The Big Bath Read 2014 discussion

I'm just back from tonight's Live Book Group at Midsomer Norton Library and I can report that the group decided to award The Sea Change 7.9 out of 10. (I personally awarded it 8.5 out of 10. Which went some way to off-setting the person who awarded it only 5 out of 10 -- which they said was a generous score for them.)

There is some pictorial evidence of this meeting on our Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/BathFestivals

The responses were fascinating - and similar to many that have been posted here. Most people felt it was an excellent book despite some flaws. Most agreed that the tsunami storyline was weaker than the Imber storyline (in fact everyone agreed that -- no-one would speak in defence of the tsunami storyline, even though we conceded that it was necessary for the "big reveal" at the end of the book). There was the same general feeling that has emerged here: that you just felt compelled to keep reading, even though sometimes you didn't quite know why.

No-one else in the group fancied Pete. And they all looked at me very strangely when I suggested it as an option.

One member of the group recommended Patricia Wastvedt's The German Boy as a good follow-up after The Sea Change.

I agree with the tsunami v Imber assessment.
I also felt that the mother / daughter link was weak. Had there been more to this throughout the book there would have been more to hold the interest.
Whilst I enjoyed her style of writing, I believe the sentences were over-egged. I felt Rossiter must have written the story initially, and then re-written it with every sentence being carefully constructed to impress the reader. For me, less would have been better, it would have felt less contrived, and therefore more naturally creative.

Thanks, Diana, fantastic assessment!