The House in the Cerulean Sea by: T.J. Klune

 

My first exposure to T.J. Klune was Under the Whispering Door which I adored, so I thought going to one of his earlier works would get me a sense of his larger bibliography.  The House in the Cerulean Sea is the book that catapulted Klune to public popularity and what can often happen with authors is that their earlier works do not hit nearly as hard as what occurs when they improve their craft.  The House in the Cerulean Sea is a book that sadly didn’t hit nearly as hard as Under the Whispering Door as well as just being slightly marred in controversy due to Klune’s influences.  Klune was influenced by Canadian residential schools for indigenous people and the atrocities committed at these schools.  Now the issue with this is largely that not only is Klune a cis-white American implementing an allegory he knows very little about, clearly not having sensitivity readers.  The setting of the novel is in an orphanage that has been reopened by a caring older gentleman caring for dangerous magical creatures, revealed in the third act of the novel to be a magical creature himself.  The book’s general thesis is that these types of institutions would be okay if it were indigenous people were in charge, which is a contradiction within itself.  They would not exist if indigenous people are in charge.

 

If this were the only problematic element of the novel, perhaps it could be looked past in pursuit of an interesting story of someone finding non-traditional love and connection, but the protagonist also has to connect and find himself humanizing a group of people he was largely detached too.  A cherry on top of this is also the text outright stating that change doesn’t happen unless people want it enough which is just a horrific idea and could only come from someone in a privileged position that doesn’t understand change.  Klune’s writing style throughout the novel is also far less refined than what would become his writing style in Under the Whispering Door.  The protagonist of the novel is Linus Baker who has a life that’s far too boring working as a case worker assessing the care homes of supernatural children.  He loves his job but is complacent in his own life and far too detached to properly see his charges as people.  His way of speaking is also incredibly old fashioned with British idioms like “my dear boy” coming up throughout the novel quite a bit and honestly they feel forced.  Where Klune does excel is actually writing the perspective of several children, clearly setting out to write something that captures a childlike whimsy and magic of growing up.  There’s also an undercurrent of romance is good and the emotional resolution for Linus Baker realizing that he actually does want more from life, but so much of that is marred.

 

Overall, The House in the Cerulean Sea is one of those books that while you read it, it feels like enjoyable popcorn reading material, but then you think about it and realize some of the really problematic elements just baked into the text and can’t help but become uncomfortable.  I waited a day before attempting a review because while reading it I had fun but now I feel quite cold once I realized what the inspirations were and because of that the entire lens through which I viewed the novel changed.  I honestly expected better of Klune for making a better book.  4/10.