This was a very interesting book about This family called m a s o n. Retreat was a phone on the chesapeake Coast. Everybody had a story to tell going back in time. Henry was the writer and a teacher and his wife Kate wanted to hold a party because she was dying cancel. Her children showed up RO S.A. L to her daughter who had a troubled marriage.. And then she caught it and really didn't fit in. U Leo NOR was writing a novel about the first woman who settled there in 1659.. They talked about slavery.And what happened with the incident in the Nineteen thirties. This was brought up because people came over from France.To also be at this party and we wanted to find out what really happened. Henry's brother died in a boarding accident and His family was Destroy it over it.. The father and mother were fighting.
And Henry's brother decided he was gonna take the boat out and go away. Because you do not want to go back to England.. This place is a very important part of the book. And you will find out why this was all tied in.

You need not have read the 3 preceding novels about the Mason family (which have been published over the last many years with big gaps between them) before this bit of literary fiction. This is about a privileged family sitting around a dinner table (after an epic effort poaching a salmon) debating their own privilege. While it's set on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, it's not especially atmospheric (I'd note there's a lot of seafood native to the region, while salmon is not). Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Over to others.

In March, Vogue listed Christopher Tilghman's On the Tobacco Coast on their "Best Books of 2024 So Far." I don't see it.

Before I get into the book too much, I want to just look at the marketing blurb for it because it should have been such a sign of what I was getting into: "Told with irony and deep insight, On the Tobacco Coast is Christopher Tilghman’s concluding meditation on the themes of his novels about this ancestral monument: the pride and shame in its long history, the persistence of family stories, race and privilege, the enigmas and customs of regions. It is a reflects on the state of America today, with its battles with its own history and efforts to reckon with the wrongs of the past while looking forward to an uncertain, more just future." If that seems like a really pretentious book, it's because it is a really pretentious book. I should preface that I agree with many of the sentiments presented by the novel, but they are presented in such a pretentious and unsubtle manner, it's hard to enjoy.

What the book has going for it is setting. From what I understand this is Tilghman's fourth novel in the same setting and he really is masterful at bringing this area and specifically, this farm to life. The crafting of the location is masterful and this part comes to life.

However, the rest of the book is kind of a mess. The story takes place entirely at a dinner party on the Fourth of July. Since it's literary fiction, we can forgive the book for being light on plot (our main dilemma seems to be if we will eat the salmon and if one of the characters finds their glasses). Yet the dialogue is so unbelievably unrealistic. The characters spend the entire meal talking and getting offended about their ancestors and land and making very deep, philosophical points about language that spur huge debates. There's even the stereotypical supporter of the 45th president who gets offended and leaves when someone mentions guns. Perhaps the most insufferable character, however, is the writer. One of the daughters is an MFA graduate and trying to write a novel on one of her ancestors. We get to see some of her writing and it's really, really bad - overly flowy, way too technical (and we get to hear all of her dilemmas and critiques of her writing from her MFA cohort and it's almost parody how stereotypical it is). Writers writing about writing is a very thin line to walk on and this time it just comes off as navel-gazey and a little too "inside baseball." When a book has to go out of its way to whack you over the head repeatedly and tell you what the underlying themes are, I feel like it's not succeeding.

To conclude, the imagery and the scenery are good, but the characters are insufferable (when I don't think they are supposed to be) and the dialogue is unrealistic. I can't recommend this one.

The premise of this novel had me hooked: A multigenerational and complicated family dynamic, unfolding over a hot Fourth of July day, set on the Chesapeake Bay, a region I come from. Unfortunately, it took me so long to get invested in the story that I nearly quit reading several times. There's not much plot and I often had whiplash because the narration would switch from character to character quickly, sometimes in the same paragraph. I also found most of the characters hard to like and connect with, despite the very human issues each was facing. It's beautifully written and I did enjoy reading the debate later on the story about history and the South, but otherwise, this was not the book for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for an ARC copy of “On the Tobacco Coast” in exchange for an honest review.

A big thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Man, the setting was so captivating to me for this book and I wanted *so badly* to love it. The beginning felt very erratic, but I was confident if the story was able to settle in then I would love it. This was not the case. I did not find the humor to be present in the book, and the characters felt rather rude and very self-involved, which did not at all go along with the premise of their interest in their past. That felt incredibly disjointed to me. A sweeping family drama that pulled at your heartstrings to fall in love with the characters, this was not.

pretty fun. 4 stars ish. i liked the tale, but the characters were not warm and humorous as they were promised. thanks for the arc.

First and foremost, I want to mention that I didn’t finish this book. It’s not because it’s not good, it just wasn’t my style and I didn’t feel motivated to continue reading it. I probably got about 1/3 of the way through, so I don’t think I have much room to give a review on the storyline. That said, I thought the writer did a fantastic job of painting a picture with his words; I felt like I could see the landscape and the mansion as I read about it. I liked how every character had a clear, defined voice and personality. I think those with a real passion for historical fiction would truly appreciate this one. Thank you NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the chance to read this one.

It is 2019, and the Mason family come together on the Fourth of July for their annual retreat at the family farm. The usual family drama follows them and is thrown to the forefront as they grapple with their messy lives. Divorce, new relationships, writer's block, and cancer muddy up their yearly celebration, yet nothing can tear their ritual of remembrance apart.

This novel is eloquently written, yet felt a bit stiff in places. I wanted to get into the story and absorb the characters but found myself drifting in and out of each scene as it was a bit long-winded.

I loved the premise and enjoy generational family stories, but there was a specific key element that was missing for me. Warmth. I didn’t feel a connection or warmth towards the characters or setting. I may end up re-reading it though, to see if I can forge a better connection with the family

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Having read Mason' s Retreat years ago, I was thrilled to see this new book. Set during the Fourth of July, the Mason family gatherers once more for their annual get together.. Things are different this year; the family matriach is ill, the children and their partners all have their own set of problems but Harry Mason (head of the family) proceeds with the usual preparations for the event. Add a few more guests including a visiting French cousin and his daughter, Harry's father, plus some of the neighbors; what follows are scenes of an interesting but memorable weekend among these characters.

Having grown up near the Eastern Shore, the author does a wonderful description of the area, I can see many of the places that he describes. My grandmother lived on Kent Island and I have visited the area many times. I look forward to returning there. Thank you to the author for this great book.