Feb 24

Feb 24 How to Build a Boat

About the book

Author: Elaine Feeney
Publisher: Biblioasis

More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.

Buy and support indie bookstores (+ I earn a small commission):
Bookshop.org (print) | Libro.fm (audio)

My Review

My latest Booker Prize longlister, and while I see its merits, I’m not super surprised that we didn’t see this one on the shortlist. I was a little hot and cold on it; sometimes I felt super engaged and sometimes I felt the opposite. All in all, I think I am slightly to the positive side of neutral on it.

As you might expect, this is about what happens to characters as they learn to build a boat rather than how to actually build a boat, lol. But I also think it’s about characters searching for proverbial life rafts. That said, I’m not exactly sure how the two main plot lines tied together; they left me feeling like there was something unresolved even though that isn’t quite the case.

All in all, I think this book is stunning but a bit superficially. It has really stunning prose, especially the ending — if you love books that sing like poetry, this might be enough for you. I just didn’t necessarily feel as connected to it at a deeper level. Still, glad I read it!