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    Sea Creatures: A Novel
    Sea Creatures: A Novel
    Sea Creatures: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    Sea Creatures: A Novel

    Written by Susanna Daniel

    Narrated by Karen White

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    When Georgia Quillian returns to her hometown of Miami, her husband, Graham, and their young son in tow, she is hoping for a fresh start. The family has fled Illinois trailing scandal and disappointment, the fallout from Graham's severe sleep disorder and Georgia's failed business. To make matters worse, their charming three-year-old son, Frankie, has for months refused to speak a word.

    Although Georgia is still grieving her mother's death from five years earlier, her father and stepmother offer warm welcome—and a slip for the dilapidated houseboat Georgia and Graham have chosen to call home. On a lark, Georgia takes a job as an errand runner for a reclusive artist who lives in the middle of the bay, and she soon finds that time spent with the intense hermit might help Frankie find the courage to speak, and might also help her reconcile the woman she was with the woman she has become.

    But when Graham leaves to work on a research vessel in Hurricane Alley, and the truth behind Frankie's mutism is revealed, the family's challenges return, more complicated than before. As a hurricane bears down on South Florida later that summer, Georgia must face the fact that her choices have put her only child in grave danger.

    Sea Creatures is a mesmerizing exploration of the high stakes of marriage and parenthood, the story of a woman forced to choose between her husband, her child, and the possibility of new love.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJul 30, 2013
    ISBN9780062295644
    Sea Creatures: A Novel
    Author

    Susanna Daniel

    Susanna Daniel was born and raised in Miami, Florida. Her first novel, Stiltsville, was awarded the PEN/Bingham prize for debut fiction. She is a graduate of Columbia University and the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

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    Reviews for Sea Creatures

    4/5

    51 ratings8 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This is a compelling read, in part because of the hints dropped casually like pebbles in the ocean and the oppressive feeling-- not unlike the humidity -- that something bad will happen. We learn that Georgia and her husband Graham are headed south for a fresh start, moving from IL to Miami, FL where her Dad and his wife Lidia are. We don’t know why they need a fresh start. We learn that their 3-1/2 yr. old son Frankie no longer speaks, but we don’t know why. We learn that Georgia suffers from insomnia and Graham suffers from parasomnia, a more drastic sleep condition that includes sleepwalking, so he avoids sleep, but we don’t know the toll this takes on the family. And as narrator, Georgia drops in a lot of “if I’d know then….” type of comments, so of course we want to find out where it is all headed. The fresh start includes a new job for Graham at Rosential/U of Miami using his marine physics degree; he eventually heads offshore for a length of time for work. For Georgia it is to be errand-runner to Charlie Hicks, an artist-hermit who lives in Stiltsville, about a mile out to sea in a small house built on pilings in the ocean (true place!). Frankie accompanies her on these runs and both he and Charlie benefit. For Frankie it is a new pediatrician who doesn’t accept his mutism, and also a speech pathologist who helps him make a breakthrough. The little family lives on a houseboat, moored right off her parents’ house in a canal. Haunting all this dynamic is Georgia’s dead mother, a cancer victim, which is all brought closer to mind by proximity. You can kind of see the storm brewing here…. and it all culminates in Hurricane Andrew, which gives the story a more definitive setting. Clever interplay of characters, thoughtful prose, beautiful ocean imagery and a captivating plot line as you try to determine what is lurking just below the surface. Cue the Jaws music.
    • 4/5
      Bizarre character and situational backgrounds make this one interesting. Severe insomnia, childhood trauma, houses on stilts, Hurricane Andrew...and the kitchen sink. This one explores so many reasons why people should be licensed to raise children, and how those too immature to take care of themselves still end up doing their best in raising a child, with mixed results. It's also why a license to marry isn't a guarantee that'll work out for the best either. Humans are ridiculous, and this group of misfit toys makes the book work. Lots to hash out at book club, folks.
    • 4/5
      Children define you as delicately as butterfly wings and can be as menacing as a nightmare, especially if you can't wake up from the nightmare. Everyone goes through life looking for normal, striving to live, and yet only in doing so can be rewarded with disappointment and death. While not a page-turning with anticipation, there's no doubt it could be an actual memoir, which is what makes it so appealing. Our choices have consequences, and memory. Sometimes the memory is harder to live with than the consequence.
    • 5/5
      I can only think of one word to describe this book and that is "AMAZING". I read Sea Creatures in less than a week because I couldn't put it down. I spent every minute of my free time reading it. I remember finishing the first complete paragraph on page 165 and saying to myself "Wow". I truly loved the story and can't wait to ready her next book.





    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book... the storyline was unique and engaging. The issue that prevented me from rating it higher was my lack of interest in the main character. I didn't care about the outcome as it related to her. As a reader, I don't have to love the protagonist, but I have to feel invested in her (or him). That being said, I can recommend it as good read overall because I did feel compelled to know how the story would end for her son, Frankie and lover, Charlie. I cared much more about these secondary, but engaging characters.
    • 5/5
      Georgia and Graham move back to Miami, where Georgia grew up, after they fall on hard times. They move into a ramshackle houseboat with their 3-year-old son Frankie, who is mute and hasn't spoken in a very long time. Georgia soon takes on a part-time job as an assistant to Charlie, a "hermit" who lives in a secluded stilt home in the middle of Biscayne Bay. Before they know it, Georgia and Graham will find themselves going through more changes than they ever expected when moving to Miami.I saw author Susanna Daniel speak at a local book festival a few years ago, and was so charmed by her and the story of her debut novel Stiltsville that I immediately bought her book at the festival, had her autograph it, and looked forward to reading it. However I got bogged down amid so many other books that I had to read, and the book just fell off my radar beneath my other priorities. But I've never forgotten it, and it still has a place of honor on my TBR shelf in my bedroom (which holds the books which I most wish to read).Now forward to 2013, and I get the chance to read Daniel's latest novel Sea Creatures, which also is about the stilt homes of Stiltsville in Biscayne Bay, Miami. I excitedly accepted the offer, especially since I live in South Florida (although on the opposite coast) and love the "idea" of Stiltsville. I wasn't quite sure what to expect with Sea Creatures.Well, let me tell you, I was delighted. Some of the characters weren't very well fleshed out, like that of Georgia's father, but perhaps that suited the story, as her father was rather absent from her life most of the time, as he was often preoccupied with his own interests. But overall I loved the characters, and I loved the story and the setting.Georgia is a strong, but somewhat confused woman, caught in a whirlwind and unable to get her bearings. She is doing her best, trying to muddle her way through the trials strewn in her path, but realizing that perhaps she has been going about it all wrong.I found Georgia's husband Graham frustrating. He was hard to like at times. Of course, her son Frankie was suitably adorable.But my favorite character was "the hermit" Charlie. An introvert, he realizes that he is better off living away from society and with minimal interaction with others, especially after a tragic event that left him shattered. He now leads an austere life in Stiltsville as an artist, and hires Georgia to assist him.I loved Charlie. I loved his reserve, his social awkwardness, his creative genius, his hidden warmth. And on top of it all, he broke my heart.I’m not a mother, but I thought that the author relayed a mother’s love beautifully, as she struggles to figure out how to do best by her son.And there are times throughout the book when Georgia reflects on what motherhood really means, how it changes a woman, how her dreams and desires shift to accommodate the position. When once you may have done reckless and impulsive things, you begin to hold back, thinking of your children and the fact that they need you.And mothers are flawed and human, and simply do their best, and often find themselves feeling inadequate and falling short of their expectations for themselves.My final word: Why have I put off reading the author's debut novel for so long? After reading Sea Creatures, I am now eager to pick up her debut novel and experience her writing once again. She writes with authenticity and warmth and honesty, and her stories take place in my backyard, making me feel as if I've come home after a long, hard day and settled in my favorite chair with a cup of hot tea...and, of course, with a great book. Loved, loved, loved it!
    • 3/5
      So, I enjoyed Susanna Daniel's Stiltsville, so much so that I was surprised because, from the cover, I had thought it would be just another chick-lit book (meaning pleasant, but unforgettable). However, it stuck with me, and so, when I saw that Sea Creatures was available for review, I snatched it up, anticipating another interesting, thoughtful read.For the rest of this review, visit The Lost Entwife on August 8, 2013.
    • 4/5
      A child changes everything. Since I've had children, I've gotten a bit more fearful about things that carry any risk, real or just perceived. As the character in Susanna Daniel's novel Sea Creatures, says, there's more at stake now. When you have a young child, you think things through more even if you weren't a reckless sort before. Someone else is dependent on you and you act accordingly. I first read Susanna Daniel's Stiltsville two years ago so when I saw that she had a new novel out about a mother who is faced with the choice of saving her young son or of saving her husband, I was immediately intrigued.Georgia Quillian is married to Graham. They met when Georgia, who suffers from insomnia, went to a sleep clinic for help with her condition. Graham was also in "Detention" at the sleep clinic only his problem was parasomnia, which goes far beyond insomnia. And so these two people who could not sleep slowly created a life together. Georgia started a college counseling business and Graham was a professor at Northwestern. They lived in his family's cottage on a lake outside of Chicago and eventually Georgia gave birth to son Frankie. But life was not rosy. Graham's condition did not improve. Georgia's business was failing. Her mother died of cancer. Three year old Frankie stopped speaking. And then something happened with Graham because of the parasomnia, an incident so large that it made the papers and guaranteed that he'd never get tenure, pushing him out of his job. So when he is offered another job tracking weather patterns with a scientific institute in Miami, Georgia's hometown, the family pulls up stakes to go. If they're not entirely optimistic about the move, they are at least slightly hopeful that this will be a new start.Not wanting to actually move into the house with Georgia's father, a professional musician, and her kind, motherly stepmother, Georgia and Graham buy a small, shabby houseboat and dock it at Harvey and Lidia's, giving them the illusion of their own space. But Georgia finds she is at loose ends on the tiny Lullaby so when Lidia suggests that she run errands and become a sort of personal assistant to a reclusive artist who lives out at Stiltsville, Georgia agrees. The professionally successful Charlie, whose wife was a friend of Georgia's late mother and also of her stepmother, draws amazingly intricate line drawings of sea animals. He's banished himself to Stiltsville to stay away from people but he develops a deep and real bond with the selectively mute Frankie and eventually with Georgia as well.Meanwhile Graham has left on a ship that will be out in Hurricane Alley for weeks tracking weather conditions, leaving Georgia and Frankie behind. And it is only when he is gone that Georgia and Frankie's doctors start to get to the bottom of what has caused Frankie's complete and total silence. This revelation is a gathering storm in Georgia's life, as is her growing attachment to Charlie and her looming decision about Frankie's and her future. Mirroring the inner emotional turmoil and tension is the rising development of Hurricane Andrew far out in the ocean. Both storms will lead to terrible devastation and change Georgia's life forever.Narrated by Georgia so that everything is from her perspective, the novel jumps from present back to Georgia's past, what made her who she is, and her understanding, as far as she she's able to understand it, of Graham's past and the demons there. Her unspooling of the past also shows her feelings about her parents, how she wants to be as a parent herself, and where she finds Graham's inattentiveness with Frankie frustrating. Daniel has done a good job capturing Georgia's worries, insecurities, and her guilt over any dangers, real or imagined, to which she has exposed Frankie. Her depiction of a mother's all consuming love, the way that the mother of a small child fits the rest of her life around the existence of that one little person, and the way that a marriage already straining can come apart at the seams because of a love and loyalty to the result of that marriage are all spot on. The narrative pacing is deceptively slow with an almost imperceptibly rising tension that culminates in lashing after lashing of breaking storms. The characters are not perfect and they make mistakes but aside from Graham, who is somehow unknowable despite all of Georgia's explanations about him, they are very real and human. There are some gut wrenching moments here and a well done picture of motherly love and protectiveness and all its flaws as well. Sea Creatures is a novel of marriage and motherhood, love and what we owe family, an emotional novel about the choices we make, the compromises we can live with, and what brings us to the breaking point.