Ship Sooner

by Mary Sullivan

Ship Sooner hears everyone and everything in her sleepy Massachusetts town. The sounds of frost forming on glass, a rabbit hopping on just-fallen snow, and a fork crimping a piecrust are as clear to Ship as an old Sinatra tune playing at full volume in the town diner. Misunderstood by her classmates and ignored by her disdainful older sister, Ship consoles herself by listening to the sounds of others’ secrets: her mother’s lips pressing against those of a balding salesman’s; her sister Helen’s trysts in a secluded shed; their family friend Trudy’s breath quickening as she cuts the hair of the town priest; and her only friend Brian Dodd’s promising his parents not to tell where he goes with them on Sunday afternoons.

Ship’s isolation intensifies when Brian disappears inexplicably the day after Christmas. During the long winter of 1981, as Helen retreats behind her slammed bedroom door and their mother is increasingly absent, Ship keeps vigil for Brian and slowly loses hope. But as winter melts into spring, an unexpected cry from the woods will lead her to make an astonishing discovery, one that compels her to abandon all that she has known and set out on a journey that will transform her life.

This is the story of a gifted young girl who comes to realize that what has cut her off from others has also given her the means to become her truest self. In vibrant prose, Mary Sullivan captures the tender and tough essence of an adolescent whose extraordinary sensitivity teaches us to listen for those softest of sounds—of hope, need, and desire—that whisper through all our lives. Ship Sooner is an utterly original character whose distinctive voice and startling perception of the undertones of everyday life will hook readers from the very first page and linger on in their memories long after the last page is turned.

Genres: Fiction, Coming Of Age

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 20, 2004

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Mary Sullivan is the author of the forthcoming YA novel in verse HIGH (Fitzroy/Regal House Publishing). Her other books include: Dear Blue Sky, a MG novel for which she won the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle Award, Ship Sooner, and Stay, and she has ghostwritten for the Beacon Street Girls series. She is the also the recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant for Literature, a Rona Jaffe Foundation Award, and a St. Botolph’s Award. She was chosen as one of the Border’s Original New Voices. She is a freelance editor and teaches at Harvard Extension and Summer School. Mary lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband and their four children.



(http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/...)

Reviews

[Sanja_Sanjalica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I expected a different type of book, the plot turned quite dark and unexpected, but it was still captivating and I had to read on to find out what happened. It shows certain ugliness of life and everyday people, but it still has some hope underneath.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I loved the idea of a character with hypersensitive hearing, and I'll give credit that this aspect of the book was delivered thoughtfully and consistently, despite coming at the reader in the same list format each time. That said, the writing was meh, the dialogue was awkward and poor, and the plot had simply way too much going on with it, and most of the major conflicts are not resolved in the end. Pass.

[Stacie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very different book. Ship can hear what ordinary people cannot. She's different, but she doesn't like being different. Her best friend that she likes more than a friend ends up leaving and she's lost without him. Her sister hates her hearing gift and treats her horribly for it. Their father left when they were little and their mother is always taking care of her best friend that almost died. But towards the end the story takes a weird turn and I really don't understand the ending and what the authors intentions were with the plot.

[Tori · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not at all what the blurb makes it out to be.

[Sara G · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is such a bizarre book, I am surprised I read it more than once.

[Jesenja · Rating 1 out of 5]

Loše potrošeno vreme. Likovi su tipizirani, radnja predvidljiva. Očekujući nešto, makar nešto drugačije, iznenađujuće, pročitala sam je do kraja, i ništa.

[Stacy K B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ship Sooner, a young teenage girl, with the overbearing power of hearing. This 'gift' is overbearing, as the entire town knows she has the capability to hear things beyond that of any other human. Ship hears the snow fall, the leaves fall, the sigh of a friend behind a wall... even the secrets of others, that sometimes get her caught in the middle.

Ship Sooner's best friend, Brian, and herself are inseperable. Sooner aslo has an older sister, Helen, who has a mind of her own.

One day Ship's life takes a turn when her best friend, Brian, dissappers unannounced, the day after christmas. Ship fears this is her fault, and turns inward to herself, while trying to find Brian. One day, Ship hears something, in the woods, near her house. Ship hears distant cries. She follows the cries and what she discovers is more than something in the woods.

This story is about a young girl who has a gift that sets her apart from everyone else, until one day she realizes that the difference is not negative, but something that helps her figure out exactly who she is; her characther strength. The underlying pull of the book is hope, courage, love, understanding and strength. An interesting way to get to the root of the cause. Where the story is not one of complete strength, the underlying story is of great value that will leave one pondering for just a little while longer...

3.5 out of 5

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ship Sooner is a girl who has supernatural hearing from birth and tends to use it to accidentally listen in on conversations of her family and the people in her town.
The beginning of the books reads terribly. I couldn't understand who was who, who was talking, who they were in consideration to the main character, or if it was past or present.

The author has a tendency to jump around at random points to tell something that happened in the past, then jump back to the present without the readers knowledge. It takes a few pages for the reader to realize this.

The story could have had a thicker plot line and a better ending. For such a thin plot, it could have been half the size that it was. There was too much time spent on randomly walking around the characters town, and too much building up of mysteries that weren't that exciting when you found out what they actually were.

It is a decent read for a young adult reader if they are looking for something other than "Girl meets boy and fall in love." I wouldn't reccomend it to anyone other than young adults.

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I finished the book, I didn't like the ending. In fact, I didn't really like the book. This book was about a girl named Ship, she can hear everything and anything. She has a beautiful mother and sister. She likes her best friend Brian, but Brian is always staring at Helen, Ship's sister when she's around. One day, Ship sees something she shouldn't see. Few days after that Brian moved. Ship wanted to o and find Brian, but she has no idea where Brian moved to. Another day, when she was at the woods at the back of Brian's house, she found a baby. At last, she found out that the baby was Helen's, the father was her boyfriend, not Brian. And Brian came back, he said he went to military school. Brian didn't stare at Helen anymore. He said that he was worried about how Ship would be worried about him.
I think the ending should be something like Brian finally realized that he should be liking Ship, and he asks Ship out. Ship is really happy, and she tells him she likes him. I would like that kind of ending.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another book that could do a great deal more with a great deal less. Ship, who has exceptional hearing (she can hear a whisper from far away) lives with her mother and sister Helen - Dad has long since left. Her only friend is Brian, the boy next door, who has an unseen mother and a father who is a little... different. Their story, how they relate to each other, how Brian's 'meeting' with Helen affects their relationship, ditto Brian's sudden disappearance, would have been enough. Add in her yearning for, and questions about, her father and you've got a nice story.

Instead we have Ship's finding a baby in the woods and rescuing it by running away to find her father. HUH? That felt totally unnecessary. It added an element that really jarred with the rest of the book. And the episodes with Rabbit and the white dog? Why?

[Xing · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t really like this book because the book doesn’t have a climax that brings up reader’s excitement. The book talks about a girl name ship who has exceptional hearing, she can hearing what dog can hear. She is abnormal according to her exceptional hearing. However, she doesn’t like her special talent because she wants to be normal like the others. Furthermore, there are many problems in her life and she is really struggle to make thing better. Ship doesn’t have a father because he left her when she was little. That’s another thing that make Ship difference from others. Ship’s dream is nothing for other people, but for her, it is very difficult to achieve because she can’t do anything about it.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really hooked on this book, when I first started reading it. However, I really hated the ending. The baby, that Ship found, belonged to her sister, Helen, who had buried it in the woods. With Ship's super hearing, she heard the baby cry and went to find it. From there on, the book went downhill. On the last page, Helen finally admits it's her baby. They discussed what they would name her, and then the last paragraph was so weird, I had no idea why it was there, and the very last word was Listen. Does that mean that was what they named the baby? Just a really big let down. Wish someone would explain the last page. I actually looked to see if pages had been ripped out, at the end, since I bought it at Goodwill. Very big dis appointment to me.

[Marisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ship Sooner is a Massachusetts teenager with dog-like hearing. Though she is ridiculed and teased by other kids for her hearing, she also knows many people's secrets. Ultimately, her incredible hearing leads her to discover something she never saw coming.

The story itself is compelling and well-written, but it's the author's attention to detail that really stood out for me. It's easy to imagine, reading this, the sensory overload that comes with hearing do much, and how, when she wears her ear caps to dull sound, food loses its previously "metallic" taste.

I will look for more by this author.

[Michelle Farinella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ship Sooner is a coming-of-age story about a girl who has been "blessed" with exceptional, canine-worthy auditory skill. Cool premise. I had high hopes. There were sad, beautiful moments of great prose and vivid detail, but ultimately it didn't hook me. I kept saying "wow...yeah...love that....but what is the story about?" By the time a story surfaced I had few pages, and little patience, left.

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

The idea of this novel (young girl has supernatural hearing - she can hear everything and must keep earbuds/caps on to survive normally) was very intriguing and handled well. The rest of the story was not quite as entertaining. Ultimately, I would have preferred this as a novella. It was a bit melodramatic for my liking. Overall, however, it's worth giving it a try.

[Valerie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was alright, but I believe it could have been much better. I would recommend this book for anyone who is into modern tales of everyday life. I relate this story to a older version of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants in terms of the presents of a unrealistic element involved in a everyday life setting.

[Hnolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ship Sooner was born with extra-ordinary hearing and as a result, she hears lots of things a young girl should not hear. Her family does not appreciate her talents and are very caught up in their own problems. When Ship comes home with a baby she heard crying in the woods, it turns their world upside-down. Interesting coming of age tale.

[Notcathy J · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cathy has circled "Lyrical..." from the blurbs and written, "always a danger sign."

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book a year or so ago and really enjoyed it. It's so different - it takes you for a lot of emotions too. Highly recommend

[Powells.com · Rating 5 out of 5]

With stunning writing and characters, Ship Sooner had me enthralled throughout its eerie story. I hung on every word. Magic! Recommended by Adrienne, Powells.com

[alisonwonderland (Alison) · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can read my thoughts here.

[Rea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book several times in a span of 20 years. I think it ages beautifully. I've grown beside it, and every time, I see it with different eyes. It's one of my favourite books. #slowpaced

[Shongi ❤️ Leana Rae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhere near the end, everything just got confusing. It seemed like the last third of the book was too rushed, not properly knitted into the wonderful first parts.

[Stefanie Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Mary sipp rigby · Rating 2 out of 5]

wierd but good