Stern Men

What Ruth does (hang around with her eccentric island friends, fall in love, organize the lobstermen) makes for an engaging book that's all the more charming for its rather lumpy, slow-paced plotting. Gilbert delivers a kind of delicious ethnography of lobster-fishing culture, if such a thing is possible, as well as a love story and a bildungsroman. But best of all, she possesses an ear for the ridiculous ways people communicate. One of Mrs. Pommeroy's young sons, "in addition to having the local habit of not pronouncing r at the end of a word--could not say any word that started with r.... What's more, for a long time everyone on Fort Niles Island imitated him. Over the whole spread of the island, you could hear the great strong fishermen complaining that they had to mend their wopes or fix their wigging or buy a new short-wave wadio."

The beauty of Gilbert's book is that she gives us an isolated rural culture, and refuses to settle for finding humor in its backwardness. Instead she gives us a community of uneducated but razor-sharp wits, and produces an impressive comic debut. --Claire Dederer

Spotlight Reviews
This book is not anything like Eat, Pray, Love (2008-12-20)
Customer Review : 2
If you read her other book Eat, Pray, Love then you will not like this book. It was as dull as a picnic, plastic knife at a July 4th B.B.Q.. The story was alright but not enough to keep my interest. Not to mention that this book is riddled with contsant cussing for the character developmen (I guess) but not necessary. We get the point that they are tought men who fish for a living but goodness, gracious. I am not a prude, and have used my fair share of language that would require the tast of soap to swish around my mouth, but I don't need to constantly read it on every page. If you would like a good and humorous read get Eat, Pray, Love, but I would recomend to not purchase this book.

Excellent first novel! (2008-08-18)
Customer Review : 5
This thoroughly engrossed me and I finished this book within 3 days. The story takes place on 2 fictitious islands and concerns the warring between lobster fishermen. The story goes back and forth between these lobster wars and the lives of some of the quirky islanders. The main protaginist is Ruth and we start to get more and more involved in her personal story. The title isn't very apt because it is really her story more than the lobster wars that take up the latter half of the book. I was a little sorry that there were not more of the men's stories but got caught up in the Ruth saga anyway.
This is a great first novel although it gives itself away as a first novel in the way all the characters seem to have the same "voice." But then, maybe that's how it is on some of these remote Maine islands.
My other complaint is the ending. I won't give it away here, but I just did not find it very believable.
Otherwise, I was very sorry to finish this book!

An island off the coast of Maine and some other quirky characters (2008-08-18)
Customer Review : 5
I read and enjoyed Eat, Pray Love by this author and decided to give some of her other books a look. This was a delightful vacation read. The place is quirky, the people are quirky and yet it all seems very familiar. Gilbert has a knack for bringing characters to life and having them ring true.

entertaining (2008-07-29)
Customer Review : 5
Very entertaining. Good look at life on an island off of the NE coast.

a good read (2008-02-02)
Customer Review : 4
its simple: i really liked this book. yes, it was quirky and sometimes pokey (only in that some of the history was a little tedious), but it was also engrossing and fun. her writing style is comfortable without being patronizing. her characters, storyline and setting are full and vibrant. i am very glad that i found this book and have been recommending it to friends and family alike - and to me, that's the best review of all.