⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Cliffs
By: J. Courtney Sullivan
Publisher: Knopf
Pub Date: 7/2/2024

It’s funny how Reese’s book club picks are either so good or so bad. It was pretty good up to about chapter 7- 40% in. This is where I started to question whether I was reading a history book or a novel. I really enjoyed Jane’s story in the beginning but it soon became packed with unnecessary information and characters whose connection to the story was limited at best. The story gets lost with blurring plot lines. The core of the story I think would have been improved without all the extras.
Thanks to Knopf, J. Courtney Sullivan and NetGalley for this galley.

Really enjoyed this book. Second book I've read by this author and will look at her earlier books. Several story lines going on here. Family relationships, history of old homes in Maine and history of Indigenous people. Sounds like a lot, but the writing was excellent and the stories compelling. I was rooting for everyone. Definitely a book to recommend to others.

I received a dARC of The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is one of my favorite books of the year. Sullivan's work explores the question of what and who is in a place before we get there. On the surface this is a story about Jane and the struggles she faces with alcoholism and its effect on the women in her family. Told through the perspectives of several women, past present and future, the story focuses on a house and piece of land on the Maine coast. Overall, Sullivan beautifully weaves mystery, history, love, friendship, and family throughout the plot.

At times, the story does seem a bit convoluted and sluggish, but it is worth it once everything comes together.

If you are a fan of historical fiction, family stories, and strong women then this is one you should absolutely read.

This was interesting. I think I will think about it for awhile. It’s kind of a different story than any I have read, about the legacies left by our families both good and bad. It’s intertwined with the historical legacies of a house and the land it’s built on. I don’t normally like when there are ghosts or supernatural elements but in this case, I thought it was a good way to portray how family history lingers and affects future generations. When the story jumped from the modern main character to the characters in the past, I wasn’t always sure how that random chapter was going to connect but they really did flesh out the book as a whole. My one complaint is that it gets bogged down occasionally in historical info dumps, but I did still learn some things about spiritualism, the Shakers and Maine history.

To me, this book was just ok. There were so many different stories, and it just seemed to drag at times. I found my attention wavering through different sections of the book.

I was really intrigued by the location and the house as if it was a character. I loved the idea of seeing and reading about the women who lived in this couple hundred year old house and all about their lives. At times it read as historical fiction, and I enjoyed some of that history-that said, it did feel a bit progressive in thought that then took away from what felt might be historically accurate.

I felt that it was a bit long, and dragged at times for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the gifted e-arc.

The historical fiction I most value reading educates me regarding places and events and exposes me to different perspectives. J. Courtney Sullivan’s novel does just that while revealing the intertwined history of a house and multiple families, and their respective legacies.

This book would have benefited from a stronger edit in spots, in my humble opinion, where historical facts could have been better woven into the story or the tale would have been more impactful by pruning its meandering nature here and there.

That said, I am glad to have read this fascinating novel, and will seek out Sullivan’s backlist and future works.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for a complementary ARC. Opinions are my own.

A Harvard archivist, Jane Flanagan, returns after 20 years to a town in Maine that is an important part of her personal history. The story centers around a particular purple Victorian home on a cliff and the back story of its various inhabitants. Hewitt did her homework. Lots of history, including that of early European settlers, and the indigenous people who were uprooted from their land and denied their ancestral legacy. Injustice and the genocide of Native American civilization lies at the heart of this historical novel replete with the haunting of mysterious ghosts who are unable to Rest In Peace.

The story meanders and character details stop, start again only to change again. It becomes a full time job just to follow the constantly varying time frames, characters and situations. Some of it is written text book style, which felt like a college level lecture on topics such as the history of Native Americans or the Shakers. Everything in this book is interrelated, it’s just that making the connections was often such a tedious job that I lost interest. In the hodgepodge of important issues is also is the scourge of alcoholism with its effects not only on the alcoholic but also children, spouses and other relationships. Whew. Just too much digression for me.

I felt like there was more than one book in this mix. Only the kitchen sink was missing, giving the reader the task of sorting things out and putting them back together. So much research by the author became , sadly, only a two star read for me.. My thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for providing an ARC in exchange for my review. The Cliffs was published on July 2 2024. It’s possible you will enjoy it more than I did.

This book very beautifully wove the stories of different women together. But it also dove into some really interesting educational topics. I think some people might find the history and culture lectures boring but I loved them!

I would have enjoyed this book more if there was less preaching about Native rights, and more involvement of Native rights activists in the action! Jane Flanagan is an academic, and an alcoholic. She has alienated all of her supporters except for her childhood best friend and she is back in her hometown trying to scrape together a new life. Unfortunately, her new life looks just like her old one.

I was interested in Jane's personal story, but at the midpoint of the book, I just felt like there were too many strands to this story that I wasn't interested in following. Spiritualism, the Shakers, Native Rights. I felt like Sullivan was trying to tell too many stories in one book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was pretty apprehensive about reading this book because I’ve seen a lot of criticism of it but I was really pleasantly surprised and I really liked it a lot. I understand the elements that people disliked but I overall found the book fascinating and was able to overlook it’s faults (some of the commentary came off as very self righteous and preachy and some of the historical elements could have been tightened up.)
The Cliffs tells the story of Jane, an academic, who is at a crossroads at her life and struggling. Her mother has recently died, her marriage and career are imploding. She retreats to her childhood home in Maine where the story takes place. This book explores the history of one particular home that Jane has always been fascinated with and has an unknown family connection to. The history of the home and the stories of the different women connected to the home are really fascinating and I especially enjoyed learning a little about the indigenous history of the area.
This book is not without its flaws but ultimately is really interesting and comes together in a satisfying way. Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A story of strong women living their normal, messy, tragic lives and how they are interconnected by one beautiful cliff in Maine. A great story of how the choices we make in the face of loss can shape us and define us and what we can do to remake ourselves when the opportunities come.

This one was just okay for me. It might have been the reading mood I was in at the time though. I'll definitely give this one another go at some point. While I enjoyed some of it, the book just moved a bit slower than what I was hoping for.

TLDR:
This is a fantastic book for book clubs and a great read for fans of literary fiction and character driven books. I loved it.

Thank you Knopf for this review copy of The Cliffs. I LOVED this book and am sad it took me this long to get to a J Courtney Sullivan (an author long on my must read pile). I am so glad I got to read this book early and know this will be a top read for me this year. PRH audio also provided me a free copy of this on audio (though I mostly read this book since I had the review book earlier than the audio).

Stand outs
1. I love literary fiction and Sullivan's writing is top notch. Character driven books with strong plot, and books that make a place/house a character itself, really resonate with me. I love thrillers and romcoms but the books that always standout as top reads are books like this, ones that delve into characters, make them feel real and flawed and layered, and give them some complex challenges to explore.

2. Themes on women's lives. An early and well developed theme is how women's lives and stories often get lost to time. This is such a powerfully explored theme as underneath the themes on social class, marriage, mental health, women's lives... is the idea of not wanting to be forgotten, to leave a mark and to have had a life that matters. Sullivan offers this idea without being overtly pushing a reader to engage with this theme, making it more a subtle and nuanced theme that really stands out.

3. I loved the way Jane and Genevieve's stories developed, how Sullivan gave them both depth and backstories, challenges, that connect with many readers (issues with alcoholism, marriage/long term relationships, themes on motherhood, social class/money).

Overall I enjoyed this book but it was definitely a slow burn. Parts of this book felt a little too long and meandering for me and it took me awhile to get used to the main character Jane. However, if you stick with it there are a lot of interconnected stories themes here that reward you as they all come together. Not my favorite J. Courtney Sullivan book but still an enjoyable read!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley & really enjoyed it! It takes place in a fictional town in southern Maine and centers on the history of a house on a cliff. But there is so much to the history of women who occupied this home over the many, many years. I love that there was so much information about the Indians who once occupied this land, their customs, beliefs, and yes, some horrible things that were done as the 'new comers' took their land. There's a lot of growing for the main character as she discovers what happened in this house, this town & within herself.
#NetGalley

The Cliffs
by J. Courtney Sullivan
Pub Date: Jul 02 2024

The Cliffs was a very interesting read, not what I'd call a thriller though. It took awhile to get into the characters and the story but after I did I was glad I stuck with it. There were a lot of stories about loss, grief and even ghosts! A lot of twists and going from the past to the present. Great history information. It's not a fast read but a worthwhile read.

Synopsis:
A novel of family, secrets, ghosts, and homecoming set on the seaside cliffs of Maine. Enthralling, richly imagined, filled with psychic mediums and charlatans, spirits and past lives, mothers, marriage, and the legacy of alcoholism, this is a deeply moving novel about the land we inhabit, the women who came before us, and the ways in which none of us will ever truly leave this earth.

Many thanks to #TheCliffs #NetGalley and #Knopf #Pantheon #Vintage and #Anchor for providing me with an E-ARC of this book.

The Cliffs is the 1st book I have read by J. Courtney Sullivan

Jane Flanagan has returned to her hometown after a scandal that has endangered her job at Harvard and her marriage to David. Jane was raised in a town in Maine by her alcoholic mother, and as often happens in familes with alcoholism, Jane too has issues. Her drinking caused her to black out at a work party and behave badly. When her mother passes away, Jane returns to her hometown to lick her wounds and prepare her mother’s house for sale. While hiding out, she meets Genevieve the wife of a wealthy Bostonian who has renovated an abandoned historical house that Jane used to explore as a teenager. The house was abandoned with all the owner’s belongings in it, as though they woke up one day and just walked away. Genevieve believes that the house is haunted and hires Jane to investigate the house’s history. Jane researches the history of the house and the women who lived and loved there with all the trials and tribulations that they endured.

Thanks to Netgalley. The publisher Knopf Pantheon and the author for the chance to read and review this book.

I really enjoyed the Native American portions of this novel, as well as the POV from Eliza and the visit with the medium/Camp Mira. I did not, however, enjoy Jane. I found myself stopping when I got to her chapters and giving myself a break.

I got more than I bargained for with this book! I thought this was going to be about an old haunted house, but it was so much more. Set on the seaside cliffs of Maine, the house has become full of secrets of days gone by.

Jane, an archivist at Harvard, grew up in the area and loved to go visit the each when it was empty and between owners. Now Jane has returned home to lick her wounds from her drunken behavior at a business event. She also faces the dismal task of getting her deceased mother’s home ready to sell.

While home, Jane meets Genevieve, the new owner of the house on the cliffs that she loved so much. Genevieve has updated the house. She thinks the house is haunted and hires Jane to research the past of the house and the land it sits on.

In the process, Jane discovers much about the history of that region of Maine, the Native Americans who lived there and much about her family and herself.

I liked most of the book, however by the end, I felt like the author tried to throw too many hot topics in the mix. I am planning to visit Maine in the future and I love knowing some of Maine’s history.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for allowing me to read an advance copy. I enjoyed the book and am happy to offer a review and recommend to other readers.