love love loved this book and it was extremely calming and effective to listen to on audiobook as well which is always a plus. great work of literary fiction that i will definitely be recommending to all my fellow readers esp those in their 20s.

Format: audiobook from netgalley but views are my own.

Plot:

In Third For Salt an unnamed young woman falls in love with a man twenty years her senior, and thus begins a somewhat tame but whirlwind romance. The couple’s relationship deepens but is constantly threatened by the woman’s unstable parentage, and the hazy people from the man’s past.

Pros:

There are some really beautiful and astute comments on relationships and education. The young woman often feels her grip on the man isn’t as firm or tangible as she’d like, and comments once about him entering her shared house and not taking off his shoes, as if he couldn’t decide whether to stay or go. In fact the author draws upon shoes a lot, something about them helping root a person to the ground and how that does, or doesn’t symbolise this couple’s relationships.

There are also comments about education, about the woman yearning for the structure of higher education as a way to remove herself from adult life. While not groundbreaking, I think that will always resonate with a large part of readership who similarly yearn for that escape.


Not-so-pros:

For me - my issues are a matter of taste. I typically don’t read romance books. I also find large age gaps really challenging to read. There was nothing about Jude that was appealing to me. He was condescending while also having no grounding for his critiques of her - or if he did, he wouldn’t share them. I didn’t find it romantic that he kept things from her, or that he wanted freedom. I felt he was manipulative.

My main struggle though, is I couldn’t work out if this book was meant to be in support of relationships like this, or a condemnation of them. Are we meant to romanticise these fragile relationships, and find validity in even the worst times? Or are we meant to be warned away from them, realising when to get out before falling deep? I’m unsure if the author intended to swing one way or the other, or to leave it ambiguous, but again, because I don’t care for relationships like this, I really struggled not having that firm condemnation.

Final:

I think this book is really marketable to the right audience. I think a lot of people will fall for the setting, this beautiful coastal Australian paradise. I think people will love the closeness of two people falling in together and living under each other’s feet. I think a lot of people will feel validation for the age gap.

For me, it wasn’t my kind of book, and what I wanted from it was not delivered.

Thank you NetGalley and RB Media, Recorded Books for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook.

Well written... however missed the mark for me. I did listen to the whole book. SO it wasn't a DNF- that was about the best I can say for this book.

It may just be me.. not to my liking. I would suggest others try. They may get more out of it than me.

a beautiful story about love and its transformation, motherhood, memory, and the versions of our lives we don’t get to live.
thirst for salt is a very introspective novel, highlighting the protagonist’s reflections on events rather than the plot itself.
i was very impressed with how lucas manages to phrase profound insights and realisations in such an honest way, that didn’t once feel cringey, clichéd or oversimplified.
the language is absolutely stunning and seems elegant and almost effortless despite being so lyrical. as much as i loved the audiobook, listening to it almost made me wish i had a physical copy to underline some of the many paragraphs that spoke to me to be able to read them over again.

So, I'm very thankful to RB Media, NetGalley, Madelaine Lucas, and Tin House for sending me this audiobook copy of Thirst for Salt before it publishes on March 7, 2023. Thirst for Salt walks us through the life of our moody, heartbroken MC, who just longs to be loved and goes through the motions on her own in the meantime. I would classify this as Coming-of-Age and really enjoyed its overall messaging.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

Thirst for Salt is a quietly introspective novel about an unnamed 24-year-old woman's relationship with a man 20 years her senior, after she meets Jude on vacation with her mother in an isolated Australian coastal town. What begins as a summer fling deepens into something more as she settles into Jude's simple life in Sailor's Beach -- a stability she craves after a childhood spent moving around the country with her impulsive mother. But when she witnesses a private moment she doesn't understand, she begins to question what kind of life she really wants -- and who she wants to spend it with.

Thirst for Salt is a subtle yet searing novel, an honest and earnest portrayal of the type of once-in-a-lifetime love that breaks you as much as it shapes you. Although the narrator's relationship with Jude is central to the story, this book is just as much about her relationship with her mother as it is about romantic love. Madelaine Lucas delves deeply into the complexities of the mother-daughter relationship, showing how it evolves over time, and how children only begin to understand that their parents have interior lives and histories when they themselves are adults with their own pasts.

Lucas's writing is poignant and contemplative and intensely atmospheric, relying heavily on descriptions of the natural world to evoke a strong sense of place. In her protagonist, she's created a complex character who is vulnerable and uncertain when we meet her, but who grows and matures during the time we spend with her. Told on a nonlinear timeline, there is a conversational flow to the story as the narrator looks back at the events and loves that shaped the formative years of her 20s.

Madelaine Lucas narrates the audiobook, and while I always love it when authors narrate their own work, I thought she did a particularly gorgeous job. There is a haunting, hypnotic, intimate quality to her voice and narration that mesmerized me and worked so well with this story. Thank you to Recorded Books and NetGalley for the advance listening opportunity.

I loved this one! The writing was rich and engaging and I found the story, while very different to my life, to be relatable and beautiful and heartbreaking.

Really liked the sound of this one so was excited to get the audio ARC for it. As much as I wanted to love it, I just found it was missing something.

The story, I feel, was more character driven than plot. The plot was steady but at times I felt a little lacking and seemed to drag. It was very much a slow burn.

I don’t mind age gap romances and I think this one was a very realistic portrayal and showcased it well. It was difficult to read in parts and I felt awkward with some of it - but I think that lends itself to how well the relationship/age gap aspects were written.

I enjoyed the read, I just wanted something a little more? I’m not sure, but I’d definitely recommend for anyone who enjoys contemporary fiction/women’s fiction.

This is a hypnotic lackadaisical poignant provoking story of romance that almost fits but doesn’t. The story is told by the author and I thought she did a great job now reading this book. It’s told from the main characters remembrances of growing up with her mother having a romance with an older man and complications that came with it. He never said a lot and never gave a lot of himself but she loved him anyway and pretty much went with the flow until she couldn’t. This book was so good I loved her relationship with her mother I loved her overall attitude this is just a great great book and one I highly recommend. There is so much to this book there’s no way I could’ve given her a summary because I feel I couldn’t have come up with the words to convince someone to read this beautiful poignant book about romance growing up with a single mother and so much more. From the losses she endured to the extra people she didn’t need in her life just read this book it is so so good! I loved it and highly recommend it. Just keep in mind once you start listening to the audiobook you will be mesmerized and not want to stop the author has such a pleasant melodic voice and I was all wrapped up in this book until the end. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

I couldn't finish this one. It was too slow, and I just don't think I can read about another barely adult woman sleeping with a grown ass man. I'm so over it.