Rebecca first met her best friend Sharon at UC-Berkeley. It was Sharon's stories of her island home in Ireland and the stories behind the beautifully knitted sweaters of the Irish that inspired Rebecca to specialize in textiles within her field of archaeology. Even after Sharon returned home, the two remained close and spoke to each other at least once a week.Now, 6 years after her last visit with Sharon, Rebecca is actually going to Ireland; to visit Sharon but to record in pictures and in words the history of the fisherman's sweater. She is bringing with her her 6 year old daughter, Rowan, of whom she is extremely protective. Rebecca is fighting her own personal demons.Sean Morahan is a grizzled old Irish fisherman. When he is not keeping to himself he is offending the people of the village with his outspoken and harsh words. Upon meeting Rowan he immediately hurts the child's feelings and raises the hackles of Rebecca. Sean, too, is fighting his own personal demons.This is the story of Rebecca's past and of Sean's past as well as the story of the present for both of them. Flashbacks fill the reader in, but they are slow in coming; yet it is not distracting from the story of the present. I was curious about Rebecca's past and Sean's past, but I never thought, "Could you just hurry up with the story, already?" The story was, no pun intended, knitted together so beautifully that I couldn't imagine it any other way.The descriptive words of Dickson made me feel as though I, too, was on that quaint Irish island. Each character came alive and I had a visual image of what I thought each one must look and sound like. The quick, bursts of humor were like a breath of fresh air and were perfectly matched to the characters' personalities.The plot built slowly and once it peaked, the action was fast and furious and it became impossible to put the book aside. I knew what I wanted to happen, but I wasn't sure that it would. A story about friendship and trust, and facing the past to finally release it, this book told a beautiful story. And, dear Fionn, if you ever find yourself available, please let me know. ~Sigh~ Rebecca Moray travels to a tiny island in Ireland to research a book on the knitting stiches of special fishermen's sweaters called ganseys. While she's there, the island people help her to overcome her fears and trauma from her past marriage. The knitting part was interesting and there were some sweet, romantic elements to this book but I found it a little to "angsty" and I got really annoyed at how everyone on the island knew what was best for Becky and her daughter and treated her like she was a damaged child--which of course in a way she was a bit, but still it was pretty demeaning how they never let her think or speak for herself. The portions of the story about Sean--the old hermit on the island--was moving and the best part of the book.
What do You think about Casting Off (2009)?
A really amazing story! This is now one of my absolute fav. books of all time!!
—crazymanga
Knitting - Ireland - island - mother and daughter - small town - running away
—CayCay1297
Very enjoyable read, but like a book version of a chick flick...
—colin
Loved this story so much that I bought a copy for my collection.
—Jasmin
