Stern Men

For those who can identify with the folk who inhabit the costal towns and villages of New England, you will be pleased with the character descriptions provided in the book. The problem is not the idea of the story, nor the writing style. The problem is the emphasis placed on certain characters and activities that in the end did not matter and may have offended those of us who remember the books by G.W. Brace.

I hope Ms Gilbert will try again.


Solid, Engrossing, Excellent   June 19, 2002
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

A really fine new novel which I picked up after reading a favorable review in the NYT---and I've enjoyed the read. It's the story of an island off the coast of Maine (a fictionalized Vinalhaven, I think), mostly about the coming-of-age of Ruth Thomas, tenously-descended from the granite-quarry-owning rich family which once ran the island. It reminds me somewhat of the Bennett's Island novels by Elisabeth Ogilvie, but Stern Men has a much more modern setting and feeling. We certainly hear enough about the history of the island, its rivalry with its neighbors, and the ongoing "lobster wars" of its fishermen, but the characters are so intriguing and eccentric, the storytelling so solid, that it certainly never feels like an historical novel--nor does it feel like a romanticizing of a "vanishing way of life" and all that bushwah. These folks are grittily involved in making a buck and getting on with their lives.

I liked it as well as The Beans of Egypt, Maine or The Funeral Makers or Strong for Potatoes, all fine novels dealing with middle-to-lower-class Maine characters. A welcome addition to the genre.