Stern Men

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.


Character Vignettes   June 17, 2002
 4 out of 8 found this review helpful

This is not a very cohesive novel. It is more a series of character vignettes. The characters all, for the most part, come from one island, although there are appearances of others from a sister island. Once you get used to the fact that not much is - or will happen - the writing is good and the characters rather quirky. The book - and its main character - only seem to progress in the last sixty pages or so. Another reviewer is right on the mark when she said the book cover is misleading. The blurb appears to be written by someone who never cracked the cover of the book. Any similarity drawn between Stern Men and Shipping News is a tremendous disservice to the latter.

Unfortunately, the good writing does not get this book out of the quagmire the author produces by making inbred characters with no place to go on these two isolated islands.


A Great Read, but ...   September 5, 2001
 3 out of 4 found this review helpful

Ditto those who say GREAT character development, setting, language and story. Three cheers for Ruth, but a very improbable ending! All in all, a very strong 4 stars for those who like seafaring tales, stories of Maine life, or just a novel populated with full color individuals. By the way, who's John Irving?


A Good Start   August 9, 2001
 2 out of 3 found this review helpful

I read this book without reading any reviews ahead of time so I had no idea what to expect, except that it was a first novel. Our Monday daily reccomends 4 paperbacks each week and they are quite diverse and usually pretty good (at least the few I pick out). It's funny now reading all the reviews at 3:13 am how many references to John Irving there are. I thought exactly the same reading this work the last 2 days. It was a joy to read and I'd say that if she improves the way our friend Mr Irving did after his 1st couple books, this author's Garp may be very close. I hope so. I need some new good authors. Great characters here. Keep 'em coming Elizabeth


almost a "5'   May 15, 2001
i read this book with the anticipation that the author used a similar writing style as john irving (who is my favorite author). i was not disappointed. ms. gilbert's words were entertaining and riveting. she uses humor to jazz up a mundane landscape of small-town mediocrity. the personalities in the book are reprentative of small-town america. i was born and raised in a rural area and can confirm the typical use of fear, alcohol and intimidation to preserve the status quo. ruth thomas is a woman with potential sentenced to an existence of "waiting her turn" while the men of the islands go about their business. she attempts to balance the feminine and masculine roles encouraged by her neighbors into one personality (which seems to have never been done). to find out if she succeeds, you have to read the book.