Rating: 
Summary: Unforgettable journey
Review: "A Gift Upon the Shore" is a story that will always stay with you once you've read it.
In contrast to lots of other apocalyptic novels this one is so believable, the characters so real. It is very well written and you can't but feel with the heroines as they survive the end of civilization and struggle on day by day and year after year. And here for once are people who don't just settle into cave man style lives ("Earth Abides") but here you find the ultimate effort of trying to preserve knowledge for the generations born after the "Golden Age".
Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable journey
Review: "A Gift Upon the Shore" is a story that will always stay with you once you've read it.
In contrast to lots of other apocalyptic novels this one is so believable, the characters so real. It is very well written and you can't but feel with the heroines as they survive the end of civilization and struggle on day by day and year after year. And here for once are people who don't just settle into cave man style lives ("Earth Abides") but here you find the ultimate effort of trying to preserve knowledge for the generations born after the "Golden Age".
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous!
Review: A beautifully written book which is assured of a place in my personal library. The characters are believable and the frailties of human nature so true to life. Being a book lover, I can relate to these woman trying to preserve books for future generations. It goes beyond that, in the struggle to not only survive, preserve books but to bring forth life to a dead world. However, the ugliness of human nature raises its head, but it does not triumph. A must read.
Rating: 
Summary: Ho Hummm...
Review: First off: I was looking forward to reading this book. I love 'post apocalyptical' novels, so when the Library had this book for sale, I eagerly snapped it up. Well...I have to say the first chapter ruined it for me. Number one, I'm not a big fan of novels written in the first person, but this book has a chapter at the beginning, which is written from one of the main characters POV that spoils major, plot points. This is a pet peeve of mine when reading fiction, and it seems to be a trend when writing from first person. I prefer not to read what's going to happen before it does...Ugg.But I persevered, and read more of the book. I found the writing style of this book to be quite dry and stilted. Chapters read like entries into a diary, and characters speak quite unnaturally. There is one paragraph where a main male character speaks in a single huge paragraph without pause! Ech. Every character has a biblical name and the writing style seems stiff and boring to me. I guess "A gift upon the Shore" is just not my bag. The narrative style was too dry and unappealing and the author tells us whats going on most of the time rather than showing us. I guess I'll just have to give this book a pass.
Rating:
Summary: Ho Hummm...
Review: First off: I was looking forward to reading this book. I love `post apocalyptical' novels, so when the Library had this book for sale, I eagerly snapped it up. Well...I have to say the first chapter ruined it for me. Number one, I'm not a big fan of novels written in the first person, but this book has a chapter at the beginning, which is written from one of the main characters POV that spoils major, plot points. This is a pet peeve of mine when reading fiction, and it seems to be a trend when writing from first person. I prefer not to read what's going to happen before it does...Ugg. But I persevered, and read more of the book. I found the writing style of this book to be quite dry and stilted. Chapters read like entries into a diary, and characters speak quite unnaturally. There is one paragraph where a main male character speaks in a single huge paragraph without pause! Ech. Every character has a biblical name and the writing style seems stiff and boring to me. I guess "A gift upon the Shore" is just not my bag. The narrative style was too dry and unappealing and the author tells us whats going on most of the time rather than showing us. I guess I'll just have to give this book a pass.
Rating:
Summary: Possibly my favorite book
Review: I am a prolific reader who especially enjoys books that deal with "post apocolyptic" story lines. But "A Gift Upon The Shore" is that and so much more. I read it over and over again. I have a large library and re-read many of my favorites, but each time I see this book I want to pick it up and read it again. It is, to me, the perfect book for a writer to read. If you love books, and all that they represent you will love "A Gift Upon The Shore". I believe that once you've read it you will never forget the story and the two women (no make that three women) who are so much a part of the tale.
Rating:
Summary: Possibly my favorite book
Review: I am a prolific reader who especially enjoys books that deal with "post apocolyptic" story lines. But "A Gift Upon The Shore" is that and so much more. I read it over and over again. I have a large library and re-read many of my favorites, but each time I see this book I want to pick it up and read it again. It is, to me, the perfect book for a writer to read. If you love books, and all that they represent you will love "A Gift Upon The Shore". I believe that once you've read it you will never forget the story and the two women (no make that three women) who are so much a part of the tale.
Rating:
Summary: Possibly my favorite book
Review: I am a prolific reader who especially enjoys books that deal with "post apocolyptic" story lines. But "A Gift Upon The Shore" is that and so much more. I read it over and over again. I have a large library and re-read many of my favorites, but each time I see this book I want to pick it up and read it again. It is, to me, the perfect book for a writer to read. If you love books, and all that they represent you will love "A Gift Upon The Shore". I believe that once you've read it you will never forget the story and the two women (no make that three women) who are so much a part of the tale.
Rating: 
Summary: Touching, Unique Post-Nuclear Fiction
Review: M. K. Wren's "A Gift Upon the Shore" is a rare bird indeed: it's science fiction, written about women characters, in a woman's style, by a woman. Like other fiction written by women, from a woman's point of view (think "A Yellow Raft in Blue Water" and books by Barbara Kingsolver), "Gift Upon the Shore" concerns itself with more lyrical and emotional prose, thankfully glossing over male survivalist-style details for the actual story underneath, and does so much to its advantage. The tale "Gift" tells is of a woman, Mary Hope, who survives a nuclear holocaust on the Oregon coast with newfound friend Rachel. Rachel is an artist, who teaches Mary the value of the mind, learning, and beauty. Together, the two manage to eke out an existence after the bombs, scavenging books from local houses and libraries to preserve for future generations. The story is told from two consecutive points in time: younger Mary, just after the holocaust, and older Mary, telling the story to a young boy. Both Marys are threatened by the ignorance of a band of ultra-fundamentalist Christian survivalists, who deem the blasphemous things in her books (such as evolution, plate tectonics, and other sciences) a threat to the order that helped them survive. The beauty of science fiction is that it allows the reader (and writer) to examine possibilities and philosophies under the most extreme of conditions. The problem is that most sci-fi succumbs to reducing those philosophies to mere stereotypes, and Wren comes dangerously close to doing that in "Gift." The Christians are portrayed as utterly ignorant, witch-burning psychotics or as sheep who merely follow along so as not to disrupt the fragile order. Likewise, the agnostic/humanist characters are the only fully-fleshed characters in the book; the main villain is almost a laughable cardboard cut-out, almost not even worthy of the agnostic's attentions. Wren's message is, of course, a vital one, but "Gift" seems to be preaching to the choir - with such obviously vile enemies, those who need to read the book will likely be put off before the message is received. Otherwise, "Gift Upon the Shore" is a fine, fast read. The prose clips along at a steady gait, although the book is somewhat hard to start (if you can make it past the first fifty pages, you'll be fine). Wren chose to set the novel near the Willamette Valley in Oregon, on the ocean, which is ironically the location of the mythical, paradise-like St. Rose in David Brin's 1984 post-nuclear novel "The Postman." Whether this nod is intentional or not is unclear, but I doubt Wren ignored such a key book in the genre. At any rate, even with its faults and somewhat heavy-handed moralizing, "A Gift Upon the Shore" is a very good novel, and deserves attention as such. It deserves even more so because of the rarity of such a clear, strong female voice in this male-dominated genre. Hats off to Wren for creating such a pleasurable book. Grade: B+
Rating:
Summary: Touching, Unique Post-Nuclear Fiction
Review: M. K. Wren's "A Gift Upon the Shore" is a rare bird indeed: it's science fiction, written about women characters, in a woman's style, by a woman. Like other fiction written by women, from a woman's point of view (think "A Yellow Raft in Blue Water" and books by Barbara Kingsolver), "Gift Upon the Shore" concerns itself with more lyrical and emotional prose, thankfully glossing over male survivalist-style details for the actual story underneath, and does so much to its advantage. The tale "Gift" tells is of a woman, Mary Hope, who survives a nuclear holocaust on the Oregon coast with newfound friend Rachel. Rachel is an artist, who teaches Mary the value of the mind, learning, and beauty. Together, the two manage to eke out an existence after the bombs, scavenging books from local houses and libraries to preserve for future generations. The story is told from two consecutive points in time: younger Mary, just after the holocaust, and older Mary, telling the story to a young boy. Both Marys are threatened by the ignorance of a band of ultra-fundamentalist Christian survivalists, who deem the blasphemous things in her books (such as evolution, plate tectonics, and other sciences) a threat to the order that helped them survive. The beauty of science fiction is that it allows the reader (and writer) to examine possibilities and philosophies under the most extreme of conditions. The problem is that most sci-fi succumbs to reducing those philosophies to mere stereotypes, and Wren comes dangerously close to doing that in "Gift." The Christians are portrayed as utterly ignorant, witch-burning psychotics or as sheep who merely follow along so as not to disrupt the fragile order. Likewise, the agnostic/humanist characters are the only fully-fleshed characters in the book; the main villain is almost a laughable cardboard cut-out, almost not even worthy of the agnostic's attentions. Wren's message is, of course, a vital one, but "Gift" seems to be preaching to the choir - with such obviously vile enemies, those who need to read the book will likely be put off before the message is received. Otherwise, "Gift Upon the Shore" is a fine, fast read. The prose clips along at a steady gait, although the book is somewhat hard to start (if you can make it past the first fifty pages, you'll be fine). Wren chose to set the novel near the Willamette Valley in Oregon, on the ocean, which is ironically the location of the mythical, paradise-like St. Rose in David Brin's 1984 post-nuclear novel "The Postman." Whether this nod is intentional or not is unclear, but I doubt Wren ignored such a key book in the genre. At any rate, even with its faults and somewhat heavy-handed moralizing, "A Gift Upon the Shore" is a very good novel, and deserves attention as such. It deserves even more so because of the rarity of such a clear, strong female voice in this male-dominated genre. Hats off to Wren for creating such a pleasurable book. Grade: B+
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