Genre: Fantasy
Published: Tor Books, September 2024 My Rating: 5/5 stars
“When I lived in the city, I dreamed in color, of places where the sea stretched on for miles and miles (…) But what I didn’t expect was that the color didn’t come from the ocean or the trees, or even the island itself. It came from all of you.”
It’s been a while since I’ve pulled out the Good-Bad-and-Ugly format, but I think Somewhere Beyond the Sea warrants it. I truly have conflicting feelings about it, that basically boil down to one question: can you love a final product, despite knowing that it’s roots are in very questionable soil…? In the end: I personally can, and I did in this case. Subjectively, I loved this book and had one of the best times of the year reading it. That doesn’t take away from the fact that there are objective problems with it that I don’t want to gloss over.
The Good:
TJ Klune’s work has had the serendipity to come into my life at the moments where I needed just that the most. During the 2020-pandemic, at a time I was home sick and at a period around (probably) the most important job application of my life… These books were there at times where I needed a bit of comfort the most, and they delivered in spades.
Klunes books, but especially The House in the Cerulean Sea and Somewhere Beyond the Sea are the ultimate cute, cozy and comforting hugs in book-form. I’ve described them as “middle-grade books for adults” before, and still stand by that comparison. They are simple stories, packed with magic, whimsy and adorable characters and interactions. I adored Linus, Arthur, all of the kids and their amazing little chaotic found-family, and was genuinely so happy to be back with them for more adventures. Although it’s very on the nose about it, there’s a beautiful message about diversity, representation and acceptance in both novels that I can fully get behind.
On a very subjective level, Klune managed to pen a (series of) novel(s) that completely transported me to a magical world and brought me uncomplicated joy. That’s worth quite a bit to me personally.
The Bad:
That doesn’t mean there are no problems to be found here. The same arguments fór the book also speak against it. Quite often, this doesn’t quite feel like a story written for adults at all. From its overly simplistic story, to its cartoonish plot-events and often juvenile humor; it’s a perfect book to “switch-off” to, but you really have to be in a particular mood to be able to enjoy it.
I can’t really fault the book for that either, as its clearly a deliberate style-choice. However, some passages feel out of place because of it.
Despite the fact that I love these characters, the amount of “therapy-speak” that came out of their mouths annoyed me at times. There are quite a few instances where characters burst into spontaneous pseudo-academic speeches that sound like they come straight from the pages of an DEI-course-book. Although I often agree with the message, the tone and way they’re integrated feels extremely out of place, as if the author merely used the characters as a vessel to pass on a message. It feels disingenuous within the context of the story; actual people don’t talk like that on the fly. Not to mention, these are supposed to be children doing the talking… Saul especially fell victim to being “just the vessel” for a message, and it ended up taking away from his character development for me.
The Ugly:
There’s an elephant in the room with these stories that I can’t deny, despite subjectively loving the joy they brought me. It’s the root inspiration that sprouted these novels. Klune has been open about taking inspiration from the real-life history of the 60’s-scoop. Many people have rightfully questioned the tastefulness of writing a whimsical/happy story about such a horrific event, as well as Klune’s right to even tell a story that isn’t his in the first place.
Klune cannot be blamed for finding inspiration where he did, but I personally wished he hadn’t publicly linked his story to these events. Thát feels a little exploitative and misplaced to me, especially considering the whimsical and silly tone of the book. Imagine this (I’m trying to illustrate my point with a personal “parallel”, not actually trying to compare situations): I’m a childhood cancer victim. It was horrific and still affects my life to this day. I’m fine reading about this topic in fiction and actually support it. Yet if someone completely healthy were to write a book about a the island of cancer-kids where life is fun and games and everyone is happy… I’d be really upset and everyone would understand. This is the same, only it affects a marginalized group of people, which means the majority-audience won’t be able to relate as much…
The solution to this conundrum was simple; had Klune shut up about his inspiration, I wouldn’t have had this problem. This book, strictly judging its content as a whimsical magical story, is a 5-star read for me. The rhetoric and marketing around it is an easy 1-star.
The afterword doesn’t help… Doubling down on the inspiration, ánd calling out J.K. Rowling (“I want my reputation to be the Anti-J.K. Rowling) is a strange move. Regardless my opinion of Mrs. Rowling, giving another rival author thát much attention and calling them out personally in the afterword of your book feels very immature and unprofessional to me.
The book should’ve ended after that ridiculously adorable final scene…
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