Waves

Not my usual style of book as I prefer thrillers. It is well written and told in a charming way. Alex is stuck in his life and travels to the Outer Hebrides with his friend James. He learns a bit more about himself and what he wants from life as he goes on a voyage of self discovery on an island. Good descriptive passages had me transported to the isle of Lewis as Alex finds his way in life. A nice easy holiday read. Thank you Net Galley for my copy. I reviewed on Goodreads.

Waves by Jared A. Carnie is a new adult generation fiction read.
SOMETIMES THE HARDER WE LOOK, THE LESS WE SEE...
Alex is stuck. Stuck in Essex. Stuck in his childhood home. Stuck in a job he hates. The relationship he'd been counting on all these years has finally fallen apart. He's run out of things to hope for. 
Anxious, uncertain and totally sober, Alex is dragged to the Outer Hebrides by his long-suffering friend, James. Somewhere between the mountains and the sea, Alex is desperate to find something to ignite a spark of life in him again. 
This was a very good read. With good strong characters like Alex and James. Couldn't put it down. I liked the ending too. Recommended. 5*. Thanks to netgalley for the arc.

“There’s no set route after all. No straight road. No one path.”

There’s no crazy plot line. No inciting incident. No revealing climax. This is a real story about real life.

Meet Alex. He is surprisingly sober and unsurprisingly introverted, but I suppose his sobriety doesn’t surprise me that much at all. When you feel like anxiety is consuming you through every pore and crevice of your body, why would you want to pollute your bloodstream with any more toxins? I found Alex’s neuroticism to be both reassuring and disgruntling. I was annoyed a little bit by his seemingly nonchalant attitude, but I also strongly related to the dismissive way he felt about most things. Perhaps I would not have felt so disgruntled if the story didn’t hit so close to home. Regardless, I enjoyed his narrative.

As a young girl, I used to write stories all day long. I was sure that I would become an author. I would end up writing 200, 300, 400-page novels, and yet, I never managed to complete one. Why? Because I couldn’t write an ending if my life depended on it. There I was, spending night after night writing stories about debatably “real people with real problems”, and praying to some vague spot in the sky that I could construct an ending that was something plausible. In real life, things don’t just end. Bad things happen, yes. Sometimes people make bad choices. Sometimes we get hurt. Sometimes the people we care about leave, or worse–they die. But life goes on and we digress. There was always this uncertainty that even I, the author, could never know what would happen to the characters after the last page was written. How could I know? And that’s what this book reminded me about. Things happen. Life goes on. A reader shouldn’t need inciting incidents or plot twists to stay involved in a story, but I understand that this type of literature is not everyone’s cup of tea.

I feel like Alex’s voice is very authentic and revealing about the author. We always write what we know, even if it comes from a very deep place within us. The character growth was minimal, but again, it happened organically and therefore realistically, which I greatly appreciated. Things sort of just happen, as they should, but this may also serve to remind us that sometimes we need to take initiative if we want something to change. If you’re feeling stuck, take a look at what is holding you back. What are you going to do about it?

Aptly named, reading Waves felt like I was sitting in an unknown coastal town, staring out into the water, contemplating all that Life is. This book is a steady reminder to take life one day at a time, and to also take that soul-searching trip away from the city you’re in. I promise it will be good for you. Take your hilariously drunk best friend with you. Take a few books (though I doubt you’ll end up reading any). And maybe make a great new friend while you’re out there.

This book can be best described as a gentle book. There are no earth shattering events but in the course of the book a life is changed forever. Alex drifted into a job whilst his girlfriend went to Uni. He believed that they would marry when she graduated. That didn't happen. Now he is stuck in a rut. His friend James takes him to the Outer Hebrides to stay with his family for a week. The island and the people make Alex realise that there are always options.

A thoroughly nice read! Thanks to Netgalley for the chance to read and review it.

This is a very sweet coming-of-age novel about Alex who is heartbroken when his girlfriend dumps him; he feels alone and lost in a dead-end job until his friend, James drags him to his family home in the Outer Hebrides. While Alex comes to some realizations slowly and without any great "aha" moments, his journey to self-discovery takes the reader to some lovely natural habitats as Alex witnesses the serene and humble lifestyle of the inhabitants. It's a story about family, friendship, and the "waves" of adolescence surging toward adulthood. It certainly made me want to visit!

Waves was one of my reads of the year. I absolutely loved Alex's own narrative and found his literal and metaphorical journey really gripping due to the fact that it was so very Unsensational and dealt with the everyday in such an engrossing way. The setting itself was an incredible character and made me long to pack a bag and head North myself. Dealing wit the inner voice of such an introvert can be a challenge but Carnie has done a fantastic job of making us privy to Alex's inner voice without it seeming unrealistic or invasive. I thoroughly enjoyed losing myself in 'Waves' and would recommend it to anyone looking for an immersive winter read with an evocative setting and a truly engaging persona.