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    The Shore: A Novel
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    The Shore: A Novel
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    The Shore: A Novel
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Shore: A Novel

    Written by Sara Taylor

    Narrated by Jenna Lamia and MacLeod Andrews

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    An ambitious, Baileys prize-nominated debut set in an unforgettable place, introducing a powerful new voice in fiction

    The Shore: a group of small islands in the Chesapeake Bay, just off the coast of Virginia. The Shore is clumps of evergreens, wild ponies, oyster-shell roads, tumble-down houses, unwanted pregnancies, murder, and dark magic in the marshes. Sanctuary to some but nightmare to others, it's a place that generations of families both wealthy and destitute have inhabited, fled, and returned to for hundreds of years. From a half-Shawnee Indian's bold choice to escape an abusive home only to find herself with a man who will one day try to kill her, to a brave young girl's determination to protect her younger sister as methamphetamine ravages their family, the characters in this remarkable novel have deep connections to the land, and a resilience that only the place they call home could create.

    Through a series of interconnecting narratives that recalls the work of David Mitchell and Jennifer Egan, Sara Taylor brings to life the small miracles and miseries of a community of outsiders, and the bonds of blood and fate that connect them all.

    Spanning over a century, dreamlike and yet impossibly real, profound and playful, The Shore is a breathtakingly ambitious and accomplished work of fiction by a young writer of remarkable promise.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMay 26, 2015
    ISBN9781101922729
    Unavailable
    The Shore: A Novel

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    Reviews for The Shore

    3.5/5

    96 ratings29 reviews

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    • 5/5
      With the little I knew of Sara Taylor's The Shore before I started it, I was expecting a typical generational story with the Virginia islands of Chincoteague and Assateague as the setting. A nice comfortable beach read. That wasn’t at all what I got and I’m not in the least bit disappointed. The first story totally upended my expectations and I knew I was in for a different and altogether interesting ride. The Shore is told as a series of non-linear short stories, with the characters and family members in one story turning up in another. The story lines are gritty and dark, and the characters mostly unpleasant, with women generally getting the raw end of most deals. At first I found the stories that take place in the future to be a bit out of place, but by the end I found they pulled the book together and offered up some interesting questions. I would have loved to have gotten a fuller picture of Chloe – perhaps an entire book with just her and her family’s story, but that would have been a different book altogether. 4.25 stars with fair warning that it’s not for the faint of heart. My thanks to the publisher for supplying a free ARC for review.
    • 3/5
      I mostly really liked this book, except for the two chapters that took place way in the future. It's really more of a collection of short stories, all the characters just happened to be related in some way. Some of the stories/chapters were very powerful, almost too graphic, but those were the best ones!!!
    • 3/5
      The Shore: a group of small islands in the Chespeake Bay, just off the coast of Virginia. Many generations of families live and have lived on these remote islands. There are the wealthy and the destitute. We are introduced to many of those families and taken through many generations at the same time. This was well written and although I found it a little confusing, the stories of these people was fascinating anyway.
    • 5/5
      Brilliantly realized, with great writing and vivid characters. There's a lot of jumping around in time, but it's easy to figure out how all the characters relate to each other and I liked the way that Taylor demonstrated the themes of the book in vastly different time periods. One of my favorite books from this year's Bailey longlist.
    • 4/5
      Short story collection or novel? Perhaps because I read this book over a short period of time, I really appreciated the interconnection of the people and stories which makes me vote novel. In spite of that, it was challenging to make the connections since the stories weren't in chronological order, but randomly arranged to give bits and pieces of the whole picture with each new story. The eras range from the late 1800's to nearly 30 years in the future. I really had to work hard to keep my focus, but certainly not my interest. The Shore was well written and a poignant view of the families that settled these barrier islands over multiple generations. For most of characters, the land has an irresistible pull and is almost like a trap that locks them into a cycle of poverty and despair. There is an sense of joylessness to many of these stories that touched my heart. In spite of that, there are many individuals who are kind or at least try to find a purpose or meaning to their lives. Because of that, I saw this to be a redemptive tale and found myself enjoying it much more than I expected. If you can look past the randomness of the telling, you might also find this to be a special and memorable book.I thank Penguin Random House and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.
    • 1/5
      A group of small islands off the coast of Virginia are simply known as The Shore. There are thirteen interconnected stories ranging from the year 1876 all the way to 2143.

      When the stories weren't boring, they were morbid. The book is forgettable. It was hard to keep track of everyone. Sometimes I couldn't even get through a paragraph I hated the book that much. If I hadn't of won this through Goodreads First Reads I would never have finished it.
    • 4/5
      The Shore by Sara TaylorWanted to read this book because it's about islands off the eastern coast-similar to a place where I grew up.Major differences are evident right from the start. The community does not help one another out.Although this is an ARC there are missing pieces: the family tree. That would explain why the book seems to be random chapters of thingshappening to people that live on the island. Also the dates on the chapters go from the 1800's to the 1900's. Book follows a family that liveson the islands generations ago and in the future. Where the island I grew up on I'd be able to rely on others the islands in this book arebrutal. Some are lucky to have left once they've been abused enough. The men tend to think they hold the power in their hands and they are GOD.The women, even though some stand up to the abusive men, get caught up in the island and the way things are done, taken for granted.It's a game of survival, only the strongest will survive. Did enjoy the talk of the black magic and island natural habitats and untouched places.Thought a few scenes didn't have to be so graphic and have dreams of them still at night after reading the book. Felt like I was there observing the rapeas it happened and found myself helpless. Author does an excellent job of allowing you to be there but not physically-very detailed scenes. The drugs, drinking, making of liquor, bullying and how the families were raised are a big part of this book.When fighting for guardianship of our niece I was with my parents and at times told them 'you raised us too good' as we had never seen half of whatwas brought before the judges in the court room. This book took me out of my comfort zone and am glad I was able to get through the whole book. Family tree at the beginning will help you understand that you are reading about one extended family through the years.I received this book from Library Thing in exchange for my honest review.
    • 3/5
      I mostly really liked this book, except for the two chapters that took place way in the future. It's really more of a collection of short stories, all the characters just happened to be related in some way. Some of the stories/chapters were very powerful, almost too graphic, but those were the best ones!!!
    • 5/5
      Interconnected stories focusing on one family from the 19th century to the 22nd and their experience of "home" on the islands off the coast of Virginia. The family connections and feelings about the place and people they come from are complicated, but each story elucidates a sharp angle and a bittersweet experience. Taylor's writing is confident and restrained, even as she details the harsh brutalities experienced by many of her characters. This may well deserve 5 stars, but I'm giving it 4.5 for the simple reason that I always felt at some remove from what I was reading and 5 star reads usually need to engage me fully and forget myself. Still, a wonderful debut and a simultaneously beautiful and harrowing read.
    • 4/5
      An intriguing debut novel. What I find interesting is the multitude of characters who may or may not be related in some near or far way. Most descend from Medora, a half-Indian woman whose stories take place in the 1800s. Other characters either associate with one of her descendants or married one. Another intriguing feature is the shifting narratives - not just who narrates and when, but how. Most are third person, a few are first person, and one is second person. A couple of the first person chapters kept the reader waiting until near the end of the chapter to put a name to the narrator. From the killing done by spouses, children, friends, acquaintances to the drug and drink used by many characters, these people struggle through their lives on the edge of the "rich people's" island of Chincoteague and the wildlife island of Assoteague. They live near the chicken processing plants and potato farms that sustain the families as best they can. They fight and run and fight some more. There is also an element of magic in the characters that can control the storms of the shore.All in all, I enjoyed this book. Since it is an uncorrected proof, the family trees are not yet printed in the front. I love family trees! I'll try to sketch out my own version from my notes and compare to the finished product in the near future.
    • 3/5
      I was fortunate to win an arc of this book from Librarything. The author is new to me. She clearly has talent but the book was confusing at times. The book takes place over more than a century. "The Shore" tells the story of one family living on a group of small islands in the Chesapeake Bay. The family tree was missing in the arc and would have been helpful throughout the book. I hope readers will give this author a try. I will look for future books by her.
    • 3/5
      As you begin the first chapter of THE SHORE, right off the bat you think you might be in trouble. The mouth on the hard, young protagonist is part of it, as is the present tense which always seems to put you, well, too much in the present. You feel like something terrible is going to happen, and you're going to be right there when it does, and it sure enough does. So, you're off to an edgy, disturbing start.The promised family trees for the front (not in this pre-sale edition) will be a big help in some respects, but not absolutely necessary. At some point, about three chapters in, it became easier to give up trying to keep track of the connections.Strong, vulnerable women doing heinous things to survive and the predatory nature of men. The connecting thread of the story-chapters seems to be that men are dangerous to women, or such losers that women should steer clear of them. You can't be alone with them, you can't work with them, you can't safely be their daughters or their wives or even their neighbors. A woman is only safe in a world of women. It made me sad, not hopeful. These stories are not inspiring, as all the growth is one-sided, and there is no reconciliation. It is a harsh environment even in the midst of the natural beauty.I get the feeling that the writer knows these characters very, very well, but she doesn't let me know them well enough. The resulting effect is a low grade frustrated longing. This may be deliberate on the author's part, to create in the reader the kind of nostalgic want that the characters and the author feel for the place, which is clearly the main character in this collection of short stories/chapters.There is the mystical and there is the apocalyptic. Neither one is especially developed satisfactorily. That being said, Taylor is clearly talented. Her characters do come alive, and her sense of place is vivid and powerful without being heavy handed. I cannot decide whether or not to recommend this book. Although most of the narratives are too dark for my taste, and the overall effect is too fragmented, I nonetheless believe this is a writer to watch. I hope to read more from her soon.
    • 4/5
      The Shore is the first novel written by Sara Taylor. It provides a brief synopsis of families that are connected in some way, spanning over a century. As said in prior reviews, a family tree would have been helpful as I found myself rereading prior chapters to refresh my memory of the characters. At times, the jumping around left me confused. Yet, the writing has me wanting to read more from this author. Hopefully, a future novel would not be as fragmented and provide more character development. This was a book provided as an "Early Reviewer".
    • 3/5
      The Shore is a unique book. I found this novel to read more like a collection of short stories. I did have a hard time connecting the characters to each other and found myself re-reading several sections. I think a family tree would be a great point of reference. This is an impressive first novel for this young author.
    • 2/5
      This book started with such promise and then fishtailed and ran off the road. The "stories" take place on a group of small islands off the coast of Virginia. The first chapters take place in 1995, 1933, 1992 and 1886. Then it gets more and more confusing as it takes a binder to keep track of all the characters. If that was not bad enough two of the last three chapters occur in a post apocalyptic world in 2037 and no kidding 2143! Not bad for under three hundred pages. The book is well written but the author's ambition is out of control as she veers into wackiness.
    • 3/5
      While I really enjoyed almost all of the chapters in this book, it was a bit confusing at times. I kept having to reread chapters to figure out who was talking or being talked about. I just chalked it up to myself reading it a little bit at a time over a number of days, but I see from some of the other reviews that others were confused as well. I think a family tree would have been fantastic. I love finding those in the beginning of books, even a map would have been a great addition. I also wonder if it would have been easier to follow if the chapters were in chronological order. Great stories, if at times a bit gut wrenching. I'd love to hear more from this new author.
    • 4/5
      I loved The Shore by first time author Sara Taylor, it was well written but I had trouble relating who the characters were in some chapters, but enjoyed reading about life on the Barrier Islands and how the human survival of a tough breed is set against different types off odd over the centuries, I like the style of writing and will look for more booksby Sara Taylor
    • 5/5
      [The Shore] is a wonderful first novel. It is set in some small, isolated islands off the coast of Virginia and Maryland. Told from multiple points of view, we learn snippets of the history of some of the island families in each of the chapters. The story travels back and forth in time, and, at times, the family tree would have been helpful. However, as the reader progresses through the book, the connections start to become clear. One disadvantage of this style is that when a narrator is especially beguiling, we miss him or her when we move on to the next one. In some ways the structure reminds me of David Mitchell, but this is no mere copy.The setting and characters will stay with me for a long time. I will definitely look for more work by Sara Taylor.
    • 4/5
      The Shore is a dark tale of interconnected families living on a small group of islands off of Virginia, covering a few hundred years and tragedies too many to count. Bleak is not a strong enough word for this book, and if you have a trigger, there is a warning somewhere for you in this book. Rape, murder, drug abuse, domestic abuse, it's all here. The ARC doesn't have a family tree, and it really would have been incredibly helpful with the narrative jumping back and forth through the years and between narrators, styles, tenses.Although I am not typically one for this kind of southern gothic fiction, Taylor's writing kept me engaged as I read deep into the night. It also gave me nightmares, which tells me that the next book I read from her will need to be day-time reading.
    • 4/5
      If you're looking for a nuanced take on Southern Gothic, this is the novel for you. Murky backwoods, brutal patriarchy, ambiguous morality, and an underlying mysticism are the underpinnings of these stories. The Shore is Winesburg, Ohio's disturbed, time-hopping, meth head cousin...and it's great. Taylor's novel features a series of interconnected vignettes, each highlighting a different character, trauma, and era. The physical islands that comprise the Shore carry enough weight and pull that they are almost a character of their own. If Flannery O'Connor is among your favorite authors (as she should be) then you'll enjoy this book. Sara Taylor takes up the torch of creating a dark, almost absurd, mythos for the modern South and does so with skill.
    • 3/5
      This book is comprised of several short narratives that span well over a century and are connected foremost by their location off the shore of Virginia. As each individual story unfolds, the common thread of lineage unravels. The author is a gifted storyteller, but the tone of the book is too dark for me.
    • 3/5
      I’m not sure how to classify Sara Taylor’s debut novel, The Shore. It’s part contemporary fiction, part historical fiction, and part futuristic fiction. Maybe this is one of those times that literary fiction fits the bill. as I was reading, it did remind me of Sherwood Anderson’s classic Winesburg, Ohio.Told in related vignettes, these are the stories of those who live on a remote group of three islands off the coast of Virginia. At times, the islands have a significant population and at times the population is so low it’s not worth counting. The population makes up three classes of people: the wealthy vacationers, those who work on the mainland, and those who are so poor that those who inhabit the Appalachian Mountains seem rich. However, Taylor focuses her stories on that lowest rung.At the beginning, there is a complicated genealogy chart that became easier to decipher as I read. The first story is about Chloe and Renee. It’s a heartbreaking tale of abuse, poverty, and childhood. Chloe narrates this episode that has a shocking conclusion.After the first narrative, I found it difficult to figure who exactly who was narrating, but usually by the time I read each chapter’s end, I could figure it out. However, (there’s that troublesome word again) in the chapters where the characters did not fit into the family tree, I had no idea who was talking.I will admit that I only read about 10 pages of the last story. It takes place in 2143, and I couldn’t out how the characters fit in; they are not listed on the chart. I don’t feel like I missed anything by passing on the final few pages. I have mixed feelings about this novel. At times at I LOVED it; at times I HATED it. That’s why I give The Shore 3 out of 5 stars. I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.
    • 5/5
      With the little I knew of Sara Taylor's The Shore before I started it, I was expecting a typical generational story with the Virginia islands of Chincoteague and Assateague as the setting. A nice comfortable beach read. That wasn?t at all what I got and I?m not in the least bit disappointed. The first story totally upended my expectations and I knew I was in for a different and altogether interesting ride. The Shore is told as a series of non-linear short stories, with the characters and family members in one story turning up in another. The story lines are gritty and dark, and the characters mostly unpleasant, with women generally getting the raw end of most deals. At first I found the stories that take place in the future to be a bit out of place, but by the end I found they pulled the book together and offered up some interesting questions. I would have loved to have gotten a fuller picture of Chloe ? perhaps an entire book with just her and her family?s story, but that would have been a different book altogether. 4.25 stars with fair warning that it?s not for the faint of heart. My thanks to the publisher for supplying a free ARC for review.
    • 4/5
      The Shore, Sara Taylor’s debut novel, delighted, confused and disappointed me. For one, and this is no fault of the book, the advanced reader’s copy did not include a family tree, which will be provided in the final, published version. I definitely could have used one. Readers will find it necessary to give the book some continuity. I was really taken with the story and the lives of the inhabitants of both modern day and the Shore’s past, but when Taylor went apocalyptic and futuristic with her story she totally lost me and I couldn’t follow the plot line. I was particularly disappointed in the way she chose to end the book. That aside, I still felt the novel had merit and was obliged to give it a rating of four because when it was good, I thought it truly compelling. Strong characters, an interesting setting, and tough, often gut-wrenching scenarios saved The Shore for me.
    • 4/5
      Spanning the years of 1876 -2143, "The Shore" tells the story of one family living on a group of small islands in the Chesapeake Bay. The family is replete with poverty and violence. Only one of the stories comes back around to tell you a little more of that character, but it’s the perfect one. It was the one story with which I was left wanting more. Sara Taylor does an excellent job of bouncing back and forth in time and then coming to a satisfying end. Very good book!
    • 4/5
      The Shore
      Sara Taylor

      It has taken me a while to write this review for no other reason than procrastination. It is uniquely done with time flips between the past, present and the future. Despite the wild time travel, the story flows and each vignette opens a door to more information about the families and community on the small islands comprising The Shore.

      The story exposes the raw human drama that occurs in everyone's history. This dark Southern work is replete with the "uglies "of human nature…rape, murder, drugs and bastard babies. Despite these heavy themes, the author has crafted a beguiling debut novel that draws you further and further along the shorelines.

      A word must be said about the descriptions of the setting on The Shore. I am not a lover of seashores and Southern heat but the author has me suspending my feelings and picturing myself on these islands with these well defined characters.

      So much could be said but I just want to conclude by saying….grab a glass of sweet tea, a hand fan and settle into your rocker for a wonderful read!
    • 5/5
      This book took me on such an adventurous, unique journey – I truly loved it. The book is set up with separate chapters depicting characters and time frames, all interrelated to each other, spanning the years from 1876 through 2143. Yes, that’s right – 2143!! I almost feel that I should review each and every chapter to give a complete review as each is a story in its own right, some being better than others. I will say that the first chapters packs such a wallop that I know after reading it, you won’t be able to stop.First, there’s the Shore, a group of three islands in the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. Complete with wild ponies and oyster-shell roads, beautiful beaches and worn-down houses, it’s a fascinating place indeed. But not half as fascinating as the characters this author has created. The descendants of Andrew Day and Medora Slater are numerous and their stories are spellbinding. I often referred to the family tree that’s included at the beginning of the book and was glad that I was reading a hardcover edition rather than an e-book so I could keep referring back to it. It helped me keep straight who was who. Though it’s not totally necessary and I didn’t find the book confusing in that regard. I just liked to see who was descended from whom. Ms. Taylor has created such a unique, unforgettable world that, while I don’t often re-read books I’ve already read, I may pick this one up again one day to experience it all over again. This book has it all – mystery, intrigue, love, heart break, joy and even some black magic. An author who can start out this strong is certainly one that will bear watching closely.Highly recommended. I was given a copy of this book by Blogging for Books in return for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      The Shore by Sara Taylor is a rather stunning debut, and a unique look at multiple generations of people, past, present, and future, who live on “The Shore”, which is the name of a group of islands in the Chesapeake Bay, off the coast of Virginia. Taylor offers the reader interlocking vignettes of various families to create her novel. The Shore is offered as a place of refuge to some and misery to others, both wealthy and destitute, what each story has in common is The Shore, which holds many secrets and as the stories are told the secrets are unraveled over a span of a century. While I found this form of novel interesting, since it is not a collection of short stories, but rather interlocking stories unfolding to create a novel, it left me not really feeling overly connected to any of the characters or even able to relate to the various family issues that are ever present on The Shore, I enjoyed the book up to the futuristic vignette, which I personally did not enjoy, and yet overall it is not enough to make me dislike the novel. The writing is beautiful, descriptive, and solid, it is in actuality a rather quick read and one I am glad I read. I look forward to Sara Taylor’s future works of literature. I would recommend The Shore to book discussion groups, as there is a lot to discuss.
    • 5/5
      The backbone of Sara Taylor’s stunning debut novel is its majestically desolate yet marginally life-sustaining setting. “The Shore” is set on three wind-swept and salt-marsh-covered barrier islands (Chincoteague, Assateague, and Parksleyk) off the coast between Virginia and Maryland (two exist and one is fictional). It is this unique setting that forms the dominant focus uniting the thirteen separate, but tightly linked stories, to create a lush literary whole. In brief, this is a book about human survival, survival of a tough breed of humans set against different types of odds over many generations. In this novel, Taylor shows us that these islands have endured with a balance of wildlife for centuries. For the human inhabitants in particular, there are salt marshes, wild herbs, crabs, oysters, and plover eggs in abundance. One of the islands, Chincoteague, is famous for its feral herd of ponies. These small horses are actually no different, genetically, than regular wild horses on the mainland. It is the island’s poor habitat that has caused (via insular dwarfism) their diminutive size to evolve over generations. These islands have had a similar transformative effect on their human populations--not physically but psychologically. The islands have transformed these inhabitants into a tough breed of survivalists. First, there were the Indians, then the handful of settling farmers, and finally, in modern times (living close to the temporary urban vacationers with all the trappings of civilization that they require), are the ragtag modern descendants of the former settlers and Native Americans. These mostly destitute people dwell in the marshes and salt dunes eking out an existence as modern-day hunters and gathers, as minimum-wage “slaves” of a local chicken slaughter and processing plant, as fly-by-night construction workers for the vacation-condo economy, and (for a lucky few) as wealthy landowners. The stories in this novel deal with all these different types of year-round island inhabitants. All are survivors of one type or another. Their stories roughly cover two centuries of human occupation, from the mid 19th Century to the mid 21st Century. Two stories take place in the future; it is a time when the islands have become a refuge for human survival on a much wider scale. Minor characters in one story appear again as major players in another. The stories jump around in time between different generations. From one story to the next, readers will recognize characters in different stages of their lives or their descendants. The violence in one story may be psychologically better understood through the child neglect revealed in another. For me as a reviewer, it was extremely difficult to remember all the characters and how they were related to one another. I had to take extensive notes. I had a pre-publication copy that did not yet contain the “Family Tree” illustration that will no doubt help you, as a post-publication reader, to make better sense of the complex string of relationships among the book’s large collection of odd and fascinating characters. These are stories rife with violence, yet they are also elegantly balanced with all that is good, endearing, and normal in human nature. Most of these stories revolve around a serious crimes, including assault, battery, mayhem, and rape. In addition, they include elements like alcohol abuse, drug dealing, child neglect, and wife abuse. The stark realism of the eleven historical stories heightens the feeling of authenticity about the two stories set in the future. This is a novel that immersed me so completely inside many different worlds, I felt like I was breathing the same air. Reading it was a remarkable experience. Frankly, this book doesn’t need marketing. It just needs (somehow) get into the right hands! I’m confident once a strong literary reader opens it and starts reading, it will become obvious that the writing is stunning and the stories are both emotionally rich and intellectually satisfying. I’m confident that each story will compel the reader to continue, chapter after chapter, linked story after linked story, until it becomes obvious that there is something very special going on that lashes everything together into a powerful and unique whole. In essence, the book sells itself.