Manhattan Beach

Summary (from the publisher): Anna Kerrigan, nearly twelve years old, accompanies her father to visit Dexter Styles, a man who, she gleans, is crucial to the survival of her father and her family. She is mesmerized by the sea beyond the house and by some charged mystery between the two men.

‎Years later, her father has disappeared and the country is at war. Anna works at the Brooklyn Naval Yard, where women are allowed to hold jobs that once belonged to men, now soldiers abroad. She becomes the first female diver, the most dangerous and exclusive of occupations, repairing the ships that will help America win the war. One evening at a nightclub, she meets Dexter Styles again, and begins to understand the complexity of her father’s life, the reasons he might have vanished.

With the atmosphere of a noir thriller, Egan’s first historical novel follows Anna and Styles into a world populated by gangsters, sailors, divers, bankers, and union men. Manhattan Beach is a deft, dazzling, propulsive exploration of a transformative moment in the lives and identities of women and men, of America and the world.

Review: As an eleven year old, Anna Kerrigan visits the home of Dexter Styles with her father. While she doesn't yet understand the full significance of the meeting, the day stays with her, as does the view of the sea and meeting Dexter Styles. Years later, Anna's father has mysteriously disappeared and the country is in the midst of World War II. Anna becomes the first female diver at the Brooklyn Naval Yard, helping to repair ships. One night after work, she runs into Dexter Styles again and feels drawn to this connection to her father, which ends up drawing her into the dark world of New York gangsters. 

There is a lot at work in this novel: a missing father, a disabled older sister, a strong woman fighting to do what is considered a man's job, the illicit illegal nightlife of New York, the power and danger of the ocean, female independence, New York during the Great Depression and World War II, and much more. My favorite parts of this novel were the scenes where Anna was diving. The detailed descriptions of the heavy diving costume and her harrowing underwater explorations were thrilling to me. This was such an innovative take on a World War II story and I loved that the focus of war work in this story was a woman doing a dangerous job previously consigned to men. I also loved Egan's inclusion of Anna's younger sister as a severely disabled woman. Anna, who doesn't seem particularly domestic or motherly, is so tender and loving with her sister and I liked the juxtaposition between her bravery in diving and the scenes at home where she is lovingly bathing her sister. Anna's relationship with her sister helps flesh her character out. At the same time, her sister's condition causes tension in her parents' relationship and provides added pressure for her father to earn more money at whatever costs.

That being said, there is almost too much at play in this novel. Anna isn't just facing danger at work, she's also facing it in her budding relationship with Dexter Styles. She doesn't just have daddy issues from her missing father but also has a very incapacitated younger sister and begins to hide more and more from her mother. Later in the novel, chapters from her father's point of view begin to be introduced, introducing yet more elements of danger and more complexity to the secrets that abound in this family. 

Although there is much I loved about this novel, my greatest disappointment was in the lack of character development. Many characters are introduced simply to spur the plot on, and then are killed off or drop out of the story entirely once they're no longer useful. I had a hard time buying the supposed connection and relationship between Anna and Dexter, since there is so little dialogue between them and relatively little time spent together. Anna doesn't seem particularly close with anyone, even her father, who, she is supposed to have had a close relationship with before his disappearance. In many ways, the most realistic and full relationship depicted in the book is between Anna and her sister Lydia, despite the fact that Lydia is not able to talk, which says a lot about the depiction of most characters in this novel.

While not exactly a thriller or murder mystery, this novel has its share of suspense and danger. This is an interesting take on a World War II story and one that would also appeal to those with love of stories about New York City, the ocean, gangsters, and independent women. 

Stars: 3.5