Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper

Etta and Otto and Russell and James

by Emma Hooper

'Writing that easily equals that of the Booker-winning Richard Flanagan...[and] as readable and gripping as any thriller.' - The Times

I've gone. I've never seen the water, so I've gone there. I will try to remember to come back.

Etta's greatest unfulfilled wish, living in the rolling farmland of Saskatchewan, is to see the sea. And so, at the age of eighty-two she gets up very early one morning, takes a rifle, some chocolate, and her best boots, and begins walking the 2, 000 miles to water.

Meanwhile her husband Otto waits patiently at home, left only with his memories. Their neighbour Russell remembers too, but differently - and he still loves Etta as much as he did more than fifty years ago, before she married Otto.

Reviewed by meowstina on

2 of 5 stars

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I received an advanced reader’s copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

If this book sounds very similar to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, that’s because it is very similar. Etta leaves home with a purpose, to walk a far journey to see the ocean. She meets up with animals and reporters, almost doesn’t make it, and all the while her husband waits for her at home, writing letters to her. Of course, there are differences. The format for each chapter is as follows: current perspective of Etta, or Otto, and then directly after is a past event. Both the past and present sections are in chronological order, so as Etta is travelling and Otto is dealing with it, readers get to see how they grew up, how they met, and how they got together.

I enjoyed reading Etta’s past bits and Otto’s present bits the most. Their story is unusual amid Etta’s not so unusual (outside of the book, anyway) journey. Even though there is dialogue in the book, there are no quotation marks used, which makes the it feel like more of a story being narrated than the characters recalling their pasts. The storytelling vibe is nice, but it can make reading the lines of dialogue somewhat confusing. The end of the book makes me question what the point of the book was, which is discouraging. I was left feeling confused and questioning the reason for Etta’s journey and the novel, really. As a whole, though, I found the book okay.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 6 January, 2015: Finished reading
  • 6 January, 2015: Reviewed