Girl at Sea, by Maureen Johnson

Clio is about to start a job at the art supply store where her crush Ollie works when her mom accepts a fellowship that, in exchange, requires her to travel out of state to work on a project. Even though Clio and her father don’t have the best relationship, her mom wants some alone time with her new boyfriend and agrees to send Clio to spend several weeks with her father in Italy… on a boat. To most people, that kind of vacation would sound great, but Clio is all too used to her father’s aloof, spontaneous behavior, and knows that this isn’t just a typical vacation.

“This is your com,” he said. “Everyone on board will carry one, and everyone has a number. You’re number five. Always identify yourself by your number. There’s a number list on the back.”

Clio flipped the com over. There, stuck to the back, was a small sticker with the following list printed in an extremely tiny font:

Ben Ford: 1
Martin Young: 2
Julia Woodward: 3
Aidan Cross: 4
Clio Ford: 5
Elsa Äkerlund-Woodward: 6

“What are we doing that we need these?” she asked.

They parted temporarily to let a bike pass between them.

“Some archeological work,” he said.

“So why the spooky secret-secret?” she asked.

Honestly, as much as I love Maureen Johnson, I expected this book to be a total dud. The description on the jacket doesn’t sound at all exciting. I only checked the book out of the library because like I said, I love MJ books and want to read everything she’s written. It turned out that, like everything else of Johnson’s that I’ve read, Girl at Sea rocks.

Clio’s dad is kind of weird, but because he is entitled to X amount of visitation weeks during the summer, her mom forces her to go. She hasn’t seen him in a while and things are pretty strained between them. At the beginning of the book, you get several hints as to why they haven’t seen each other in so long, as well as tidbits showing that, once upon a time, they were pretty close.

Since my parents aren’t divorced, I couldn’t relate on that note, but I could relate to Clio’s artistic side. I also kept trying to envision her tattoo, and even though I was inwardly yelling at her dad for letting his young teenage daughter get a tattoo, I thought the concept behind it was pretty cool.

She held up her arm, showing the long tattoo that wound around her right forearm: an electric blue-and-pink zipper with three yellow-and-black stars flying out of the toggle.

Someday, I am going to try to draw that tattoo, just because I really want to see it.

I liked that Girl at Sea was part mystery, part (fluffy) romance; while Clio is trying to figure out ways to get off of the ship and go home so that she can kiss Ollie, she’s also trying to figure out why everyone is being so secretive about what they’re all doing. Every so often, there was a short chapter set in the 1800s about a girl named Marguerite and her father, so even the reader is trying to figure out what’s going on and how Marguerite’s story connects with Clio’s.

I can’t really think of anything I didn’t like about this book. I mean, sure, the “I’ve never been kissed, woe is me” thing is a little overdone in our pop culture and really kind of fluffy, but I still had fun with this book. It was a good read for summer, and I even took it up to the lake with me and sat reading in the sun. (And okay, half in the shade, to keep my new tattoo from feeling like it was on fire. I thought it was really cool to have a tattooed protagonist, kind of like the Mercy books. I’m just glad I didn’t get any of my tattoos for the same reason Clio got hers!)

I’m really hoping that eventually Maureen will write a sequel to Girl at Sea. Despite the almost completely wrapped-up ending, I think there’s a lot she could do with a sequel. I asked her on Twitter, so keep your fingers crossed that I get a “yes”!

I’m not at all criticizing Maureen, but I thought it was really interesting that there were so many underage “no-no’s” in this book. Aside from the tattoo, Clio and Elsa drink a few times, against both of their parents’ approval and without either of their parents knowing. I found it almost refreshing to see this in a YA novel. I like that Maureen isn’t afraid to be realistic; I knew a lot of people who had tattoos when I was in high school, and of course, there were many occasions where I drank with friends before I turned twenty-one. I think it would be interesting to see if Girl at Sea got any backlash for the mention of underage tattoos and drinking.

I also liked that Maureen wasn’t afraid to — almost literally — beat the crap out of her protagonist. I think the jellyfish incident could have handicapped Clio a little more, though, and actually would have really liked to see how being laid up on the couch even longer might have affected her relationships with the other characters — especially her father. Also, I’ve never even been stung once by a jellyfish, so I have no idea how long it takes to recover enough from stings all over your body to work on a ship again.

My favorite characters were Elsa “the cheese goddess” and Martin. I liked Elsa because she — unlike Clio’s flat best friend from home — was the kind of friend that Clio needed. She brought some fun to the trip that Clio probably would have otherwise hated, and I liked that she was described as a natural beauty — a character who just rolls out of bed and puts on some lipgloss and still feels confident about herself. She also brought a different culture to the story; even though the characters are essentially traveling through the Italian sea, they don’t explore a whole lot of Italy itself.

I liked Martin because he was almost grandfatherly, even though he’s probably about the same age as Clio’s dad. He helped bring some insight to her father’s actions, to both the reader and Clio. He played sort of a mediator, and helped smooth things over between them when things got, um, choppy — no pun intended.

I’ve decided to start doing something new with my reviews to spice them up a bit. From now on, I’ll be adding a link to an opposing review. Since I liked Girl at Sea, I found a review by Adele over at Persnickety Snark, who didn’t like it. In fact, she doesn’t like Maureen Johnson’s fiction at all. By including opposing reviews, I hope to give you a good, rounded view of the books I review. Please let me know what you think of this!

Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 323
Release Date: May 17th, 2007
Cover Price: $16.99
Price Paid: I ♥ the library

Are you closer to one of your parents more than the other? How does your relationships with your parents affect your relationships with other people? Clio, for example, had a hard time letting people get close to her.

I’m definitely closer to my mom than my dad. As a little girl, I was more of a daddy’s girl, but that changed when I became a teenager and entered the dreaded stages of puberty. My relationship with my dad is good, now. We’ve always had a lot in common, which is probably why we butt heads so easily. My mom, though, can relate to my literary side, and not only do we read many of the same books, but she also proofreads most of my stories. I’m honestly not really sure how this affects my relationships with other people. I’ve actually always tended to get along better with guys than girls, because they’re less petty and aren’t afraid to show that they’re into the more “nerdier” things, like comics and video games.

How about you? Please comment. Comments make me smile!