Review: Night Beach by Kirsty Eagar

  Night Beach by Kirsty Eagar
  Publisher: Penguin Books Australia
  Publication date: 26th April 2012.
  My rating: 2 stars

  

Imagine there is someone you like so much that just thinking about them leaves you desperate and reckless. You crave them in a way that's not rational, not right, and you're becoming somebody you don't recognise, and certainly don't respect, but you don't even care. And this person you like is unattainable. Except for one thing... He lives downstairs.

Abbie has three obsessions. Art. The ocean. And Kane.

But since Kane's been back, he's changed. There's a darkness shadowing him that only Abbie can see. And it wants her in its world.

A gothic story about the very dark things that feed the creative process.

Night Beach was a book with so much potential but just fell way short for me, having previously devoured Eagar’s Raw Blue, I went into Night Beach with really high expectations. From Raw Blue I knew Eagar had the knack for creating a raw, achy and intense read, from just reading one of her books I knew Eagar was an author who could leave such a lasting impression that I would be thinking about her book for days afterwards. Her writing flowed effortlessly; it was magnetic, poignant and could easily lull you into a false sense of security.

Night Beach never failed in this respect. Eagar’s writing had an essence of desperation and urgency about it and yet was so alluring and written beautifully. I think because of the writing I felt compelled into finishing the book, otherwise I think I would have given up ages ago.

The subject matter was strangely odd; Abbie has liked Kane for a while now, but she hasn’t had the courage to tell him how she’s felt, he’s been away from home and then suddenly turns up earlier than expected. Abbie’s excited as it’s been so long, but then there’s also something strange about him. Kane’s changed since he was last at home, he’s not the same, and he seems agitated at times often lost in his own world. Also as soon as Kane’s back strange things start happening around the house, Abbie’s sure she’s not imagining it. Is everything that’s happening related to Kane’s odd behaviour too?

Raw Blue was constantly on my mind days after finishing it because it had a huge impact on me. With Night Beach it too was on my mind, several times when I was reading it and afterwards but for totally different reasons; because it left me totally baffled. I’m usually quite slow at grasping what’s going on in books but reading this with Keertana I was glad to know I was not the only one confused. We would be constantly writing back and forth to each other with our theories and what we thought would happen, but boy were we wrong.

Night Beach is definitely something different to some of the books I’ve seen out there, I don’t think I’ve ever come across a book which focuses on something like this. It could be quite creepy at times as the direction of the book could change so quickly. And I found myself constantly questioning what would happen next, there were so many unanswered questions hanging in the air that I needed them answered and thus couldn’t put the book down. I commend Eagar for tackling something out there and for keeping me hooked in anticipation. But the only thing which blew for me was that it took ages for something to really grab my attention, yes there were creepy goings on, but it wasn’t until 2/3 of the book that something epic happened that I felt compelled into reading at a faster pace otherwise I was fine dallying at my languid pace. Also I felt that whenever I felt the book was going in a great direction the chapter would abruptly end and start at something fresh. By the end of the first few chapters I probably had a huge list of questions I still needed answering. I think I’ve become one of those people where I don’t have the patience any more. I usually need answers really quickly otherwise my attention seems to drop suddenly. On a few occasions I was tempted to skip ahead just so that I could clear some of the confusement in my head.

Overall Night Beach was a disappointing read for me, but don’t let my two star rating put you off, the majority of my friends really enjoyed this book and the number of 4 and 5 star ratings to go by this is a book you should check out. Despite not quite feeling Night Beach, I still will be reading all of Eagar’s future releases, I still hold her in high regard as one heck of a talented author.

Thank you Keertana for reading this with me, you can check out her review here.