The Cliffs tries to be several things at once, with mixed results. Part domestic drama, part history lesson, it's an interesting combination but neither gets the attention it deserves. There's a dilapidated house on the coast of Maine where much of the plot takes place, a marriage in crisis, a woman in the throes of alcoholism, and a "spiritual advisor" who could be Whoopi Goldberg from Ghost. The writing is poetic and moody, the scenery spectacular, but these get lost in a plot that feels disjointed and stretched thin. The Cliffs is pleasant enough, and you'll likely learn a few things about the Indigenous tribes who inhabited the land that became the state of Maine and the horrendous treatment they received from settlers, but with so much going on nothing feels complete. J. Courtney Sullivan is a prolific writer with immense talent-The Cliffs won't change this, but is not her finest work.

Hello Fellow Reader,

I find that once again my reading outstrips my book reviews. Not that I aspire to write about every book I read. There are things I read as just “palate cleansers” or what I have in the past called “popcorn” books. When things are going crazy around here, I just want to read something I will finish fast. Something quick and absorbing.

Like social media, this blog is a curated show of my reading. If you are wondering about the full picture, check out my Goodreads. I keep track of my full reading on there. I do that for two reasons. I like to see how many books I read in a year, and I sometimes need to go back and see if I have read a particular book.

Today’s book is not a palate cleanser. The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan has elements of a great beach read. The characters stick to you while you read the book and you can remember where you are in the story every time you pick it up.

Jane Flanagan is the lead character. Jane grew up on the coast of Maine. She is bright and as the book opens, she is invited to a summer program at Bates College. Despite her mother’s discouraging words she starts attending the program. She overhears one of the professors talking one day about how the program is to help disadvantaged students become the first in their families to go to college. While when she reflects on this statement, she finds it true, she is still bothered by it. After that day she does not return to the program, although she finishes all the program readings.

As a part-time job, Jane works for a boat tour company giving tours. During the course of giving the tours, she sees a derelict house up on a cliff. She finds her way over to the house and explores the land and part of the house. The house was left with everything in tact as it was many years before. There are clothes in the closets and paintings on the walls. This became Jane’s spot. She would go up to the house sit in the yard and read for the rest of the summer. One day her mother finds out that Jane has been going to the house and tells her to never go there again. Jane doesn’t understand or listen to her mother. She continues to go to the house until she goes to college and then forgets about it.

Jane did very well in school. She went to Wesleyan in Connecticut and then on to get a PhD at Yale. After several years, she was hired for her dream job at the Schlesinger Library at Harvard. Right before her 30th birthday, she met David. Her boss had set them up and they fell in love.

Then we move to 10 years in the future. Jane has disgraced herself and is living in her mother’s house. Her mother died, and she is living there to clean out the house. She takes a trip to see “her” house and finds that someone has bought the house and has transformed it.

 Genevieve lives in Beacon Hill and is used to living a life of social achievement. She talked her husband into buying the house (and they had to jump through hoops to do that) and now she and her son are living in the newly refurbished house for the summer. She worked so hard to get the house the way she wanted it but things kept going wrong. A freshly painted wall would crack, a brown spot on a bedroom ceiling, and scratching sounds inside the walls. Was the house haunting her for some reason?

It seems that both Genevieve and Jane have secrets.

I enjoyed the book. There were enough twists and turns to keep me wanting to read more to find out what happens to the characters. The characters have real-world flaws that they have to work through during the story. I recommend this book. Put it on your summer TBR (To Be Read) pile and escape to a place of flawed characters that you aren’t related to.

I was given a copy of this book for my unbiased review. The book will be published on July 2, 2024.

Thanks for reading!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This story focuses on a run down estate home on the beautiful coast of Maine and Jane, a historical archivist who found solace in the house while growing up in an abusive home with an alcoholic mother. Despite escaping her mother's lifestyle, its the very alcohol that costs her dearly in her career and marriage. On a much needed break, she returns to Maine to clean up her mother's house after her death. From here, the story takes an odd turn of mediums, past lives, early settlers and the original indigenous people. I think there was so much that the author wanted to accomplish that Jane's story got lost and so did my interest.

There were parts of this book I really enjoyed. Allison and Jane's friendship, Jane's early years, the relationship between Jane, Holly, and Jason all were done so well. Unfortunately, there were many elements that I feel left this book feeling disjointed. Every time the chapter followed a character that was not Jane had me wishing we had stuck with the main character. I especially found it disconnected from the story when we switched from third person to first person, even if only for a short time. Without running the risk of spoilers, even the end finding out how Jane's life was playing out two years later felt off and had me questioning. Overall, I feel like this book tried to do too many things at once.
Many thanks to Net Galley and Knopf for the early copy.

I have loved other books by this author. I see what she was trying to do, but it just didn’t work for me. I was so bored.
Digital copy provided by NetGalley. Opinion my own.

Jane, the main character, isn't very likable. She recently lost her mother, her job, and her husband—two of these due to her alcoholism. Facing these challenges, she moves back to her hometown, settling into her mother's house. Jane takes on a job to uncover the history of a house that fascinated her during her childhood. In the process, the author weaves in the history of the area, Indigenous culture, and even touches on psychics and ghosts, which became my favorite part of the story.

I couldn’t get into this one.
The premise sounded so good and promising but it just wasn’t for me. I couldn’t connect with the book and It just seemed to drag on for me.

DNF’ed at 65%

I had high hopes for this book. A beautiful cover! Ghosts! A mystery with a house! All very cool things.

Unfortunately, The Cliffs is just boring. I didn’t feel for the main character and the meandering plots were confusing and didn’t tie together. But most importantly, the writing was so clunky that eventually I had enough. Sentences like “ The fact of having had such a thought alarmed her slightly.” Maybe it would have been better with the help of a heavy-handed editor?

Thank you so much to Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is so unlike any other book I’ve ever read! I especially loved it as a New Englander and somebody who loves to visit (Ogunquit) Maine.
Even if that’s not your neck of the woods, this book was so well written, well researched, multilayered and interconnected. I absolutely loved it. I’m sure some criticisms will be that it is a very *slowww* burn historical fiction.. there is a LOT of information, I felt like I was getting a history lesson in a non-boring way. I could’ve kept reading the various women’s stories for 100 more pages and over a whole other century, I.
I LOVED how all the multi generational stories tied together and the ghosts and spirit medium stuff was so up my alley too.

Disappointed in this one. First quarter was ok, but then I got lost in translation with the characters and POVs.
Bummer, I had high hopes for this one.

The Cliffs is in turns humorous and heartbreaking, as we follow Jane Flanagan on a journey to uncover the past. Jane is back home in Maine, reeling from a mistake that could cost her both her marriage and her career. She is also grieving the loss of her mother, with whom she had a complicated relationship. Jane finds that the old Victorian house she admired as a teenager has been bought by an out of towner. The new owner, Genevieve, fears the house may be haunted and asks Jane to use her skills as an archivist to research the house.

J. Courtney Sullivan weaves together the history of the colonization of Maine and subsequent treatment of Indigenous peoples, the cycle of addiction, and fraught mother-daughter relationships to create a compelling tale. She creates deeply flawed characters that slowly work their way into your heart. I loved my time spent in this house on the bluffs!

Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf for the advanced copy!

I absolutely adore J. Courtney Sullivan’s novel The Cliffs. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read it. I am in awe of the way the author crafted such disparate characters, timelines, and plots and then wove them all together in this gorgeous tapestry. Sullivan finds the humanity in each of her characters, any one of which could serve as a protagonist to her own excellent novel. I especially loved Eliza’s portion of the book and would love to read more about her life with Hannah Littleton: what an indelible portrait created in 29 pages! The ending is perfection. I have enjoyed Sullivan’s novels since her first book Commencement came out in 2010 (it also inspired my to read Mary McCarthy’s The Group) and looked forward to the publication of each of her subsequent works. The Cliffs is one of the best books I’ve read this year and my new favorite title by Ms. Sullivan.

I have mixed feelings about The Cliffs. On the one hand, I learned things I didn’t know about the Shakers and Native Americans in particular. The negative is that I thought I was going to read a family drama with well drawn characters. While I enjoyed the story, every time I was really enjoying Jane’s narration, the next thing would be something completely different from a different time. It did all come together at the end, but seemed all over the place as I was reading.

I’m a big fan of J. Courtney Sullivan and have been since reading Commencement 15 years ago. Her writing explores complex relationships, and this particular novel once again highlights her beloved Maine. While slightly uneven in its exploration of generational trauma, I was still swept away.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

I loved the beginning of this book and then in the middle, it could not keep my attention, but the last third was my favorite. The book in general had a great premise, but kind of felt all over the place!

Thank you, NetGalley, for an advanced copy of this novel!

I loved this book that centers around an old house in Maine, its history, and the women who loved it.

Jane is a Harvard archivist who grew up with an alcoholic mother in Maine. She returns to her childhood home after making a grave mistake that threatens her job and marriage. While there she sees her favorite home she admired as a teen has been gut renovated. The woman living there now asks Jane to help her research the history of the home, convinced it may be haunted. What Jane uncovers bears scars from America’s colonial days as well as her own family’s troubled past.

I alternated reading and listening and couldn’t put this book down! I loved that each narrator was a woman and each had their own burdens and histories to share. While the sections on deep past especially around Shakers and Native Americans could feel more like historical fiction, I found it interesting enough and necessary for the full story (which comes together beautifully at the end). Jane was a flawed character who makes so many mistakes though you continue to root for her. There are mediums, potential ghosts, charlatans, alcoholics, mothers, sisters, friends and they were all compelling and made for a wonderfully textured read.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨(4.25/5 stars)

Basically everything in this book was told to you, in a straightforward way. It wasn't my normal style of book where things are shown to you while the story progresses. Overall, the premise sounded good, but I couldn't make myself finish it.

Jane Flanagan returns to Maine twenty years later after separating from her husband. The decrepit abandoned house she visited as a teenager has been renovated and is rumored to be haunted. Genevieve, the woman who bought the house hires Jane to look into the history of the house.
This was a good story that goes back and forth between past and present.
Thanks NetGalley and Knopf for this eARC that will be released July 2, 2024!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.
I enjoyed Jane’s storyline the best. There were many characters.
I felt overall the book was too long. It felt at times the author was preaching during the history of the Native Americans. Also I found that the storyline of reincarnation was strange.
Overall the book was long, but it kept me reading.

3.5/5. I enjoyed the prose and Jane's storyline in this book. I found it to be slow paced, but every so often, something would be revealed that would draw me back. I really enjoy Sullivan's writing style. On the other hand, this book had a lot of long segments with explanations and backstory. I felt the parts that dealt with Jane were stronger than the shifts to other narrators.