Finished: The House in the Cerulean Sea

I don’t remember who recommended this book to me. There are a couple likely suspects and to whomever suggested I read this book, I cannot say thank you enough.

I’ll be honest, this review is probably going to be a little sappy.

I read this book while I was on vacation. We visited the Gulf of Mexico where my only requirement was to have a balcony facing the water. During the vacation, my only plans were to read, knit, spend time with my husband and enjoy not having do to anything.

I read another book during the day. But when my husband would head to bed (he’s an early bird, I’m a night owl), I would sit on the balcony, listening to the water while reading this book on my ereader (it has a backlight). It was one of my favorite things about my vacation.

If you’ve ever read a quirky English book featuring magical realism, you will already have a sense of what this book is like. Linus lives in a big metropolitan area where it is always gray and rainy. He works for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth (DICOMY) as, basically, a social worker. He travels to orphanages where magical children are raised to make sure they are healthy and taken care of. Linus writes reports which are submitted to the people who he is sure are doing the right thing. Hint: They’re not.

When he is called to Extreme Upper Management one day, Linus anticipates the worst. Instead, he is sent to spend a week on a magical island to make sure the orphanage master is indeed running a safe orphanage. He is sent by EUM because his reports are clear, concise and factual. No opinions. The Rules & Regulations are the guiding principle for his work. It’s clear, however, that he wants more but doesn’t feel he’s worth it.

When Linus arrives at Marsyas Island, he finally learns why this orphanage is special: The residents are some of the most dangerous (and rare) magical children around, including “Lucy” who is the seven-year-old antichrist.

Linus is a nervous sort and isn’t used to belonging. This whole trip has him on edge, especially with his pre-conceived notions about the children. Arthur, the orphanage master has a secret past but raises these children with kindness and respect. The children are hilarious and ferocious in their love for Arthur and each other. Linus is an outsider who needs to be kept at arms length.

But of course, that doesn’t happen.

I know you want to know all about the book, but I hesitate to tell you too much. Told entirely from Linus’ point of view, this story is one of love, kindness, found family and hope. And the journey as Linus falls in love with the island, the children and even Arthur while knowing he has a job to do and will leave in a week (and also his underlying believe that he doesn’t deserve his own happiness) is so beautiful and worth being surprised at every turn.

As I was reading this book, I almost stopped at one point. The book was so delightful and I know how stories go. Something bad always happens about 2/3 of the way through that breaks hearts and damages relationships. I didn’t want that to happen. I wanted these people to be happy and live forever as a beautiful family. I did finish it though, my heart was never broken and tears came none-the-less.

I think the relationship we—the readers—are supposed to be the most engaged with is the blossoming love between Arthur and Linus. And it is a great love story. But my favorite relationship is that between Linus and the gnome child, Thalia. She is a grumpy gnome and is always threatening Linus with harm and teasing him. But the love between the two is so clear and lovely that I would read a story about just the two of them going on a weekend trip.

I’m not going to include any spoilers in this review. The story goes pretty much as you probably already suspect it will. There is nothing truly original about this story. But this is a beautiful story. This is a story full of hope and love and kindness and delight. It’s clear the author loves the characters and world he has created and doesn’t want to hurt anyone. Instead, Klune wants a story where the characters find healing for those feeling unwanted and unloved.

There are deeper themes in the book that are clearly parallels to racism and homophobia. Klune isn’t subtle about those metaphors. But love wins, even if it’s just for the moment.