Wednesday
Jan042023
Review of Sea Fever in Goodreads
Wednesday, January 4, 2023 at 01:20AM
Lilisa's Reviews > Sea Fever
Sea Fever
by
by
Lilisa's review
bookshelves: 2022, around-the-world-2022-lilisa, kazakhstan, mystery, netgalley, historical-fiction, environment, cultural
Oct 09, 2022
bookshelves: 2022, around-the-world-2022-lilisa, kazakhstan, mystery, netgalley, historical-fiction, environment, cultural
This books is pegged as mystery and suspense in Kazakhstan, but it’s so much more. I enjoyed the sense of place and time, the people, culture and the significant role the Aral Sea plays in the book - it’s almost a main character integral to the storyline. Spanning about 50 years, the story’s main protagonist is Ayan Kazbekov who grew up in the village of Balta not far from the city of Aralsk in southwestern Kazakhstan. His path takes him to Moscow where he attends university studying English. It’s there that he meets Victor Luganov, a friendly, intelligent, and fun Russian whose focus is microbiology. They become firm friends jogging and hanging out together and sharing their life goals. But then Victor becomes a bit distant and distracted and they finally lose touch after university. But Victor makes a reappearance in Ayan’s life. As they catch up over drinks, Victor surreptitiously passes Ayan a note under the eye of a man obviously keeping an eye on Victor. Shortly after, Grace Curran enters Ayan’s life and becomes a much-needed friend on whom he is going to count on as the story unfolds. Grace is American and in Kazakhstan with her husband who is on a work assignment for a year. Things start happening and Victor and Grace have to figure out why. Are the incidents linked, why are they being followed, and does this all have anything to do with Voz Island? Along the way, there are great insights into the country and culture. I enjoyed the love and connection Ayan’s dad had for his boat, the strong bond Ayan had with his horse, and the influence and indelible mark the Aral Sea made on those living around the area. There were many lovely relationships in the book, not all being that of human to human. This was an enjoyable book, with an almost melancholic undercurrent, but not such that it brought the book down. The tone and pace appeared to be reflective of the setting and people - of course I don’t really know if it is, but I do hope that’s the case. I’m very glad I had the opportunity to read this book and would recommend it. Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
