Speak to the Winds

"Speak to the Wind" chronicles a few generations in the life of islanders living just off the coast of Maine. Ms. Moore does the things that regional novels of setting do--she makes the location a character in the novel, and she sets out to show how place defines culture. But unlike other novels of this type, she eschews overindulgence in the twee or the hard-bitten. Her narrative skills tend to be understated rather than bombastic,and her characters live in a world which, though not quite "real", feels like more than a picture-postcard from imaginary "lost charming town" or a rough tale of provincial hardship. "Speak to the Winds" shows how a place comes to be, and comes to end. Moore's pace is deliberate rather than jaunty, but the book is rarely boring. Sometimes the hardship inherent in some of the more lonely lives stands out, but Moore does not milk this story for pat "social ccommentary" or "heart-breaking story". The tone is light but not annoying. The narrator's "voice" is audible but not stifling. "Speak to the Winds" is the kind of old-fashioned read that began to disappear as surely as the accomplished mid-list novelist began to disappear. It's a popular book with literary style. It's worth reading.

The characters are among the nastiest and the most wholesome you'll ever read about. The descriptions of Maine island life at the end of the working island era. Being lost on a 1 mile square piece of rock in the sea during a storm. This book hooked me on Ruth Moore.