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A review by spinesinaline
The Inland Sea by Madeleine Watts
4.0
Thanks to Pushkin Press for a copy to review! More reviews at https://spinesinaline.wordpress.com.
There’s a lot I liked about it including the lyrical writing, some things that were confusing or slow, lots I’m still working out.
This was more of a 3.5/5 for me, mostly because of the pace. I was intrigued by the MC but it felt very slow-moving and it wasn’t until the last section that I really felt invested.
It’s pitched as “a meditation on coming of age in a dying world” and I can certainly see that in this book. There are several big ideas at play here that seem to serve both as plot elements and larger metaphors: namely climate change, sexual assault and harassment, and this coming of age.
All three of these interact in detailing the main character’s life, both her personal experiences and the lives of others she gets to witness through her work as an emergency dispatch operator. The increasing fires around her in Australia, attempted assaults on herself and women who call in, as well as an ongoing assault case that she follows on the news, her increased feeling of a lack of safety as she hears daily all the ways that people can be injured or killed.
These all coincide with and contribute to her coming of age narrative, which feels more like increased self-sabotaging — heavy, blackout drinking, unsafe sex, starting an affair. I felt like her friend as I read along with her journey, wanting to call her out for her harmful choices but also seeing that she was in an out-of-control spiral. She can’t seem to distance herself from the triggers around her and the actions she’s taking; despite trying to remain neutral to the emergency calls that come in, she normalizes the amount of trauma she engages with each day.
However, the book also feels like it goes beyond this one person. I can’t quite gauge what the purpose or meaning of the book is yet. I assumed when I started that it would be more about this woman and her ancestor, but on finishing the book it feels more like a reflection on society, both climate change and treatment of women. Whether it’s a larger message or simply the story of this one young woman, I think it does it quite well without coming off as too “teachy”.
I’m not usually a fan of sexual assault in books but although this one uses it as a metaphor and actual descriptions throughout, I did find it an honest and more necessary portrayal than in most books I read. The harmful portrayal of women “asking for it” and their stereotypically more passive position in society is used quite often in comparisons with the dying world. There is some graphic content and the overall theme is present through the whole book so something to be aware of if you’re uncomfortable with the topic.
One thing that slightly bothered me, though it wasn’t largely important to the story, was the passage of time. We clearly start in January and are meant to be following a year in the life but I couldn’t make out how fast the months were moving. There are also a number of flashbacks to important occurrences from the past year (school, relationships), but I was confused how much time had passed in trying to work it out myself. It would’ve been helpful to have more guidance here, though perhaps those from Australia would have an easier time with their knowledge of seasons and the school system.
There’s a lot I liked about it including the lyrical writing, some things that were confusing or slow, lots I’m still working out.
This was more of a 3.5/5 for me, mostly because of the pace. I was intrigued by the MC but it felt very slow-moving and it wasn’t until the last section that I really felt invested.
It’s pitched as “a meditation on coming of age in a dying world” and I can certainly see that in this book. There are several big ideas at play here that seem to serve both as plot elements and larger metaphors: namely climate change, sexual assault and harassment, and this coming of age.
All three of these interact in detailing the main character’s life, both her personal experiences and the lives of others she gets to witness through her work as an emergency dispatch operator. The increasing fires around her in Australia, attempted assaults on herself and women who call in, as well as an ongoing assault case that she follows on the news, her increased feeling of a lack of safety as she hears daily all the ways that people can be injured or killed.
These all coincide with and contribute to her coming of age narrative, which feels more like increased self-sabotaging — heavy, blackout drinking, unsafe sex, starting an affair. I felt like her friend as I read along with her journey, wanting to call her out for her harmful choices but also seeing that she was in an out-of-control spiral. She can’t seem to distance herself from the triggers around her and the actions she’s taking; despite trying to remain neutral to the emergency calls that come in, she normalizes the amount of trauma she engages with each day.
However, the book also feels like it goes beyond this one person. I can’t quite gauge what the purpose or meaning of the book is yet. I assumed when I started that it would be more about this woman and her ancestor, but on finishing the book it feels more like a reflection on society, both climate change and treatment of women. Whether it’s a larger message or simply the story of this one young woman, I think it does it quite well without coming off as too “teachy”.
I’m not usually a fan of sexual assault in books but although this one uses it as a metaphor and actual descriptions throughout, I did find it an honest and more necessary portrayal than in most books I read. The harmful portrayal of women “asking for it” and their stereotypically more passive position in society is used quite often in comparisons with the dying world. There is some graphic content and the overall theme is present through the whole book so something to be aware of if you’re uncomfortable with the topic.
One thing that slightly bothered me, though it wasn’t largely important to the story, was the passage of time. We clearly start in January and are meant to be following a year in the life but I couldn’t make out how fast the months were moving. There are also a number of flashbacks to important occurrences from the past year (school, relationships), but I was confused how much time had passed in trying to work it out myself. It would’ve been helpful to have more guidance here, though perhaps those from Australia would have an easier time with their knowledge of seasons and the school system.