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Doggerland
Doggerland | Ben Smith
9 posts | 5 read | 9 to read
Doggerland is brilliantly inventive, beautifully-crafted and superbly gripping debut novel about loneliness and hope, nature and survival set on an off-shore windfarm in the not-so-distant future.
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review
readingjedi
Doggerland | Ben Smith
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Mehso-so

A strong So-So, marked down due to my personal preference rather than the quality of the book. Because this is a really good novel with a lot of really good stuff to unpack. The backdrop is a world devastated by risen sea-levels but it's not a cli-fi novel. It's about relationships & it has a low-key intensity that is poignant & thought provoking. There's a subtle, one line twist that throws the whole thing into a new light which I appreciated.

63 likes1 stack add
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readingjedi
Doggerland | Ben Smith
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Starting this one today. I've read reviews that mention it's rather pessimistic and depressing - possibly not what I need at this particular moment but it's next on The List and The List MUST BE OBEYED! 🤣😉😳

MatchlessMarie 🤣💯 3y
rockpools I found it bleak, rather than depressing- but I did like it. Your comment about the list made me laugh - I‘m more The List Must Be Rebelled Against! It occasionally leads to problems 🤣🤣 3y
readingjedi @rockpools I'm a Lister by name and most definitely a lister by nature! Without my multitude of lists I'm convinced my life would fall apart! 🤣🤣🤣 3y
67 likes3 comments
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Clare_Riley
Doggerland | Ben Smith
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Pickpick

The Road meets Waiting for Godot via Huis Clos! This is a tense book, where not much seems to happen - but there‘s loads going on under the surface. How can an author can make you feel so trapped when there‘s thousands of miles of sea outside your door? Climate change is a big part to this - the sea has reclaimed a lot of the UK, and they fish for ‘relics‘ (a lot of plastic!). What happened to the boys father? Will we ever find out?!

19 likes1 stack add
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Mitch
Doggerland | Ben Smith
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Pickpick

A dark, depressing & chilling portrayal of a world on the brink of environmental collapse. 2 characters are in the near future, battling the elements, on a wind farm above what was once Doggerland (an area of land that once connected the U.K. with mainland Europe). I ‘saw‘ the whole book in a dark grey colour and could feel their constant cold and wetness. It had a very claustrophobic feel and it doesn‘t leave you feeling hopeful!

Fridameetslucy Commend you on being able to read this - 2 years into this assault on democracy in the USA I just can‘t anymore. It‘s hard enough to keep calling senators and showing up. So knitting and reading are two strategies I maintain to self regulate my fear. 5y
Mitch @Fridameetslucy We're definitely at crisis point.... keep knitting and reading xxxx
5y
79 likes2 comments
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Mitch
Doggerland | Ben Smith
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Heading back home from #readingretreat if I manage to finish this book on the train, I‘d of read as many books this weekend as I did in the whole of March! Back on track with my Goodreads challenge!

scripturient Safe travels! ❤️ 5y
squirrelbrain ❤️👍 5y
Mitch @scripturient it‘s super smooth today. 🥳 5y
See All 9 Comments
julesG Enjoy your trip! 5y
Morr_Books Sounds wonderful! 5y
ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled 👏👏👏 fantastic!! 5y
wanderinglynn Sounds like a perfect retreat! ❤️ 5y
Leftcoastzen That‘s wonderful! (edited) 5y
SilversReviews Love the view!! 5y
118 likes9 comments
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Mitch
Doggerland | Ben Smith
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Making the most of my last morning at the #readingretreat

DocBrown For a second I thought your bookmark read SCIENCE please! 5y
108 likes1 comment
review
rockpools
Doggerland | Ben Smith
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Pickpick

On a decaying wind-farm in the North Sea, the Boy and the Old Man live and work, maintaining the turbines as best they can with limited supplies and failing systems. The Boy wonders what happened to his father, and plans his escape. Bleakly, beautifully atmospheric, with the slow power of water as a timeline, but it‘s the deep, difficult relationship between the two men that stands out. Loved it.

A #NetGalley ARC, to be published in April 2019

rockpools If it‘s OK to jump all over the seasons for #Booked2019 , I‘d like to use this for my #CliFi book. @Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft 5y
TrishB This sounds great 👍🏻 5y
BarbaraTheBibliophage You can definitely read out of order! 👏🏻👏🏻 5y
See All 9 Comments
Currey Love the pix too 5y
Cinfhen Yes!!!! Most definitely xx beautiful review and choice of graphics 5y
rockpools @TrishB I think you‘d like it. 5y
rockpools @Currey Thanks - that‘s the rust holding the pier up in our seaside town - I was quite pleased with the photo 😁 5y
rockpools @BarbaraTheBibliophage @Cinfhen Yay, thank you! I didn‘t realise it‘d be clifi-y until I was into it! 5y
alisiakae Definitely okay as my co-hosts already said. My first completed book for #Booked2019 is also from the Spring prompts. 😃 5y
72 likes3 stack adds9 comments
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rockpools
Doggerland | Ben Smith
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Very bleak. And rusting quiet. But I‘m liking this book, the story and writing, a lot.

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rockpools
Doggerland | Ben Smith
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Starting this #NetGalley #ARC today, set on an offshore windfarm in a possibly dystopian future. It‘s intriguing so far.

I need to catch up on the ARC backlog this year, and decide whether I really want to fit them into my reading life, or if I‘m happier just reading stuff 3 years after everyone else, with no deadlines. 🤔

47 likes1 stack add