Oof. This memoir is just that, a memoir, but the level of navel gazing here was too much for me. This is less a book about what men are like when women aren't around and more one about what the author is like around men.

I started reading this book, but I could not connect at all with the content. There seemed to be no point to the author's story of having an affair with a married man besides that her laptop containing her original project was stolen, and she needed something else to write about. I must agree with other reviewers that it's not at all what was promised by the synopsis and it's quite disappointing. Did not finish, have no intention of finishing.

I was really excited to read this book and learn about offshore workers. Because that's what this book said it was about. It was not. At all. This was about Lasley and her experience interviewing and having an affair with the workers. Which is fine, if that's how it was advertised. I didn't care about her relationship or her life really, I wanted to learn about these men and their job and the conditions they work in. Highly deceiving.

Sea State by Tabitha Lasley was not the book for me! Not all genres are books I like and this one fell into that category. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book!

As someone married to someone who worked offshore for 30 years, this was a hilariously BAD attempt to recreate (?) (BIG QUESTION MARK HERE) their experiences? Instead it was a smutty, self-serving book of nonsense. Also, terribly written smut. DNF. Never going to finish. Why did I bother?

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

A witty, insightful account of a writer's sociological experiment to plumb the depths of the working "offshore" class and find out what makes this strata of men tick. Ms Lasley narrates us through a tumultuous time period where she comes unmoored from her daily life and pursues better prospects on a book she dreamed of writing far from home. At times reminiscent of Bridget Jones; at others a bit of Trainspotting; music and pop references smattered throughout. I found slight aspects of herself reflected in the disillusioned oil rig workers she interviewed. Churning emotions that need an outlet. Capped off with an ending that comes full circle with her navigating dark roads alone in search of her way home.

I feel like this book would have been better as two separate books - her research about the men who worked on oil rigs, and her affair with Caden. Ironically, it was her relationship with Caden that I liked the most about this book as it had highs and lows, and I couldn't read those parts fast enough. Writing about her feelings and experiences with Caden, even her eventual heartbreak, was pure, raw emotion and vulnerability laid out there for all to read. Her interviews in the bars with the men on the oil rigs was interesting, however they were often flat and without emotion and I found myself lost in a lot of those conversations, and there.fore not interested in them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This woman called Tiffany's or the young girl in in London and how she wanted to find out about the oil rigger people up in Aberdeen Scotland. She was with a boyfriend but the home was broken into so so she decided just to leave and go up North. She meets this character called Chad He was very unhappy in his marriage. So she goes into this world which is completely different from the one she knew in London. She was interviewing diplomat when they would come off the oil rigs. Chad it was the one she really fell for I'm going to start a lot of things but at the end it didn't really work out the way she thought it would be. She was drinking a lot and drugging but she was writing the book anyway. I went to the gold clubbing at night she was comparing a turtle when she went used to go clubbing in the eighties. I learned a lot about how oil ricks and the men who lived on them. And how they were discussing how dangerous they were and how the companies do not help them when they got hurt. I'm really was a frightening aspect once in I asked her how they were really told to protect themselves. I knew it was dangerous but not this dangerous. And took me to the really good job explaining this interbook. And how she found How Chad really was with these women. His wife was no picnic either Kept harassing him while he was with Tiffany, I can see this happening because I have a lot of money when they come up and they just want to have some fun.

Unfortunately, this book didn't work for me. There was too much focus on the relationships of the author, particularly with Caden. When she would interview other men, the story would turn back to herself and him, not the subject she was interviewing. There were bits of literary references thrown in to add flavor, I guess. This didn't save the book for me.

Book rating: 2.5 stars

I initially thought this was an account of a woman working on the male dominated offshore oil rigs.....but that isn't it! This is really mostly an account of a writer going to Scotland to interview offshore oil riggers/workers about their jobs, & their unique lives/lifestyles....for a book she's writing about their particular careers. She ends up having an affair with one of the men she interviews, & her account of that affair is primarily what the book is about, although she also exposes a lot about the lifestyle those men lead, on & off the rigs/jobs. I can't say that I was surprised at .....any of it, really........but it was interesting. It's a quick read.
I received an e-ARC of the book from the publisher Ecco via NetGalley in exchange for reading it & providing a fair & honest review.

While I thought I would be getting a more scientific / historical account of life on the oil rigs in the North Sea, I really enjoyed Tabitha Lasley's SEA STATE. It is pure memoir, with little contextualization, but she describes Aberdeen and the men she meets boldly. She shows the way these men shift in emotions and sympathies--they are brutal and violent, but they are also lonely and lost. They want what everyone else wants. It is a deeply human rendering of a town and people being manipulated by the forces of capitalism, and also a delicious adultery story.

London journalist, Tabitha Lasley, quits her job and moves to Aberdeen, Scotland to write about oil rigs and the men who work on the.

Tabitha becomes entrenched with the lives of the men in this oft forgotten and overlooked industry. She lives in reckless abandon, her new found freedom and femininity clashes with the rugged masculinity of the men on the rigs.

Thank you to both NetGalley and Ecco for this ebook. In Sea State, we meet Tabitha – newly single, quitting her job, and moving to Aberdeen, Scotland, to accomplish her goal of penning a book about the men who work on off-shore oil rigs.

The first man she interviews crosses the line from a journalistic relationship to an intimate one. We are provided an unflinching look into the progression of this relationship, and the emotional toll it takes on both of them as they negotiate around his existing marriage.

That said, I entered into reading this memoir expecting more accounts of the men on the oil rigs. I feel that we could have been privy to more backstories and viewpoints of these men – how their approach to life on the oil rig differed by their age, marital status, and home place.

Thanks to Netgalley and Ecco for the ebook. After the end of a toxic relationship, Tabitha decides to quit her job at a London magazine and move to Aberdeen, Scotland, to finally write her book about men who work on offshore oil rigs. She dives in with interviews with the men who work the demanding shifts of three weeks on and three weeks off, as the spend there disposable income, drink and take drugs and tell stories about how hard the work is, but also how hard it is to acclimate when they get back home to their wives and kids. Tabitha throws herself into this world, even dating a married off shore worker that she expects more from than he can deliver. She gets emotionally twisted from her time there, but has this lovely book as a reward.

This is an absolutely EXCELLENT memoir! Lasley picked an interesting subject to write about: the lives of oil drillers in Scotland. At first, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but anything set in Scotland grabs my attention. I was really fascinated by the politics surrounding this particular career, and I like how she humanized the men and their traits. Overall, I really enjoyed this and I think other people who like memoirs, especially in another country, will find this subject fascinating and hopefully learn something at the same time. I know I did!

This was a really I retesting premise, and I really wanted it to live up to my hopes. Overall, I thought it was a little boring, and the story arc a little flat. I would’ve like the secondary characters to have more depth. I don’t think this will be a memorable one for me.

Though I found this book’s premise intriguing, and I love memoirs, I found Sea State’s narrative disjointed. The choppy writing style and meandering storytelling didn’t hold my interest, and I ended up skimming the last half.

Messy and unapologetic. A glimpse into a unique world through an intimate lens. Gritty and brazen memoir.

I really liked this cover, but as somebody who just suffered through this entire book DON’T LET IT FOOL YOU, this is absolutely horrible. I’ll suspend my annoyance that this book wasn’t what I expected and instead rate it for what it is - a memoir-like account of the author <i>thinking about writing a book about offshore rig workers</i> (and in the process having a toxic affair with one). I’d say this book is 50% details on her affair (including her sex life), 10% insulting other women, 20% getting drunk and stuck in her own mind about how her life isn’t going how she expected by her mid-thirties, and 20% “interviewing” aka flirting with offshore rig workers she meets in bars.

Even if you ignore the content, there’s also a lot of issues here with writing style and tone. Lasley loves to both drop obscure references to literature, shows, politics or local places and geography (as an American reader I was totally lost here), that only add to isolate unfamiliar readers. There is also a haughty and judgmental attitude that permeates the pages, especially when referring to other women.

Apparently she interviewed 103 men to try and write a future book about offshore rigs and the toxic masculinity onboard, but I sure as hell ain’t reading it.

<i>I regrettably obtained a digital version of this book free from Netgalley and Ecco in exchange for an honest review.</i>

This book was interesting, but seemed to be more about the author's experiences instead of the life of off shore workers. Still, it is a memoir worth reading.