Finding Oneself in Stephanie Willing’s “West of the Sea” https://ift.tt/VaiNkMJ
While Stephanie Willing’s West of the Sea makes its premiere in the young adult genre, it is the type of YA novel adults should really pay attention to. Set in small-town Texas and narrated by the unique and loveable Haven, its messages about individuality, tolerance, acceptance, generational trauma, and mental health are not only significant but imperative. This is particularly true during this politically divisive time in the United States. Haven is an inspirational figure and precocious philosopher whose journey to find her mother and learn the truth about herself. The strange, special gifts Haven possesses will encourage readers to embark on a journey of self-awareness entirely their own.
In the novel, Haven struggles to understand the deep depression in which her mother has lived since the death of Haven’s grandparents – a depression so debilitating that Haven’s mother spends hours in the bathroom, soaking in the bathtub and hiding from Haven and Haven’s sister, Margie. Meanwhile, Haven discovers that she possesses a unique gift she cannot quite understand: whenever she touches a fossil, she sees a prehistoric landscape filled with the fantastical creatures that once inhabited Earth. Haven’s gift both delights and terrifies her and after Haven has a strange nighttime encounter with her mother prior to her mother’s disappearance, Haven cannot help but wonder how her unusual gift is linked to her mother’s family and the secrets Haven’s family have obviously been keeping.
Initially, young and adult readers fascinated by the prehistoric world will gravitate to West of the Sea’s dino-filled plot. To the amateur paleontologist, it is evident that Willing completed a fair amount of research about the fossil record in Texas to write the book. Trilobites and diplococci abound, and even a plesiosaur or two make an appearance. The author’s paleontological focus neatly correlates to another of the novel’s key messages – the ravages of climate change and the necessity for less reliance on fossil fuels.
Despite decades of support for more solar and wind power, and despite the capability to produce more wind power than any other state within the US, Texas has been reluctant to lessen its reliance on and pursuit of fossil fuels. Texas politicians and the public have turned against wind and solar power. According to The Texas Tribune, politicians and citizens alike continue to prop up legislation that backs the fossil fuel industry. The conflict between the two warring perspectives on Texas energy emerges in two of the novel’s significant characters – Zeke, Haven and Margie’s wheat-farming father, and Dr. Ruiz, the mother of Rye, Margie and Haven’s new friend.
Like many Texas farmers, Zeke looks at the wind farms Dr. Ruiz’s company builds on the Texas landscape as an intrusion. Haven, in her precocious and philosophical way, makes a bold observation regarding humanity’s collective responsibility for climate change. She states, “I looked back out the window at the fossilfae whose remains had probably contributed to Texas’s huge supply of oil. Climate change hadn’t been their fault – it had been asteroids and volcanoes that destroyed their atmospheres – but we weren’t so innocent in our era.” While the novel does not center on the conflict, the topic’s inclusion in the novel builds enough tension to remind readers that the issue, along with other climate-focused policies, remains a discordant one in Texas and across the US.
The novel also brings another key issue in Texas politics to the forefront – LGBTQ rights. While Haven navigates the strange, unusual changes she experiences that transport her to another time, her sister, Margie, traverses life with a sensory disorder as well as a key part of her identity that she’s been hiding. Margie is gay and readers learn about her identity after she discloses it to her mother’s closest friend, Dr. Kay. Margie’s struggle is the reality of thousands of young people across Texas – a state, similar to Florida, which is notorious for its anti-LGBTQ laws.
Haven and Margie attribute their mother’s depression to the deaths of their grandparents. As their mother isolates herself from the family more and more, Margie takes on the role of a parent while Zeke ekes a meager living from the land. Both Haven and Margie know their mother is suffering, yet no one in the family is willing to discuss the crisis. Haven and Margie work together, encouraging their parents to be more open and honest about the family’s history, which contributes to the girls’ identities and knowledge of self.
As the novel concludes, Zeke states, “. . . this world isn’t always good to folks who are different.” His observation is a keen, even sad, one. However, the characters in West of the Sea remind readers that transformative power often lies in an individual’s bravery to step forward, be themselves, and make a positive impact on their future and the lives of others. In characters like Haven, readers discover a new, refreshing superheroine needed by readers of all ages and backgrounds.
FICTION West of the Sea By Stephanie Willing
Viking Books for Young Readers
Published August 15, 2023
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