User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
You know what, I'm bailing on this one.
Creatures is like a mash-up of Mostly Dead Things and Costalegre, neither of which I was a particular fan of. Of course, all three of these novels came out recently, so any similarities among them are no one's fault. But what
is this book's fault (or its author's, editor's, publisher's) is that
Creatures is dull and dreary, pivoting quickly from its interesting premise into seemingly endless, tedious backstory. Even the author blurbs on the cover can't seem to muster much enthusiasm: They all praise the book's themes. Its themes! Forgive me, but I can't help but think that you don't praise a novel's themes unless you can't come up with anything else to praise. And when it comes to fiction, interesting themes just aren't enough to carry the day.
Creatures is basically a standard coming-of-age tale in semi-rough circumstances (parents' divorce; alcoholic parent, that sort of thing), albeit in a somewhat unusual setting. But standard coming-of-age tales in semi-rough circumstances are everywhere and I personally have had my fill of them, at least for now. If I had known that's what
Creatures was, I would have politely declined when a publisher representative offered me a galley. So thank you to the publisher; I may try again with this at some point, and if I do I'll revisit my opinion here. But at present I must be moving on.
Rating: really liked it
My guess is this will either really resonate with people...or really not. (And if it doesn't resonate, you're lucky. I'm the child of two narcissists--my mother and the narrator's mother could be sisters--I know very, very well what it's like to have desperately needy parents and what it's like to choke down a scream because it's amazingly hard to be the mature one at, say, 10.)
Usually novels that deal with relationships like this leave me ugly crying or unable to finish; a childhood like the one depicted here isn't something easily revisited. The non-linear format and the author's (and/or editor's) cutting anything unnecessarily sentimental made it a lean, engrossing story.
(How engrossing? I forgot to pick up waiting groceries until five minutes before my pickup time ended.)
Rating: really liked it
Beautiful setting, gorgeous prose but a challenging format. Winter Island is where Evie's mother left her and her father. Evie had some security but often her father moved them from place to place on the island. She basically raised herself, often taking care of her father, the man who was supposed to be taking care of her. She manages the best she can, but relationships are difficult.
This story skips around and it is hard to follow at times. It does do a good job showing how the abandonment of a parent and an unorthodox upbringing, causes trust issues. This is something that will effect relationships, friendships and a true sense of self. The descriptions of the natural world are amazing and the facts on whales, interesting. This book is beautifully written, the author a true talent.
I just hope her next is easier to follow.
"We dip our feet into a thick carpet of ocean foam and sink our hands into holes filled with water. We touch the roughness of red and orange sea stars, and my mother gently pokes the center of an anemone with a stick. She collects stars and puts them in her pockets. The dogs are wet and shaking water into our pants, and I can't help but gaze past the rotted whale to the line of fishing boats that are far away but close enough to really see them.
We keep waiting for darkness."
Rating: really liked it
Evie is worried about her fiance who is late returning from his trip at sea. Liam is employed as a fisherman and spends weeks at a time outside of port. While Evie waits for her upcoming wedding day she reflects back on her dysfunctional childhood and her trust issues with long term relationships. Her parents were both negligent and Evie was forced to raise herself while building an emotional wall to keep out the pain.
Evie’s mother left her family while she was a young child. Her visits were infrequent and she would become inaccessible for months at a time. Her father was an alcoholic who made cash selling marijuana to seasonal tourists. Together they were often homeless or living with friends because he could not keep a steady job. As the date of the wedding approaches, Evie is forced to spend time with her mother which unleashes her suppressed issues.
This is a unique debut novel by Crissy Van Meter. It is beautiful yet also dark and complex. I am interested in seeing what this author will be writing next.
Rating: really liked it
2/9/20
Welp. I tried to read this one for a couple of month, but unfortunately it did not grab my attention long enough to make it through.
15/1/20
Reading this for the Belletrist book club - excited!
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Rating: really liked it
I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway.
I'm sorry to give this book such a low rating, but Crissy Van Meter's
Creatures just didn't hold me. While I wanted to find literary merit in the way the story was told, I had a difficult time justifying some of the authorial and editorial decisions that were made undoubtedly to push this work more towards the abstract. To me, this story doesn't need to be abstract in order to be "literary." The artfully crafted prose, married with the way the text raises questions about what it means to be loved or unloved/to be human or creature is enough for it to be considered "literary." I suppose, in the end, I think the book tries
too hard to be something it already is.
One of my biggest hangups with this story is the jumpy timeline. Not only are the events of the story all twisted together so that every chapter takes on a different moment in Evangeline's life (and oftentimes boomerangs from present to past, from past to present), but the interspersed snippets of Evie's research break up the narrative even more. Instead of a sweeping, momentous novel about the various collisions between earth and sea life and the plethora of metaphors the author creates about the two, this story becomes a jumbled mess of time leaps that leaves the reader somehow simultaneously bored and exhausted.
The blurring together of meaning and boundaries Crissy Van Meter attempts within this novel does work, but is simply overdone. Because of the choice to tell the story in such a messy way, it seems like there are multiple, parallel timelines happening all at once, all about the same characters. Because of this, I had a really difficult time developing any attachment whatsoever to the protagonist and secondary characters - a sentiment I've seen mirrored in other reviews. The tragedy and absurdity of some of the more moving moments of this story fell flat because I didn't much care for or about any person in this book.
While I didn't find this novel particularly compelling in any way, I truly hope that other readers will enjoy it more than I did. In the end, it just wasn't my cup of seawater, but perhaps it will be someone else's.
Rating: really liked it
Van Meter's debut novel, which an afterward makes clear is largely autobiographical, is one I initially was resistant to, since I tend to prefer straight-forward, plot heavy novels with clear, chronological time lines - and this was the exact opposite. But dang if it didn't eventually win me over, and I appreciated the craft that went into the gorgeous, shimmering, evocative prose, and the lyrical, dream-like quality of the writing. It also tackles some fairly heavy themes: addiction, abandonment, betrayal, redemption and forgiveness - but never gets heavy-handed, or preachy.
The elliptical structure is perfect for the material, and if the reader is not always clear about where one is in time, or what has or hasn't happened, or how characters relate (I was annoyed that a semi-major character, 'Tommy', is just popped into the narrative without explanation, and who he is, is not explicated till almost the end - but then when the penny drops at just the right time, one sees how beautifully Van Meter has control of her material) - it all eventually makes a quirky kind of sense.
Each character is carefully delineated - and if I could not personally relate to a lot of their lives (most suffer from some form of addiction), I could empathize and ultimately care about most of them. The setting becomes as much a character as any of the human ones, and I had to Google to see if Winter Island in Southern California was an actual place (...turns out there is no Winter Is. down south - it seems to be vaguely based on one of the Channel Is. - but surprisingly there IS one up north in Contra Costa County - where I have lived most of my life, but had never heard about!).
There are scenes in the book that are truly memorable, not least the beautifully rendered final chapter, and I will be eager to see what Van Meter writes in future.
My sincere thanks to Algonquin Books for the review copy, in exchange for this honest and enthusiastic review.
Rating: really liked it
If you are not a fan of literary fiction then I would steer clear of this one. This was a very literary read, where (in my opinion), absolutely everything was planned out before hand, even down to how the table of contents were structured on the page. If I had read this in e-galley form, I'm sure some of that formatting would have been lost and thus the peek into how Ms. Van Meter saw the the pieces of this book come together.
There was so much creativity and thought put into the story of Evie, who lives on an island off the coast of California. A mother that comes in and out of her life and a free spirit father who works on boats and sells weed, make for a very interesting upbringing. All Evie wants is normalcy, but she never really finds it. I struggled to understand her love for her father, but I thought the author brilliantly wrote Evie’s relentless need to gain approval from a mother who turned her back on her more than once.
This is a story that isn’t told in linear fashion, but I throughly enjoyed how Van Meter put the story together and shared facts about different wildlife that inhabited the island. I felt the island was just as much a character as the living and breathing ones.
Timing will be everything with this book. I find I have to be in the right headspace to read something that makes me think this hard. Luckily, I read this at the right time.
Thank you to Algonquin Books and Crissy Van Meter for the opportunity to read and provide a honest review.
Review Date: 11/02/2020
Publication Date: 10/27/20
Rating: really liked it
Thank you so much Algonquin for my free copy.
Crissy Van Meter’s CREATURES is the Belletrist selection for January and I could not be more excited. When I saw the cover I was mesmerized and when I started reading I was captivated. And when I saw that Melissa Broder and Leni Zumas put their stamp of approval on this ravishing debut, I had no doubt I would love it.
Evangeline or “Evie” grew up on an island off the coast of Southern California. Her mom left her early on and seldom returned so her father raised her. He wasn’t conventional by any means as he was an alcoholic, drug addict, and never held down a steady job. Evie struggled through a very difficult childhood and this novel reveals what she went through and how it affected her.
The nonlinear timeline can be a bit tricky, but it really worked for me. The book’s sole narrator is Evie and it begins a few days before her wedding day. The narrative shifts from the present to the past, back and forth, much like the tides around the island. It’s an emotional, poignant, and provocative read that deeply explores a dysfunctional family – always an interest of mine.
Just like we are all creatures of our existence, Evie is a creature of hers - a creature of her mercurial upbringing and the island in which she was raised. CREATURES is a story filled with intricacies, heartbreak, and dry humor, written in a lyrical, poetic manner with a wildly beautiful island backdrop.
Rating: really liked it
Originally published on The Nerd Daily | Review by Seven Jane
Dream-like and lyrical, Creatures by debut author Crissy Van Meter is a story that ebbs and flows like the tide—delicate, inevitable, and mesmerising.
On the eve of Evie’s wedding, a storm has washed a dead whale into the harbour of Winter Island, a fictional and feral island off the Southern Californian coast. While her fiancé may be lost at sea, the storm has brought home Evie’s long-wandering mother. This pivotal moment serves as the starting point for a story that weaves through past, present, and future, pulling the reader along effortlessly as we traverse Evie’s lifeline. We learn that she was raised a child of the island, a creature perhaps of circumstance rather than upbringing while her father peddled drugs to tourists on the island, and we watch as Evie struggles at every turn to reconcile the lush wildness of the island that is her home—and in all its glorious complexities—the lush wildness that is herself. In the end, the journey of the tale is as wholly beautiful and provocative as any single moment, making Van Meter’s debut a powerful exploration of the complexities of human emotion and the lengths a heart will go to in order to love.
Written to mimic the tidal charts she studies, Evie’s story is told through alternating timelines that some readers may find confusing, but is not without merit; this disorientation is a requisite component of the story and skilfully and intentionally written. Reading Creatures is sort of like floating underwater, where we lose sense of what is now and real and find ourselves immersed in a world that is boundless and fluid, but no less deadly. This intersection of fact and fiction is rather like life itself, where boundaries blur and we must craft our own version of the truth from cobbled together information and experience.
A debut that is anything but ordinary, Creatures is subtle yet intentional in its symbolic connection to elements of the natural world. Still, it’s just as deliberately a story of the uniquely human condition. The cyclical nature of Evie’s journey—from child to adult, and in various degrees of wholeness between—is profound. At times heart wrenching and still darkly funny, there is poignancy even in Evie’s exposure to childhood traumas, from a neglectful mother to a toxic if well-meaning father, a best friend that is equal loyal and betraying. Like Evie, we are given the opportunity to explore concepts of grief and forgiveness, as much as for the self as for those who have wronged us.
And that’s what this reader thinks sets Creatures apart: it’s a reminder that, like Evie, we are all lush and wild creatures, beholden as much to the world around us and all its lovely juxtapositions as we are doomed to the same inevitability as the whale that washed up in the harbour of Winter Island on the eve of her wedding.
We have all known a woman like Evie’s mother. We have all known a man like Evie’s father. We’ve all had a friend like Rook. We’ve all loved someone like Liam. They are all water, moving in and out of our lives, sometimes coming, sometimes going, but always leaving their mark on our hearts.
In the end, though we may not yet realise it, we’ve all been Evie and her whale. We have all been ravaged by the water. We tumble, we float, we drown, and we resurface.
Rating: really liked it
So pretty, evocative, alive. Just the sort of book I love and want to read/reread. Beauty on a sentence level, raw emotion and clicked-on senses, immersive. This book feels like being afloat and letting the ocean take you (and take you) while telling you its story in storms and sun. I loved and loved it. A lot.
Rating: really liked it
Thank you to Thomas Allen & Sons for the review copy!
I think literary fiction is either a hit or miss for many people, and for me, this was kind of a miss. I wasn't exactly enchanted by the story, or its characters, which is too bad because I really wanted to like this!
Rating: really liked it
Thank you to Algonquin Books for having me in this book tour for Creatures by Crissy Van Meter.
Set in a beautiful island off the coast of Southern California in a lush wild lands of Winter Island is the heart breaking story of Evie. In a series of unfortunate events occur in the eve of Evie's wedding with a dead whale trapped in the harbor, her fiancee late from returning from his trip out at sea, and her estranged mother shows up to complicate matters.
As all these issues are crashing down at Evie, she looks back at her dysfunctional up bringing from parents who were both neglectful - a mother who leaves Evie as a young child only to be left to an alcoholic father who peddles marijuana to tourists in the island.
The writing of this story is both poetic and lyrical - certainly a character driven story told in a very unique perspective. There are a lot of symbolisms and found the writing beautiful, very deep, sometimes dark but very much real and will touch your heart. I felt for Evie - my heart broke for her and her childhood. Every one who reads this will find something to relate to in this moving story.
I had an incredible time reading this fabulous story and glad to read a book set in Southern California.
Rating: really liked it
The writing was so captivating!
The story itself was a little bit confusing but overall I loved the flowery prose and fell in love with the characters too. They all had such difficult lives but the story was told so well.
Rating: really liked it
This was an absolute wonderful, poetic and lyrical book. Was intruiged by the cover and blurb but wasn't prepared for the greatness of the story. I'm so glad I've listen to it when I'm in a reading slump as it really showed me why I should keep trying to read and listen.
