Product Description
Leg muscles burning and arms punching through water and air, hands clawing for something, anything that can pull me up, pull me out, give me a chance-Help me help me help me . . . Gasping, SERA wakes from the nightmare-again. Her therapist believes that her troubled young patient is reliving the drowning death from a past life in her dreams. When she convinces Sera to travel back in time to witness the death of that past entity in an effort to break the nightmare’s cycle, Sera is faced with a difficult choice: does she stand by and let events unfold as they will, or does she break the rules of time travel and help to save the ones she loves, only to risk everything, including her own life? The choice she makes results in an anomaly so horrible and yet so beautiful, it transforms each of them.
April 10th, 2010 at 5:47 pm
After years of being haunted by a recurring nightmare where she is drowning, Sera Muir’s life is an empty shell. The nightmare is unrelenting and repeated therapy has proven to be unsuccessful. Sera moves through life without meaning, unable to hold anything more than a menial job. Her one promising relationship for love and happiness is doomed due to her water phobia caused by her all consuming dream.
Sera is convinced by Dr. Moore, her therapist, that perhaps her dream is not a dream but rather a memory – a memory of a drowning in a previous life. In the year 2202, science has advanced such that one has the ability to trace their life energy signature back in time. Dr. Moore identifies Sera’s past life signature in a woman named Melissa James.
Through research, they discover that Melissa dies in a drowning accident which is the likely cause of Sera’s nightmare. An experimental procedure, Kinetic Regression Travel, may allow Sera to return back in time to witness what happens to Melissa so that she can finally break free of the hold this nightmare has on her.
However, for her journey to be successful, Sera must be extremely careful to only observe events of the past and not interfere with them or the result may be catastrophic. Desperate for finding meaning and searching for a way forward, Sera agrees. Ironically, after traveling back to 1973, for perhaps the first time in her life, Sera is anything but an observer. In fact, in a period of only a couple of days, Sera connects so deeply with those she meets, she begins to finally live life. The ultimate choice she makes and its impact transforms herself and those around her.
The Starfish People by Leann Marshall is a beautifully written novel. The characters are marvelously developed and lovingly conveyed to the reader as if paying tribute to their tragic lives. I was moved by each of them and haunted by the bittersweet ending. Marshall’s insights into the human condition are thoughtfully written. One of my favorite quotes comes from Willie:
“Maybe you understand why somebody is the way they is, and maybe you don’t understand them at all. But folks all got their own ways about them – good and bad. And that’s all there is to it in this life, you know. We all just trying to find our way.”
It is only through her past, that Sera finds her way.
Not only did I enjoy reading this novel, but I found myself frequently thinking about it’s characters, themes, and what might have been, making it clear to me why this novel was awarded a 2008 IPPY Silver Medal. This is an extremely good debut novel and Marshall proves she is a very capable author.
I suppose my one complaint would be that I longed for more. The novel is a brief 138 pages and I know that I could have spent even more time in Marshall’s world. If you like novels from Oprah’s book club, put this one on your shelf. You will grow and care about the characters more than those in House of Sand and Fog (Oprah’s Book Club) (Vintage Contemporaries) and the outcome will be more satisfying than Drowning Ruth. I anxiously await the release of Leann Marshall’s next offering.
Rating: 5 / 5
April 10th, 2010 at 5:55 pm
Plot/Storyline: 4 Stars
This is one of those novels hard to pin down to a specific genre. It is almost science fiction, almost fantasy, and almost drama. The story is told from three different viewpoints: Lissa, the `previous self’, Willie, a homeless man in the past, and Sera, the woman living in 2205.
The science involved is the big weakness in this work. The explanations given for various portions are scientifically so weak as to suggest no research was done at all. At the end, the science is bent even further to achieve the author’s goals. As much as I don’t like a lot of scientific detail, I do like to have it at least make some sense.
The storyline flowed very well. The switching of viewpoints was nicely done with appropriate people telling the relevant portions of the story. The author keeps the reader interested throughout, never resorting to contrived foreshadowing.
I also enjoyed the way the new technology in 2205 was introduced. The reader is shown new devices through the storyline without being lectured. The future is very believable, with the exception of the time travel device itself.
Character Development: 5 Stars
The three main characters were wonderfully drawn. Lissa was an unlikable person, yet still interesting. Sera was fun to read about in the future because of the world she lived in and in the past because of her reactions to things. Willie was a heavily sympathetic character while still being completely realistic.
Writing Style: 5 Stars
This portion is where the author excels. Her story telling style is almost a ’stream of conscience’ type event in portions. It took me a page or two to get used to it the first time the story switched to Lissa, as it felt a bit rushed after reading from Sera’s viewpoint. However, it definitely fit the character.
The narrative voices of each character were wonderfully distinct. The dialogue was realistic. The descriptions were precise and vivid.
Editing/Formatting: 4 1/2 Stars
The editing was of commercially published quality. The formatting did have one issue where lines would break off to the next line in the middle. This only occurred rarely throughout most of the novel. However, there was a portion toward the end where it occurred through almost an entire chapter.
Rating: PG-12 for Adult Situations and Violence
Rating: 4 / 5
April 10th, 2010 at 8:41 pm
Leann Marshall’s “The Starfish People” is such a wonderful writing, (recognized for excellence as the Independent Publisher Books Awards’ Silver Medal Winner); one must ask just what it was that could have possibly won the gold? A truly compelling read leaving behind an “energy signature” all its own. Enjoy *****__John E. Cashwell
Rating: 5 / 5
April 10th, 2010 at 8:52 pm
I found this time travel fantasy story to be refreshingly creative and an especially engaging read. Set in the future, the young main character, Sera suffers from constant and horrible nightmares of drowning. Her therapist tells her that she is reliving a real death experience in a past life. Wanting her to confront this time and hopefully end the nightmares the therapist convinces Sera to travel back into time to witness the actual death of the entity she used to be.
The future as described in the book and the character development are what I found to be most clever and entralling. I became engrossed in the characters and their stories as they related to Sera in her time travel-they seemed so real as did the whole story! I found that I cared for and had emotions for these characters! I read the book in one sitting and was captured from the first chapter to the last line. The author, Leann Marshall, is a master at taking the reader from his/her time and space to hers!
Rating: 5 / 5
April 10th, 2010 at 10:13 pm
I love time travel stories, and this one was filled with characters I really cared about.
A sweet story!
Rating: 5 / 5