When Elmhirst comes close to breaking the fourth wall, that contribute to the pleasure of this exciting book. You know as a reader that you are in very capable hands ... A fascinating narrative ... She doles out the adventures, such as they were, and tells them vividly ... So much more than a shipwreck tale. It’s a story of love and strength, a portrait of a marriage that — for all its oddities — is a true partnership.
Elegant and propulsive ... Elmhirst has created something remarkable of her own: a piece of lyrical narrative nonfiction ... In Elmhirst’s delicate, humane depiction of the couple, her choice of narrative framing, her pacing and her compassion, she renders A Marriage at Sea an act of beauty in its own right.
An enthralling account of a partnership in extremis ... Elmhirst sets her reader down inside a world that is both tiny and vast, at once ruthlessly monotonous and violently unpredictable ... Visceral.
Elmhirst depicts the early stages of their journey with flair. Her prose evokes the rhythms that shaped their routine ... With short chapters and taut sentences Ms. Elmhirst’s book sails along briskly, enhancing a drama in which Maurice and Maralyn boosted each other’s morale as their bodies declined ... Elmhirst is drawn to what makes a marriage function, even thrive, despite punishing circumstances. She vividly renders the power of the sea around them ... Elmhirst’s final act lifts her narrative into the realm of poetic revelation, though, far richer than mere entertainment. Marriage is its own odyssey, tacking from peaks to troughs like a boat cresting gale-whipped waves. A Marriage at Sea is a transfixing, beautiful work, its deeper currents steering us forward, whether we realize it or not.
Gripping ... To say Elmhirst’s book is nail-bitingly tense at times is an understatement ... Aside from all the adrenaline boosting and gory reports of oozing butt sores, rancid meat and lack of potable water, part of what makes A Marriage at Sea so compulsively readable is Elmhirst’s meditation on the Bailey’s relationship as their marriage is put to the ultimate test.
It’s billed as a love story; I don’t know if it is. Whatever held the Baileys together, whatever kept them alive, was stranger and plainer than love, harder to come by, and even harder to explain ... Has an admirably light touch; her short sentences contain something of the Baileys’ emotionlessness, their desolation, silence, and the slow putrefaction of their faculties. Her eye for detail also brings alive the surreal sensory fusillade of the couple’s improbable rescue ... I badly wanted to know how their marriage fared in those years and the ones beyond ... I don't understand.
This beautifully conceived book by Sophie Elmhirst, her first, retells the Baileys’ story not just as that extraordinary tale of endurance, but as a singular and universal kind of love story ... Interesting ... The emotional acuity of the book lies as much in those passages of high drama as in the before and the after of them ... The result is a compelling book about a shipwreck, but also as thoughtful a tale about marriage, for better and worse, as you are likely to read.
May be based on real events, but it has the feel of fiction – all the better to convey the thoughts, fears and coping strategies of the pair as they fight for survival. Elmhirst finds rich source material in Maralyn’s diaries ... Astonishing.
The first third of the book is action-packed ... The pace falters, though ... Still, Elmhirst’s writing is lovely, often lyrical ... Reveals the stunning journey and ordinary flaws of one couple’s marriage—a relationship that, despite its unusual setting, mirrors the challenges of so many others.
Enthralling ... The grisly details of survival are narrated by Elmhirst with vivid immediacy, and her handling of the lead-up and the aftermath are equally fascinating.
