Review: ‘The Stranding’ by Kate Sawyer (love and loss at the end of the world)
This debut set at the end of the world has called to me ever since I first heard about it last year, and I saw it when I was scrolling through my wishlist and bought it on impulse, starting it the very same night. It was the book I needed at the moment I needed it. And it blew me away.
It’s unusual for my first book of the year to be a five star read, but ‘The Stranding’ was a five stars after only a few chapters.
HER WORLD FELL TO PIECES.
FROM THE BONES SHE BUILT A NEW LIFE.
Ruth lives in the heart of the city. Working, drinking, falling in love: the rhythm of her vivid and complicated life is set against a background hum of darkening news reports from which she deliberately turns away.
When a new romance becomes claustrophobic, Ruth chooses to leave behind the failing relationship, but also her beloved friends and family, and travels to the other side of the world in pursuit of her dream life working with whales in New Zealand.
But when Ruth arrives, the news cycle she has been ignoring for so long is now the new reality. Far from home and with no real hope of survival, she finds herself climbing into the mouth of a beached whale alongside a stranger. When she emerges, it is to a landscape that bears no relation to the world they knew before.
When all has been razed to the ground, what does it mean to build a life?
It’s still a bit of a strange time to read a post-apocalyptic book, but I do find comfort in them, and ‘The Stranding’ is full of hope and life, love and survival.
Ruth’s story is told in dual timelines, one from Before which leads up the moment that the After storyline begins, and with Ruth’s refusal to acknowledge the news of what's coming for the whole of the Before, we never really know what caused her to find herself hiding inside the mouth of a beached blue whale. I would usually find that pretty annoying, but it worked; it’s an undeniable element of Ruth in her before
There’s an atmosphere of loss, sensuality and wanting that permeates both timelines and it almost highlights how these are often the things that make you truly alive, regardless of what world or life you’re living in. This resonated a lot in the current climate and for me it ended up actually making me hopeful about finding the little things that bring joy, the knowledge that even at the end of the world everything goes on and nature continues, and that love is waiting when all hope is lost.
Whew, that was a bit deep, wasn’t it? Moving on…
If you read and enjoyed ‘Severance’ by Ling Ma or ‘Last One at the Party’ by Bethany Clift, then ‘The Stranding’ is write up your street. Beautiful writing, the cloying monotony of 21st century life and the power of hope and life makes all these novels a beautiful respite from the madness of the world, even set at the end of the world.
Are you managing to read post-apocalyptic books at the moment? Have you fallen in love with ‘The Stranding’ yet?
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Written by Sophie
