Tuesday Intros & Teaser Tuesday - 'On Such A Full Sea' by Chang-Rae Lee

On Such a Full SeaHow is everyone on this splendid Tuesday? I have an early start and then work in the afternoon so I might not be able to drop by until late in the evening! Last week I used Paradise Lost for this meme post and although I'm still working through it I am really enjoying it. This week I'm using another book my father gave me, after the very successful The Peculiar Life of  a Lonely Postman. This book is: On Such A Full Sea by Chang-Rae Lee. 
In a future, long-declining America, society is strictly stratified by class. Long-abandoned urban neighborhoods have been repurposed as highwalled, self-contained labor colonies. And the members of the labor class—descendants of those brought over en masse many years earlier from environmentally ruined provincial China—find purpose and identity in their work to provide pristine produce and fish to the small, elite, satellite charter villages that ring the labor settlement.
In this world lives Fan, a female fish-tank diver, who leaves her home in the B-Mor settlement (once known as Baltimore), when the man she loves mysteriously disappears. Fan’s journey to find him takes her out of the safety of B-Mor, through the anarchic Open Counties, where crime is rampant with scant governmental oversight, and to a faraway charter village, in a quest that will soon become legend to those she left behind.
On Such a Full Sea takes Chang-Rae Lee’s elegance of prose, his masterly storytelling, and his long-standing interests in identity, culture, work, and love, and lifts them to a new plane. Stepping from the realistic and historical territories of his previous work, Lee brings us into a world created from scratch. Against a vividly imagined future America, Lee tells a stunning, surprising, and riveting story that will change the way readers think about the world they live in. 
Tuesday Intros and Teaser Tuesdays are hosted by Diane over at Bibliophile by the Sea and MizB over at Should Be Reading.


BB:
'It is known where we come from, but no one much cares about things like that anymore. We think, Why bother? Except for a lucky few, everyone is from someplace, but that someplace, it turns out, is gone. You can search it, you can find pix or vids that show what the place last looked like, in our case a gravel-colored town of stoop-shouldered buildings on a riverbank in China, shorn hills in the distance. Rooftops a mess of wires and junk. The river tea-still, a swath of black. Ans blunting it all is a haze that you can almost smell, a smell, you think, you don't want to breathe in.' p.1
I really like the tone of the beginning, which is important considering it's a dystopian novel. I feel like that genre has to do a lot of extra work in the first chapter or so in order to establish how this worldscape is dystopian. 
TeaserTuesdays2014e

Teaser:
'Look at this attractive but weary-faced wife, Glynnis, who could no longer afford to have her hair colored or her crow's feet smoothed, time catching up and passing her by right before your eyes.' p.143
I love this teaser even though it is perhaps harsh, but I think humanity's vanity could be the first thing used against it in a dystopian society. And I feel very sorry for Glynnis!

So, this is my Tuesday post! Does On Such a Full Sea sound like your kind of book? Leave a link to your post so I can drop by!

Comments

  1. I have had this one on my radar for a while, but I'm currently reading a different dystopian!

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  2. I've always found dystopias so intense for me -- much like this one and the teaser.I always think I have to be in the right frame of mind for them to be handle how dark they can get.

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  3. I had this one but donated it unread as I don't think it's my kind of story -- hope u enjoy it though

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  4. I'm not sure about this one. I like dystopia, but this one sounds depressing. I hope you enjoy it, though.
    Today I'm featuring Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar.

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  5. I like how the author addresses vanity. That's new to me and makes me think of what I'd miss the most.

    My TT - http://fuonlyknew.com/2015/02/03/teaser-tuesdays-100-one-more-day-what-if-tommorrow-never-happens/

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  6. This one might be a stretch for me, but I hope you enjoy it!

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  7. Sounds like it has potential.

    My Tuesday post: http://www.bookclublibrarian.com/2015/02/first-chapter-first-paragraph-92.html

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  8. The cover made me curious, but I'm not sure if this is for me. Happy reading and I hope you enjoy it.
    sherry @ fundinmental My TT

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  9. Oh, that world does not sound pleasant at all! Grim, in fact. Great excerpts...thanks for sharing.

    Here's mine: “WHAT I REMEMBER MOST”

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  10. Really interesting teaser. I have not seen this book, and I would definitely read it. Vanity is a true equalizer when it's not kept up.

    My Teaser this week

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  11. I have had my eye on this one for awhile now. On Such A Full Sea sounds like something I might like.

    I hope you had a great day!

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  12. Firstly, love the cover and the first chapter. With so many dystopian books, it's important to have the reader's attention from the first page and this sounds like it achieves that.

    Here's a link to my teaser:
    http://welcome-to-zeds-thoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/teaser-tuesday-3rd-feb-2015.html

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  13. Interesting tease! Totally new to me! Hope you enjoy the rest!

    Here's my Tuesday Post

    Have a GREAT day!

    Old Follower :)

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  14. Sounds like the author created a fascinating world. He definitely sets a somber mood in the opening, and the Teaser is sobering too. Sounds like a beautifully written story.
    My Tuesday post features SIX STRINGS.

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  15. I don't read dystopian fiction, but I must say I was captivated by the plot line of the story. That and the introductory paragraph are very compelling.

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  16. I'm a little burned out on dystopian so I'd pass. enjoy your book. It does sound good. Have a nice week. kelley—the road goes ever ever on

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  17. I love the descriptive writing. Really puts you in the scene!

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  18. Wow - I don't normally like dystopia, but I really liked this intro. And - this whole set up reminds me a little of The Hunger Games (minus the fight to the death).

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  19. I have never read a dystopian novel, but this intro has me intrigued. I'd keep reading, and I'll look forward to your thoughts on the book!

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