When everything breaks down, what does it take to survive?
Meghan Gilliss鈥� debut novel 鈥淟ungfish鈥� dramatically transports the reader to an isolated island, the wind whipping and the waves crashing as life rages. Tuck, the novel鈥檚 female protagonist, becomes symbolic of the sacrifices many women make to protect the people they love most. With grit, determination, and perpetual hope, it鈥檚 a story that hits hard and requires readers to ask themselves how much they鈥檇 give to make themselves whole.
After life begins to unravel in this piece of literary fiction, Tuck, her husband Paul, and their young daughter Agnes leave their home in Pittsburgh in exchange for an island home in Maine, left empty after Tuck鈥檚 grandmother鈥檚 death. They have no rights to the land, as it was left to Tuck鈥檚 father who has been missing for years, but with few other options, they decide it鈥檚 worth the risk to shelter there until they have a better plan.聽
The reader doesn鈥檛 quite understand the frigidity of Tuck and Paul鈥檚 marriage until a secret is revealed early in the novel鈥檚 320 pages: Paul is addicted to kratom, an herbal extract that mimics opioids. He has slowly been draining the family鈥檚 finances, and the money that should have been going to food, clothing, and shelter has been feeding Paul鈥檚 addiction. And because they are not legally residing anywhere, they don鈥檛 qualify for food or housing assistance, leaving Tuck and Agnes at the mercy of whatever Paul brings home from the mainland. One of his supply runs? Graham crackers, peanut butter, instant noodles, and half a gallon of cheap milk.聽
To survive, Tuck takes to foraging the island, surviving on whatever she and Agnes can find: mussels, green crabs, devil鈥檚 tongue, bladder wrack, kelp, rose hips. When they spot starfish during low tide, Agnes asks, 鈥淐an I eat it, Mama?鈥� They also discover another way of making money: selling bumper sticker-making kits found in her grandmother鈥檚 attic. Tuck鈥檚 creativity propels the story forward as their dire situation mounts.聽
Gillis鈥� writing is visceral and even harsh. Tuck鈥檚 own internal thought process flows into the short conversations she has with other characters, to the point where the reader is sometimes unsure of whether she鈥檚 talking to another character or retreating into her own unraveling thoughts. While attempting to keep herself, Agnes, and Paul alive, she also relives her own past and remembers how her parents both abandoned her, in different ways.聽
We learn that the island itself was a sanctuary in Tuck's youth, with her grandmother teaching her which plants were edible and how to fish. The woman was a calming presence in Tuck's tumultuous family life. The island, bleak and unforgiving as it may be, is also what sustains her and her daughter Agnes, her grandmother鈥檚 namesake. It鈥檚 a modern example of naturalism at its finest, where one can see nature as a force to survive as well as the source of our very survival.聽
The book is gripping, descriptive, and full of poignant revelations of both the rawness of nature and of humanity. Tuck herself is a force, an embodiment of the ebb and flow of life. At times she is fully consumed by her tasks; at other times she's detached in a way that causes the reader to ache with loneliness. Her resilience is palpable, and mirrors that of the island as she navigates circumstances that would break anyone. As she tries to control the fate of her family in the midst of many things beyond her control, the reader never really knows if she鈥檒l make it out alive. Until the final pages, it is unclear whether or not she can weather the storm. It鈥檚 riveting.
