Here’s my take on Brackish Waters by Matt Boren—performed by Christina Applegate.
Blurb
When Kate wins an item at her children’s elementary school auction – an all-inclusive trip to SeaView at Sandpiper Bay – she thinks it’s just what her family needs after a decade of career disappointments and a marriage on its last legs. She has no reason to believe that said trip is a Fyre Festival-level fraud and, in fact, the catalyst to her unraveling. But it is. Oh, but it is.
Upon her return home, Kate, a failed writer, sets out to publish the world’s most anthemic one-star Yelp review of SeaView at Sandpiper Bay, detailing her week from hell on its brackish waters. And it will be her masterpiece.
At first, it feels good to let her white-knuckled fingers fly ragefully across the keys. But after a while, Kate wonders: Is her Yelp review like the vacation itself, an ill-advised Band-Aid on problems she doesn’t know how to fix?
Review
Over the past year, I have been hooked on the charm of audiobooks. For one, they let me finish reading (listening to) more books, and two, it’s extremely convenient as I can listen to them while I work, commute, or do my daily chores. And one of these days while browsing the catalog of Audible Plus, I came across Brackish Waters by Matt Boren narrated by Christina Applegate.
The book, which you listen to from the perspective of Kate, is a 2-hour long Yelp review that tells the stories of her embarrassing and frustrating trip to the SeaView Resort, from the encounter with her friend-enemy that she hates to her coming across an attractive young gentleman; this audiobook has it all.
Coming back to the review, Brackish Waters by Matt Boren, an hour-and-a-half long Yelp-review-turned-memoir, is a long and funny rant about a family vacation that turns into a drama, and is a good listen on a 2-hour journey. While it doesn’t result in any laughs, it does bring a smile while you breeze through the captivating narration. It is a humorous story, yes, but it’s more about the flow of the narration that keeps you on the hook than the story of the book itself.
I rate Brackish Waters by Matt Boren 2.5 stars out of 5.
I believe the most humorous bit of the book is when Kate flies into the air (spoiler alert) and falls into the water, which adds more embarrassment to her already-embarrassing trip. She’s annoyed, frustrated, jealous, stressed, and nothing close to happy, which is the essence of the book. It offers nothing more than a way to pass time, that’s all. Brackish Waters is narrated by Christina Applegate, who played Amy’s character on Friends—the only difference being that it is her who’s dealing with the Amy in her life.
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