Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

This is Elizabeth Gilbert's first fiction effort. This is not Eat, Pray, Love. Not at all. If you want Eat, Pray, Love ... read that book and not this one. The men here are not sexy. Our female protagonist doesn't travel far and wide. There is no pasta. Don't read Stern Men and complain that you're not getting Eat, Pray, Love. If you need that EPL tie-in to make it through the day, this was probably one of the books that caused Gilbert to constantly owe money to her ex-husband for the rest of her life.

Ruth Thomas, our heroine, is born and grows up in Maine on Fort Niles island. Fort Niles is a scrappy and tiny place for lobster fishermen and the women they love and/or abuse. If you can't or don't want to be a lobsterman, it's best you leave Fort Niles. But even though Ruth has a special connection that would allow her to leave and "do better," and she can never be a lobsterman, all she wants to do is stay. This book is about Ruth and how she finds her way. For most of the book, Ruth is 18 years old and acts it: smart and savvy yet raw and impulsive.

The two subplots include the story of Ruth's grandmother and her mother, and the bitter (and hilarious) lobster wars between Fort Niles and Courne Haven. I thought the characters were well-written and the research was impeccable. Gilbert must have spent months researching how lobstermen and the lobster business operate.

YOU MUST READ THE EPILOGUE. Sometimes I'm guilty of just skimming the epilogue because I've assumed all of the plot action happened already. Read the epilogue or else you'll just be depressed. I do wish the action in the epilogue was expanded on and made into actual numbered chapters. But I really liked this book, and can't wait to get into The Signature of All Things next.