Land of Love and Drowning

by Tiphanie Yanique
Land of Love and Drowning cover
Good Books rating 4.0
Magical Realism
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Technical
  • ID: 1305
  • Added: 2025-10-04
  • Updated: 2025-10-16
  • ISBN: 9780698168800
  • Publisher: Penguin
  • Published: 2014-07-10
  • Reviews: 4

In the early 1900s, the Virgin Islands transition from Danish to American rule, setting the stage for a sweeping tale of three generations. Orphaned sisters and their half brother, each blessed with unique magical gifts, must navigate the complexities of love, identity, and survival. The novel's rich, lyrical prose and vibrant setting evoke the spirit of the Caribbean, blending the ordinary with the extraordinary. Through love affairs, curses, and triumphs, the Bradshaw family's story unfolds against the backdrop of a changing world, offering a glimpse into a culture steeped in tradition and transformation.

Reviews
rwszupzmsadbjqghhiwjxwntmpecjm.thestorygraph.com · Unknown · 2025-12-20
mixed 2.50

The book is dreamy and sensual, focusing on family relationships and love, but some found the incest themes squicky and the plot thin. The writing is beautiful, but the magical realism and lack of clear plot may not appeal to everyone.

This book is a dreamy and sensual exploration of family relationships and love, with a focus on the complexities of these connections. The writing is beautiful, with rich imagery and a unique style that some readers will appreciate. However, the themes of incest and the lack of a clear plot may not appeal to everyone. The book is set in St. Thomas and the Virgin Islands, and the historical fiction elements are well done, providing a lot of interesting context. The characters are complicated and well-developed, but the incest themes can be difficult to stomach. The magical realism is subtle and works well within the story, but some readers may struggle with the lack of a clear plot or the allegorical nature of the characters. Overall, this book is a mixed bag, with beautiful writing and interesting themes, but also some challenging content.

Quick quotes

    This is a dreamy and sensual book. You'll have to be in the mood to just drift along with it and not worry too much about things making sense, as with any dream that you want to enjoy.

    The book is really about relationships with family and with men. The women in this book really think about love and men a lot.

    There is a father/daughter 'relationship' (IE abuse, the child is a teen. But she is portrayed as being in love with her father) that thankfully does not last long, but the character still thinks about him and longs for him throughout the entire book.

bookmarks.reviews · Unknown · 2025-12-14
brilliant 4.50

Land of Love and Drowning is a rich seascape about family and legacy, blending true history with magic. The novel's vivid prose and multiple narrators create a captivating portrait of the Virgin Islands, exploring themes of race, class, and the power of the sea.

Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique is a dauntless and complex novel that melds true history with magic, offering a rich seascape about family and legacy. The novel's vivid prose and multiple narrators create a captivating portrait of the Virgin Islands, exploring themes of race, class, and the power of the sea. The story is essentially the tale of two sisters, Eeona and Anette, and their journey through the consequences of their father's harmful choices. Yanique's voice is distinct, blending elements of magical realism with a deep sense of place and history. The novel's pacing and perspectival jumps sometimes cause it to sag, but overall, it is a spectacular evocation of time and place that is likely to become a classic of Caribbean American literature.

Quick quotes

    How rare to encounter a dauntless and complex novel that convincingly melds true history with magic, but Tiphanie Yanique’s debut — a rich seascape about family and legacy, beauty’s clout and the variable waves of race and class on the twentieth-century Caribbean islands — accomplishes just that.

    Yanique’s voice is her own ... Despite having several narrators telling many sides of the same story, this is essentially the tale of two sisters, Eeona and Anette — the bonds holding them together and the differences, the secrets, that threaten to fracture them irreparably and even eradicate the enduring legacy of their family.

    The novel sags at various points in the second half and its pacing suffers occasionally from its own gregarious, feeling impulse and its perspectival jumps.

app.thestorygraph.com · Unknown · 2025-11-21
brilliant 4.50

The Land of Love and Drowning is a family drama intertwined with the history of St. Thomas, exploring themes of belonging and identity. The Bradshaw sisters, Eeona and Anette, navigate their complex relationship and the changing cultural landscape of their island home.

The Land of Love and Drowning is a richly layered family drama that delves into the Bradshaw family's secrets and the cultural shifts of St. Thomas. The story follows the Bradshaw sisters, Eeona and Anette, as they grapple with their identities and the changing world around them. The novel beautifully captures the tension between tradition and modernity, and the search for belonging. The prose is evocative and the characters are deeply compelling, making it a memorable read. The narrative also explores the impact of American influence on the island, adding a layer of historical depth to the personal stories of the characters.

Quick quotes

    her running away had finally taken her to a haunted place where the past greets you at the door.

    Tiphanie Yanique writes some damn beautiful prose.

    The way the fantasy elements are treated reminded me a little of Jo Walton’s Among Others, where the plot of the story doesn’t orbit around the magic (except when it does).

bookmarks.reviews · Unknown · 2025-11-20
brilliant 4.50

Land of Love and Drowning is a rich, complex novel that masterfully blends history with magic, offering a vivid portrayal of family and legacy in the Caribbean. The story, spanning generations, is both deeply personal and culturally resonant, with sharp details that transcend cultural boundaries. The novel's power lies in its ability to evoke the essence of the Virgin Islands through a unique and captivating narrative.

Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique is a dauntless and complex novel that seamlessly merges true history with magical elements, creating a rich seascape about family, legacy, and the impact of race and class in the twentieth-century Caribbean. The novel follows the Bradshaw family over sixty years, depicting their triumphs, tragedies, and the magical gifts that shape their lives. Yanique's authorial power is evident in her ability to render each scene with sharp details that transcend culture and travel across oceans. The story is both deeply personal and culturally resonant, offering a vivid portrayal of the Virgin Islands. The novel's strength lies in its ability to build a panoramic view of the islands through a unique and captivating narrative. Despite comparisons to other literary works, Yanique's voice is distinctly her own, making this a standout piece of literature.

Quick quotes

    How rare to encounter a dauntless and complex novel that convincingly melds true history with magic, but Tiphanie Yanique’s debut — a rich seascape about family and legacy, beauty’s clout and the variable waves of race and class on the twentieth-century Caribbean islands — accomplishes just that.

    Yanique has set out to write the epic of this region and culture, and in fact this book deserves better than to be labeled with last-century publishing buzzwords.

    While the novel is a sweeping, historical family epic with touches of magical realism, immediately putting it in a similar vein to Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years Of Solitude or Toni Morrison’s Song Of Solomon or Isabel Allende’s The House Of The Spirits, such comparisons may also be doing a disservice. Yanique’s voice is her own.

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