, a former journalist, to suspend disbelief.
I did enjoy the scenery? I guess?
I dunno, maybe Stephen King ruined Maine books for me. But in the good way--like, I can't read a book set it in Maine without comparing it to a King book that I enjoyed.
In short, not sure why there has been so much hoo-ha about this particular debut novel. Props to the author for actually writing a book, though!
I mean, we all know from the get-go that _something_ bad is coming down in The Midcoast, but even the "big bads" don't really seem that interesting when they do finally happen.
I think a large part of this has to do with Adam White's choice to have his narrator provide all manner of details that the man could not possibly have known about other characters' actions, choices, and feelings, even through meticulous reconstructions of records and/or in-depth interviews. That made it impossible for me, a former journalist, to suspend disbelief.
I did enjoy the scenery? I guess?
I dunno, maybe Stephen King ruined Maine books for me. But in the good way--like, I can't read a book set it in Maine without comparing it to a King book that I enjoyed.
In short, not sure why there has been so much hoo-ha about this particular debut novel. Props to the author for actually writing a book, though!
October 21, 2022
2.5 rating - Based on the premise, I thought I would enjoy this book because I was captivated by Maine when we visited. Unfortunately, I soon lost interest in the novel since I had no interest in any of the characters or what happened to them. I found them to be one-dimensional and predictable. I admit to skimming many pages in an attempt to find something redemptive, but that didn't happen.
March 6, 2022
JUST CRAZY GOOD! Midcoast is a Maine rise to wealth story. Set amongst the lobsterman based small town filled with secrets. Andrew has returned to his small town and is surprised and fascinated to find that his childhood bully Ed and his childhood crush Steph are happily married and the de facto leaders of the town with Steph acting as Mayor and Ed's real estate and development company changing the landscape of the town. Andrew happens upon a folder within their mansion at a special party and begins his own investigation on how these high school dropouts became the richest family in town.
This isn't a story of black and white, the characters are multifaceted, complex, interesting and amazing. You will root for all to survive the ending as Andrew slowly unwinds the clues. I could see plenty of the people I know in these characters and no one's actions surprised me. I would love to read Adam White's next novel and be immersed again in a small community filled with reality and intrigue and the uniqueness that is actually ubiquitous to small towns.
If you love a sprawling story, rooting for the underdog, enjoy reminiscing your own childhood in a small town, then #TheMidcoast is for you. #randomhouse #hogarth #netgalley
This isn't a story of black and white, the characters are multifaceted, complex, interesting and amazing. You will root for all to survive the ending as Andrew slowly unwinds the clues. I could see plenty of the people I know in these characters and no one's actions surprised me. I would love to read Adam White's next novel and be immersed again in a small community filled with reality and intrigue and the uniqueness that is actually ubiquitous to small towns.
If you love a sprawling story, rooting for the underdog, enjoy reminiscing your own childhood in a small town, then #TheMidcoast is for you. #randomhouse #hogarth #netgalley
August 15, 2022
I was so excited for this read, since it’s set in the small town that we live in when in Maine. But the chosen subject matter (a family caught up in theft and drug dealing) would not even be substantial enough to fill out a newspaper article, much less a 300 page novel. And even so, a better author (who would maybe consider cutting out endlessly meandering passages on college-level lacrosse) may have been able to carve something worth reading out of the story, but that wasn’t the case here. The point of view was all over the place, the chronology and narrative focus was disjointed and uneven. I hate to hate a piece of literature, especially since the act of sitting down to write a novel is on its own an impressive feat, but every second of this reading experience was painfully boring and aggravating. Damariscotta deserves better!
August 4, 2022
Adam White returns to his hometown of Damariscotta, Maine to set his impressive debut, highlighting what he feels important about the influx of tourists and family ties. He utilizes an intriguing structure, and the audible edition by George Newbern makes the reader feel as if they're being told an actual account. There's a mystery, but it's the importance of family and the desire to give them what they need and want that drives the action. Characters are all defined and many are given their own space. Well done.
June 7, 2023
4.75 ⭐️— A riveting, beautiful & somewhat romantically redemptive tale of love, life & the choices we make that live with us forever!
An Epic Journey into the Heart of Suspense, “The Midcoast" by Adam White is what I’d term, a “sleeper” novel. It sneaks up on you & slowly but oh-so-surely grabs your entire being, commanding you stand (ok, sit) to attention and take note. It has all the elements of of a more mature coming-of-age tale, a sweeping family drama that doesn’t take the easy roads or pull at heartstrings for the mere sake of it — but rather holds judgment for the reader and allows the individual the ability to make their own assessment, to feel what they wish and to be not the judge, but the observer. I absolutely repeat it & feel it’s an Important novel that commands more attention! So I call upon you to dive in, take a leap of the midcoast small town pier & go swimming through the windows of a tiny sea-town in Maine, and.. laugh, cry, despair, cry and laugh some more but most of all, Observe.
I recently had the pleasure of immersing myself in this quite mesmerising world of Adam White's novel, "The Midcoast." It was rather surprising to me, that from the very first page to the last, this book captivated with its exquisite storytelling, well-crafted characters, and an intricate plot that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout, using the more complex layers of suspense, and the seldomly adopted, art of subtly.
White's masterful prose effortlessly transports readers into the enigmatic world of the midcoast, a place where mystery, suspense, and adventure intertwine seamlessly. With each turn of the page, I found myself completely engrossed in the vivid descriptions that brought the setting to life. From the lush landscapes to the hauntingly beautiful coastlines, every scene was meticulously painted, making it easy to visualize and immerse oneself in the story.
The strength of "The Midcoast" lies not only in its evocative descriptions but also in its compelling characters. Each protagonist is exquisitely developed, revealing their fears, vulnerabilities, and desires with authenticity. Whether it's the resilient yet haunted detective struggling with his past or the enigmatic femme fatale with a mysterious agenda, White skillfully weaves together their storylines, creating a tapestry of complex relationships that kept me guessing until the very end.
The plot itself is an understated masterpiece of suspense, skillfully crafted to keep readers guessing and turning the pages feverishly. White effortlessly balances intricate twists and turns with a steady buildup of tension, ensuring that each revelation packs a powerful punch. I found myself constantly second-guessing my assumptions, as the author deftly planted red herrings and unexpected surprises along the way.
Moreover, "The Midcoast" explores profound themes of redemption, betrayal, and the blurry line between good and evil. The emotional depth of the novel adds an extra layer of richness to the already captivating story. As I followed the characters' journeys, I couldn't help but reflect on the complexities of human nature and the choices we make when faced with adversity.
In conclusion, "The Midcoast" is an absolute triumph, deserving of every bit of praise it receives. Adam White's ability to craft a gripping narrative, develop complex characters, and transport readers to a world brimming with intrigue is simply awe-inspiring. If you're a fan of thrilling mysteries with depth and substance, this novel is an absolute must-read. Prepare to be spellbound by White's storytelling prowess and to lose yourself in the brittle, slow but relentlessly dark allure of "The Midcoast."
An Epic Journey into the Heart of Suspense, “The Midcoast" by Adam White is what I’d term, a “sleeper” novel. It sneaks up on you & slowly but oh-so-surely grabs your entire being, commanding you stand (ok, sit) to attention and take note. It has all the elements of of a more mature coming-of-age tale, a sweeping family drama that doesn’t take the easy roads or pull at heartstrings for the mere sake of it — but rather holds judgment for the reader and allows the individual the ability to make their own assessment, to feel what they wish and to be not the judge, but the observer. I absolutely repeat it & feel it’s an Important novel that commands more attention! So I call upon you to dive in, take a leap of the midcoast small town pier & go swimming through the windows of a tiny sea-town in Maine, and.. laugh, cry, despair, cry and laugh some more but most of all, Observe.
I recently had the pleasure of immersing myself in this quite mesmerising world of Adam White's novel, "The Midcoast." It was rather surprising to me, that from the very first page to the last, this book captivated with its exquisite storytelling, well-crafted characters, and an intricate plot that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout, using the more complex layers of suspense, and the seldomly adopted, art of subtly.
White's masterful prose effortlessly transports readers into the enigmatic world of the midcoast, a place where mystery, suspense, and adventure intertwine seamlessly. With each turn of the page, I found myself completely engrossed in the vivid descriptions that brought the setting to life. From the lush landscapes to the hauntingly beautiful coastlines, every scene was meticulously painted, making it easy to visualize and immerse oneself in the story.
The strength of "The Midcoast" lies not only in its evocative descriptions but also in its compelling characters. Each protagonist is exquisitely developed, revealing their fears, vulnerabilities, and desires with authenticity. Whether it's the resilient yet haunted detective struggling with his past or the enigmatic femme fatale with a mysterious agenda, White skillfully weaves together their storylines, creating a tapestry of complex relationships that kept me guessing until the very end.
The plot itself is an understated masterpiece of suspense, skillfully crafted to keep readers guessing and turning the pages feverishly. White effortlessly balances intricate twists and turns with a steady buildup of tension, ensuring that each revelation packs a powerful punch. I found myself constantly second-guessing my assumptions, as the author deftly planted red herrings and unexpected surprises along the way.
Moreover, "The Midcoast" explores profound themes of redemption, betrayal, and the blurry line between good and evil. The emotional depth of the novel adds an extra layer of richness to the already captivating story. As I followed the characters' journeys, I couldn't help but reflect on the complexities of human nature and the choices we make when faced with adversity.
In conclusion, "The Midcoast" is an absolute triumph, deserving of every bit of praise it receives. Adam White's ability to craft a gripping narrative, develop complex characters, and transport readers to a world brimming with intrigue is simply awe-inspiring. If you're a fan of thrilling mysteries with depth and substance, this novel is an absolute must-read. Prepare to be spellbound by White's storytelling prowess and to lose yourself in the brittle, slow but relentlessly dark allure of "The Midcoast."
November 11, 2022
I honestly was so bored by this book, I don't really recall what happened!
I think it was the constant "he said" "I said" "we said" that just did me in.
It was just not for me...
I think it was the constant "he said" "I said" "we said" that just did me in.
It was just not for me...
August 20, 2022
I think most people are seeing something in the book that I'm not. For me, it was just an ok read. The writing is serviceable enough to tell the story. But I didn't feel any particular way about the book while I was reading it; it felt like someone was telling me the newest gossip that featured a bunch of people that I just didn't care about and didn't know. It's a little interesting while reading, but not exactly engaging.
Maybe I came with the wrong expectations. Because even though it is advertised as a mistery, it is not one. It's more the retelling of the big scandal that happened with a powerful family,giving a little bit of more information than one would find reading it in a newspaper.
Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.
Maybe I came with the wrong expectations. Because even though it is advertised as a mistery, it is not one. It's more the retelling of the big scandal that happened with a powerful family,giving a little bit of more information than one would find reading it in a newspaper.
Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.
December 26, 2022
I’m surprised that THE MIDCOAST was published. Which is not to say it’s a bad book; in fact, it’s a pretty good one. But it’s a weird one, category-wise; it’s been categorized, or at least marketed, as a work of crime fiction, but it isn’t really that. It could be called literary fiction, but it doesn’t feel “literary” in the sense that it’s thematically deep or written in “luminous prose.” It’s more what I think of as a 1980s novel, the sort of tepid roman-a-clef debut that publishers like Vintage Contemporaries used to indulge when they invested themselves into building the careers of talented students in graduate writing programs, letting them work their way up to the home run they’re confident the author will work their way up to somewhere down the road. Only this novel was published in 2022, and the go-big-or-go-home mentality has all but hijacked the book publishing industry, and in that sense a book like THE MIDCOAST doesn’t make much sense. (It’s also a “regional” novel — also a throwbacky notion — in that it’s so much about the Midcoast of Maine that its setting doesn’t really stand in for anywhere else, and yet it’s being marketed as something more than that.)
To add to my puzzlement about THE MIDCOAST — which I read twice and didn’t come out any more enlightened the second time than I did the first — it uses an odd device: the narrator who doesn’t really figure into the story. (I say “story” because I hesitate to say “plot,” because this isn’t really a plotted novel with a recognizable three-act structure and a suspenseful buildup to a clear resolution.) I realize there’s ample literary precedent for the use of “Nick Carraway” narrators, those people who hang around the periphery of the people they’re talking about, and occasionally, by omission more than commission, nudge the characters in certain directions that shade their choices and outcomes. And Andy, the writer trying to tell that story of the rise and fall of the Thatches of Damariscotta, Maine, is no disinterested observer, and Steph Thatch, the family matriarch, is not so far removed from Daisy Buchanan. But in trying to carefully calibrate his distance from Andy and in Andy from the Thatches, author Adam White seems to playing things a bit too coy and cute, and in both readings I found the sections narrated by “I” to be the most tedious ones of THE MIDCOAST. Passages like this labor too hard to interpret that which should interpret itself:
“And while it could be said that I haven’t been at the center of any story that anyone would find very interesting, it could also be said that I’ve been near enough to a few of them. And I think—or hope—that all that matters, returning to that impulse I’ve been trying to identify—the desire to be somehow near-er a tragedy—is what I feel when I’ve achieved some distance from the episode, and the way I feel then is relieved. I’m happy I have what I have. I’m happy I haven’t lost any of it along the way. I could have risked more—and perhaps lived to tell about it and therefore had more to tell—but with all apologies to my younger self, I can’t think of a single instance from my past that I wish had gone another way.”
It’s like, dude, you introduced me to some interesting people in Ed, Steph, EJ and Allie Thatch, so, you know, tell their story, not what you think of their story, you know? Passages like that hint at the unappealing idea that White actually wanted to write something more directly autofictional, or even memoristic.
THE MIDCOAST is at its best when it steps into the point of view of one of the Thatches: Ed, the lobsterman who so wants to give his wife anything and everything that he resorts to crime to do it; Steph, who wants to use her rising social station in Damariscotta to transform it in her vision of it while being carefully not too aware of how she arose into that station; EJ, the kid who doesn’t mind being aware of what his dad is up to until he traps himself by being complicit in it in his role as town cop; and Allie, the youngest, who everybody tries to protect so much that the distance created by their secrets drives her to widen that distance on her own. They’re interesting enough all on their own; Andy’s attempts to provide framing and shading for them register no better than their bloviations of the town drunk on the next barstool; he may have things to say worth hearing but he also has a great deal to say worth ignoring, such as the author’s occasional and awkward attempts to give them greater American significance.
That said, sometimes Adam White gets there; the following passage reminds me sharply of my own hometown of Bainbridge Island, Washington, a coastal place that was once authentically middle-class but has since been overtaken by tourist-centric artifice branded as charm and grace:
“Visitors go to the Midcoast because they think they want something rustic and industrial—the way life should be and all that—but really what they want is rustic and industrial plus one good coffee shop, and if they’re staying for longer than a weekend, then they want all that plus two good coffee shops, because the first one gets boring after a while.
“But then the tourists also want a T-shirt shop that sells gifts to bring home for the in-laws, and then a designer boutique because they weren’t expecting it to get so cool at night and because they’ve talked themselves into spending more money than they’d budgeted for just because they’re on vacation and because it’d be nice to find a knit sweater that matches exactly with their notion of what a well-heeled mariner on the Maine coast might wear on exactly such an evening, and so the town tries to provide all these services until, before you know it, it’s made enough concessions, on behalf of convenience and some imagined version of the town that only exists in brochures—to eventually, not that anyone’s really noticed, because it takes place over years or decades—trade ‘authenticity’ for what feels more like an airbrushed portrait of itself. A caricature. Buildings shaped like factories but containing everything someone from out of town thinks they don’t want but do want, or thinks they do want but don’t want.”
The Thatches are interesting, but only sporadically so, and so THE MIDCOAST registers to me more as an accumulation of satisfying moments more than an actually satisfying novel. But those moments are good: Steph’s weekend look at Amherst College as a glimpse of an alternative future in which she is not the wife of a crooked lobsterman; Allie’s fumbling efforts to leverage her smarts to lift up her lower social position to success among the seamlessly privileged at Amherst; Ed’s constant attempts to equate loving his wife with the necessity of having to lie to her about how they have what they have; EJ’s slowly dawning sadness at realizing that he’s been completely co-opted by his father’s criminiality; and best of all, a scene in which Steph is told the truth about her husband by an investigating outsider, only to find that her first and truest instinct is to negate the power of that truth as ruthlessly as possible.
These portions, around ten or them, tend to stand out to me like islands above a sea of soothing low-stakes, low-suspense narratives (even though they make up about half the novel). Those narratives are well-written, but less absorbing than I wanted it to be, and rarely if ever have the same low and steady hum and thrum of pleasurable uncertainty than the aforementioned sections.
In the end, I found THE MIDCOAST well-written, authoritative about is sense of place, astutely observant about character (White, in my opinion, writes women characters even better than he writes male ones) and only fitfully enjoyable. And even as I say that, I get the feeling that I’m missing something, or maybe it’s just I’m meant to feel like I’m missing something, much like Allie does around all those effortless sophisticates at Amherst and their culturally coded conversations, and Adam White, the product of an elite education, is talking over my head to an audience of readers who share his own sophistication.
All I can share, from the depth and resonance of my second-rate state school education and sloppily self-educating reading ever since, is my own honest opinion: that THE MIDCOAST is a talented portrait of people and place by a talented portrait photographer who, as often as not, lets his out-of-focus finger drift around the periphery of his lens.
To add to my puzzlement about THE MIDCOAST — which I read twice and didn’t come out any more enlightened the second time than I did the first — it uses an odd device: the narrator who doesn’t really figure into the story. (I say “story” because I hesitate to say “plot,” because this isn’t really a plotted novel with a recognizable three-act structure and a suspenseful buildup to a clear resolution.) I realize there’s ample literary precedent for the use of “Nick Carraway” narrators, those people who hang around the periphery of the people they’re talking about, and occasionally, by omission more than commission, nudge the characters in certain directions that shade their choices and outcomes. And Andy, the writer trying to tell that story of the rise and fall of the Thatches of Damariscotta, Maine, is no disinterested observer, and Steph Thatch, the family matriarch, is not so far removed from Daisy Buchanan. But in trying to carefully calibrate his distance from Andy and in Andy from the Thatches, author Adam White seems to playing things a bit too coy and cute, and in both readings I found the sections narrated by “I” to be the most tedious ones of THE MIDCOAST. Passages like this labor too hard to interpret that which should interpret itself:
“And while it could be said that I haven’t been at the center of any story that anyone would find very interesting, it could also be said that I’ve been near enough to a few of them. And I think—or hope—that all that matters, returning to that impulse I’ve been trying to identify—the desire to be somehow near-er a tragedy—is what I feel when I’ve achieved some distance from the episode, and the way I feel then is relieved. I’m happy I have what I have. I’m happy I haven’t lost any of it along the way. I could have risked more—and perhaps lived to tell about it and therefore had more to tell—but with all apologies to my younger self, I can’t think of a single instance from my past that I wish had gone another way.”
It’s like, dude, you introduced me to some interesting people in Ed, Steph, EJ and Allie Thatch, so, you know, tell their story, not what you think of their story, you know? Passages like that hint at the unappealing idea that White actually wanted to write something more directly autofictional, or even memoristic.
THE MIDCOAST is at its best when it steps into the point of view of one of the Thatches: Ed, the lobsterman who so wants to give his wife anything and everything that he resorts to crime to do it; Steph, who wants to use her rising social station in Damariscotta to transform it in her vision of it while being carefully not too aware of how she arose into that station; EJ, the kid who doesn’t mind being aware of what his dad is up to until he traps himself by being complicit in it in his role as town cop; and Allie, the youngest, who everybody tries to protect so much that the distance created by their secrets drives her to widen that distance on her own. They’re interesting enough all on their own; Andy’s attempts to provide framing and shading for them register no better than their bloviations of the town drunk on the next barstool; he may have things to say worth hearing but he also has a great deal to say worth ignoring, such as the author’s occasional and awkward attempts to give them greater American significance.
That said, sometimes Adam White gets there; the following passage reminds me sharply of my own hometown of Bainbridge Island, Washington, a coastal place that was once authentically middle-class but has since been overtaken by tourist-centric artifice branded as charm and grace:
“Visitors go to the Midcoast because they think they want something rustic and industrial—the way life should be and all that—but really what they want is rustic and industrial plus one good coffee shop, and if they’re staying for longer than a weekend, then they want all that plus two good coffee shops, because the first one gets boring after a while.
“But then the tourists also want a T-shirt shop that sells gifts to bring home for the in-laws, and then a designer boutique because they weren’t expecting it to get so cool at night and because they’ve talked themselves into spending more money than they’d budgeted for just because they’re on vacation and because it’d be nice to find a knit sweater that matches exactly with their notion of what a well-heeled mariner on the Maine coast might wear on exactly such an evening, and so the town tries to provide all these services until, before you know it, it’s made enough concessions, on behalf of convenience and some imagined version of the town that only exists in brochures—to eventually, not that anyone’s really noticed, because it takes place over years or decades—trade ‘authenticity’ for what feels more like an airbrushed portrait of itself. A caricature. Buildings shaped like factories but containing everything someone from out of town thinks they don’t want but do want, or thinks they do want but don’t want.”
The Thatches are interesting, but only sporadically so, and so THE MIDCOAST registers to me more as an accumulation of satisfying moments more than an actually satisfying novel. But those moments are good: Steph’s weekend look at Amherst College as a glimpse of an alternative future in which she is not the wife of a crooked lobsterman; Allie’s fumbling efforts to leverage her smarts to lift up her lower social position to success among the seamlessly privileged at Amherst; Ed’s constant attempts to equate loving his wife with the necessity of having to lie to her about how they have what they have; EJ’s slowly dawning sadness at realizing that he’s been completely co-opted by his father’s criminiality; and best of all, a scene in which Steph is told the truth about her husband by an investigating outsider, only to find that her first and truest instinct is to negate the power of that truth as ruthlessly as possible.
These portions, around ten or them, tend to stand out to me like islands above a sea of soothing low-stakes, low-suspense narratives (even though they make up about half the novel). Those narratives are well-written, but less absorbing than I wanted it to be, and rarely if ever have the same low and steady hum and thrum of pleasurable uncertainty than the aforementioned sections.
In the end, I found THE MIDCOAST well-written, authoritative about is sense of place, astutely observant about character (White, in my opinion, writes women characters even better than he writes male ones) and only fitfully enjoyable. And even as I say that, I get the feeling that I’m missing something, or maybe it’s just I’m meant to feel like I’m missing something, much like Allie does around all those effortless sophisticates at Amherst and their culturally coded conversations, and Adam White, the product of an elite education, is talking over my head to an audience of readers who share his own sophistication.
All I can share, from the depth and resonance of my second-rate state school education and sloppily self-educating reading ever since, is my own honest opinion: that THE MIDCOAST is a talented portrait of people and place by a talented portrait photographer who, as often as not, lets his out-of-focus finger drift around the periphery of his lens.
March 31, 2022
Oh a Maine story. Nice debut ... about Andy who moves back to a small town in Maine with his family and becomes fascinated by his old employer's sudden wealth. Andy used to work in his youth with Ed Thatch, a lobsterman down on the docks, and now Ed & Steph Thatch are a bit the talk of the town, with their money and life, and their kids EJ and Allie, who becomes a lacrosse player on Amherst's team. Andy ends up investigating the Thatches for a book and finds out some nefarious activities... that will intrigue you a bit. You'll have to see what becomes of them at the very end.
December 25, 2022
In America field hockey enjoys but a short season, from late August to early November. So in the spring, off-season for the division 1 Iowa Hawkeyes, I enjoy watching nearby small college teams play div 3 lacrosse, not quite so elegant as hockey, but nearly as exciting. (A novel I’d been hatching about a WLAX player accused of murdering her coach was derailed by the Covid epidemic in her sophomore season.) So, The Midcoast by Adam White jumped off the shelf at the public library as soon as I saw that a major character played lacrosse for Amherst in the NESCAC. She is the daughter, not of New England aristocracy, but of a Maine coast lobsterman who seems to risen in the world. As the story opens, Ed and Stephie Tatch are hosting a lobster bake for the Amherst College WLAX team members and their families, in the neighborhood for their match against Bowdoin, when the party is noisily invaded by a posse of state police cruisers. Ed is in his own way a sort of contemporary Down East version of Jay Gatsby, making his way from the lobster pound by way of a talent for burglary and drug dealing. The story is told from the point of view of another Damariscotta contemporary, Andrew, whose trajectory took a different course, from working for Ed to attending Exeter and Amherst on athletic scholarships and after an unsuccessful attempt at screenwriting in California has returned to Damariscotta as a high-school English teacher and lacrosse coach. The narrative and time frame confuse the reader because the story keeps shifting from first to third person and narrates events that Andrew could not have witnessed, although he is supposed to be writing a true-crime book after Ed’s downfall, interviewing witnesses, including Ed’s wife Steph. There could have been more detail about women’s lacrosse; one couldn’t learn much from this story about how the game is actually played and one aspect was totally wrong. On page 248 we are given a schedule with a game against Tufts on May 14th, against Williams (this would be the big one for the Amherst Mammoths) on May 17th and against Bowdoin on May 24th. In fact, the NESCAC WLAX season ends in late April. Ed’s career burgling the homes of the wealthy summer people would probably have been curtailed as well; surely their mansions would have had effective burglar alarms—their insurers would have insisted on that. And in hindsight I wondered how Ed’s son EJ could have been tracked from Amherst to Ohio by the villains. In the Acknowledgements the author says that this book was eleven years in gestation—plenty of time to study-up on burglar alarms. But the low-life scenes in Lewiston were effectively grungy, however, and the upper-class college scenes at Amherst a stark contrast. Despite some clunky detail and an ambiguous ending (though the notion of a sequel seems far-fetched), The Midcoast was a totally engrossing story that I devoured in two days.
July 1, 2022
There’s something to be said for reading a book in a location you’re familiar with. Such was the case for me this past week when I picked up a copy of Adam White’s debut novel, #TheMidcoast while spending a little time in-well, midcoast Maine. White grew up in Damariscotta which is touted as the Oyster capital of New England. A small coastal town that as of the 2020 census had a population of 2,297, and the setting of his novel.
Narrator Andrew has returned to the town of his youth, married with children, his story becomes part memory piece, part investigation as he writes the story of the Thatch’s, a local couple who rose in prominence over the years until their family was effectively town royalty.
But through the shifts between present and past we see what contributed to Ed and Steph Thatch’s rise and influence, and the seeds of a spectacular downfall that are planted in the prologue and grow until the final tension filled pages. White’s story is very good but what elevates it even more is his execution. Instead of a straightforward narrative White moves through the minds and hearts of these characters playing out scenes from one characters perspective returning later to the same scene from a completely different angle in an almost Rashomon like way. I thought it was so clever and such a unique way to unravel the mystery of this family. I think the misconception of the book is that it’s a thriller. I would say it’s more of a literary mystery. A mystery that definitely tightens the tension in the final third and I flew through it to find out what was going to happen. It’s a really smart look at ambition, greed, capitalism, and gentrification, and a terrific debut.
Narrator Andrew has returned to the town of his youth, married with children, his story becomes part memory piece, part investigation as he writes the story of the Thatch’s, a local couple who rose in prominence over the years until their family was effectively town royalty.
But through the shifts between present and past we see what contributed to Ed and Steph Thatch’s rise and influence, and the seeds of a spectacular downfall that are planted in the prologue and grow until the final tension filled pages. White’s story is very good but what elevates it even more is his execution. Instead of a straightforward narrative White moves through the minds and hearts of these characters playing out scenes from one characters perspective returning later to the same scene from a completely different angle in an almost Rashomon like way. I thought it was so clever and such a unique way to unravel the mystery of this family. I think the misconception of the book is that it’s a thriller. I would say it’s more of a literary mystery. A mystery that definitely tightens the tension in the final third and I flew through it to find out what was going to happen. It’s a really smart look at ambition, greed, capitalism, and gentrification, and a terrific debut.
July 11, 2022
Ok I made it through 35% and gave up! This book has gotten a lot of hype and I am always up for a debut novel but this was just a terrible story idea not executed well. We have a couple scraping by - she wants things so he starts robbing houses. Then she wants a better house so he becomes a drug dealer. This is just one of the absolutely absurd plot lines. Don't waste your precious reading time.
August 23, 2022
Not quite a 5 star, but rounding up because it’s a debut and very worth your time.
February 26, 2022
The Midcoast was a good story and the author really knew the setting well. I hope the people on the Maine coast are not as lawless as the people he described. Ed Thatch wanted to give his wife everything she wanted so he did whatever he could to get things for her - land, jewelry, money, power. And she took what he gave her and used it to conserve/update her community. Ed wanted to get his daughter into a good college on a lacrosse scholarship and he used money to do that as well. But it all went badly for him and his family.
While the book purported to be written by a teacher/writer, the point of view skipped around all over the place, giving details he could never have known. The chronology flipped back and forth in time and it wasn't always clear what time period was being described. I really wanted to like the book but I couldn't warm to any of the characters; they didn't seem real enough. More time could have been spent in developing the characters and less time in describing the setting.
Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy of this book. These are my opinions and I was not compensated for writing this review.
While the book purported to be written by a teacher/writer, the point of view skipped around all over the place, giving details he could never have known. The chronology flipped back and forth in time and it wasn't always clear what time period was being described. I really wanted to like the book but I couldn't warm to any of the characters; they didn't seem real enough. More time could have been spent in developing the characters and less time in describing the setting.
Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy of this book. These are my opinions and I was not compensated for writing this review.
June 17, 2022
I’m not too familiar with Maine, since I’m from the West Coast, so it was fascinating to read about the culture there. How lacrosse and lobstering are big in the Mid-Coast. The descriptions were so vivid that at times I felt as if I were there on the the dock in Damariscotta, surrounded by fog and the smell of salt.
Ed and Steph’s unexpected rise in wealth and power is shrouded in mystery and I was intrigued to find out just how far they went to achieve the type of lifestyle they wanted. I’m always drawn to these type of stories because they display the lengths that some people are willing to go. How desperation changes what a person is willing to do. Yet, once I discovered what criminal activity Ed had done I started to lose interest. The story lost a bit of suspense for me after that and I thought it could have been a little shorter. But overall, this is a solid debut.
Ed and Steph’s unexpected rise in wealth and power is shrouded in mystery and I was intrigued to find out just how far they went to achieve the type of lifestyle they wanted. I’m always drawn to these type of stories because they display the lengths that some people are willing to go. How desperation changes what a person is willing to do. Yet, once I discovered what criminal activity Ed had done I started to lose interest. The story lost a bit of suspense for me after that and I thought it could have been a little shorter. But overall, this is a solid debut.
December 7, 2022
Not what I expected and felt all over the place at times and got confused a bunch keeping up with when stuff was taking place and who people were. Strange mixture of being bored at times but also engaged and interested in the outcome of the story. The story itself though was good and interesting even if the execution could have been better.
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