Sea Wife (Gaige) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Gaige has been towing you to tragedy with the graceful crawl of a poet and the motorboat intensity of a suspense author.… [She] tells the story of a family adrift, spun so thoroughly and vigorously out of their comfort zone that they eventually lose sight of the horizon. Finding out how… makes you appreciate the firm, familiar ground under your feet.
Jennifer Egan - New York Times Book Review


Sea Wife is a moody and compelling literary novel about the hidden depths of a marriage. It nods to, but does not fully embrace, the conventions of suspense…. To Gaige’s credit, the final resolution of the Partlow’s differences is achieved in a fashion that even the most sharp-eyed reader won’t be able to spot.
Maureen Corrigan - Washington Post


Gaige here fractures a single, suspenseful plot into… two first-person narratives…. Cutting between storylines generates narrative suspense…. Gaige is a superb maritime writer. She writes beautifully about water and sky… [and] makes sailing seem both an existential drama (when a storm hits, it’s like Lear on the heath) and a complex technical enterprise.
Boston Globe


Gaige's razor-sharp novel is wise to marital and broader politics. But it's also such gripping escapism that it feels like a lifeboat.
People


Cuts to the heart of mundane marital strife and the legacy of trauma.
Elle


(Starred review) [A] splendid, wrenching novel…. Gaige balances …a profound depiction of the weight of depression and the pains of a complicated relationship. Every element of this impressive novel clicks into a dazzling, heartbreaking whole.
Publishers Weekly


This book's unusual structure is effective once you figure out what Gaige is up to. There are multiple layers to explore for… literary scholars or a… book club, as Gaige has much to say about… marriage, particularly in our current political/cultural climate. —Christine DeZelar-Tiedman, Univ. of Minnesota Libs., Minneapolis
Library Journal


[T]he challenges of two people finding themselves on opposite ends of the political spectrum to Juliet’s depression, which leads her to give up on her dissertation, and the challenges of life at sea, this surprising novel is stunning and deep.
Booklist


Gaige sometimes strains to keep the couple’s parrying going… and a late-breaking murder mystery that feels tacked-on. None of which sinks the story, but it does dampen its power. A powerful if sometimes wayward take on a marriage on the rocks.
Kirkus Reviews