Tori Curtis

This book was November's Sapphic Book Club read hosted by @sapphicliterature.



Actual rating: 3.5 stars

Efa and her friend Bettan are both selkies, and after Bettan's seal skin is taken, Efa sets out on a journey to find her friend and rescue her.

I have to admit, I didn't enjoy this book too much. It certainly had its positives - the almost all-female cast and the parts about the sirens were great, but the second half of the book was physically painful to read at some points.

Thing is, this book is supposed to be a calling out for rape culture by using the selkies as a metaphor, but 1) that makes it much heavier and frustrating read than I expected, 2) I don't actually think that it's doing a very good job at calling out rape culture and heteronormativity. The main character is horrified at her friend being taken and nobody else taking it seriously, but even she still holds many heteronormative and ignorant views that are not properly challenged in the book.

I am slightly more forgiving to its faults because it's a first book in a planned series, which means both the main character and the main f/f relationship have time to grow, and hopefully they will. But as a standalone book, Eelgrass wouldn't have received more than 3 stars from me.… (mere)

This book November's Sapphic Book Club read hosted by @sapphicliterature.
Rating: 3,5
When Bettan gets kidnapped, her best friend Efa is ready to do everything to get her back to safety.
Tori Curtis, with an amazing writing style, throws us into the world of selkies and fishwives. She uses the myth of stealing the selkie's skin as a metaphore for a rape culture. The story does a great work of showing it along with accompanying it heteronormativity; however, it was not explicit enough with condemning it and at times I was left thinking it contributes to harmfull tropes.
The driving force in this story is friendship and it was refreshing to see a narrative focused on the importance of non-romantic relationships. Efa's goal to rescue her friend was her priority even after connecting with her love interest. All the main characters are relatable, interesting, and ranging in personalities. Nevertheless, all of them can be at times a bit annoying while struggling with some concepts which we assume as common truth. This makes the book a little harder to read but also shows that in the patriarchal society it is often hard to realise there's something beyond blindly going along with the injustice.
I found the romantic part really scarce but it's understandable since Efa's heart was mostly set on freeing Bettan as well as she has only began realising her attraction to girls.
As it is a first book in the series, I hope for the story, the relationships, and the characters to grow because there's a potential for sure.… (mere)