Name: Ocean State
Rating: 4 (1 reviews)
ISBN: 9781611854336

Stewart O'Nan

Set in a working-class town on the Rhode Island coast, this is a crushing, beautifully written, and profoundly compelling novel about sisters, mothers, and daughters, and the terrible things love makes us do. Told through the alternating perspectives of the four women at its heart: Angel, the murderer, Carol, her mother, and Birdy, the victim. Watching over it all is the retrospective testimony of Angel's younger sister Marie, who reflects on that doomed autumn of 2009 with all the wisdom of hindsight. Author of "Henry, Himself."

Ocean State

Set in a working-class town on the Rhode Island coast, O'Nan's latest is a crushing, beautifully written, and profoundly compelling novel about sisters, mothers, and daughters, and the terrible things love makes us do. In the first line of Ocean State, we learn that a high school student was murdered, and we find out who did it. The story that unfolds from there with incredible momentum is thus one of the build-up to and fall-out from the murder, told through the alternating perspectives of the four women at its heart. Angel, the murderer, Carol, her mother, and Birdy, the victim, all come alive on the page as they converge in a climax both tragic and inevitable. Watching over it all is the retrospective testimony of Angel's younger sister Marie, who reflects on that doomed autumn of 2009 with all the wisdom of hindsight. Angel and Birdy love the same teenage boy, frantically and single mindedly, and are compelled by the intensity of their feelings to extremes neither could have anticipated. O'Nan's expert hand paints a fully realized portrait of these women, but also weaves a compelling and heartbreaking story of working-class life in Ashaway, Rhode Island. Propulsive, moving, and deeply rendered, Ocean State is a masterful novel by one of our greatest storytellers.

Kristen Claiborn

I’ve been a Stephen King fan for about as long as I’ve enjoyed reading. I picked up my first Stephen King book from a Goodwill in Albuquerque, New Mexico when I was in fourth grade. While my teacher at the time was slightly alarmed, my mom encouraged me to read whatever I wanted (I still believe she never thought I’d get through that book), so I dug right in. I loved it. I have devoured as many of King’s books that I have gotten my hands on, which is most of them, but every now and then one will slip through the cracks and bypass me completely. One of those was called Faithful, a book about the Boston Red Sox. It was written by King and his good friend (and fellow Red Sox fan) Stewart O’Nan. I can’t say I loved Faithful, but I appreciated the devotion to their team, and I did thoroughly enjoy the writing. I had not previously read anything by O’Nan (nor, I’m ashamed to say, had I even heard of him), so I decided to look up his books and give one a try. Thanks to the Indianapolis Public Library’s online system, I didn’t even need to put on real pants to check out one of his books, and ended up with this one completely because it was the book at the top of the list. 
	“When I was in eight grade my sister helped kill another girl.” 
	That’s the first line. Holy moly batman, we’re in a for a ride. From there, we are quickly introduced to the main players and shot straight into the meat of the storyline. It’s a short book, only 200 pages, so I was prepared for a fast-paced story, but I didn’t anticipate murder in the opening sentence. The story wasn’t rushed, despite being a short book, instead it felt just-right, the Goldilocks version of literature. Each of the main players is well-developed. Angel, the murderous youngster, comes across as an angry teenager with serious jealousy issues. Birdy, the unfortunate soul whose life is cut short, is depicted as slightly insecure and shy. Then there’s Marie, Angel’s little sister (and speaker of that first line), who seems to have been mostly forgotten by everybody in the book and acts as a sort of sideline reporter. Not really part of the game, but one who notices everything. 
	The only thing I didn’t love about this book was the revolving points of view. I’ve long lamented these formats and I’m not going to stop now. This one was particularly irritating because there was zero warning when the point of view changed. One minute I’m reading from Marie’s point of view, then I’m in Birdy’s head…with zero preface. I hate that. I had to resort to using context clues to figure out who’s point of view I was reading. Grr. 
	Otherwise, this is a great book! I’m looking forward to reading more of O’Nan’s books.

Ocean State

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