I have enjoyed Stewart O'Nan's work for many years so it was a disappointment that [Ocean State] was so -- lackluster -- to put it gently. Teenagers, teenage romance, jealousy, violence, family, single moms, sisters - and I often enjoy those themes, but here it was just flat. A couple sparks, but then nothing.

Everyone is entitled to a couple duds, so I am looking forward to O'Nan's next time around. ( )

Too reliant on current tools - text, iphone, lingo - that will become dated with the passage of time. Which is unfortunate, because the theme and narrative, when devoid of these crutches, could be timeless. ( )

Stewart O'Nan is an author I usually enjoy, but I didn't find this to be one of his better books. There are several narrators and/or pov characters who tell the story of a murdered teenage girl. The primary narrator is Marie, the younger sister of Angel, the teenage girl who with her boyfriend Myles murdered Birdie, another teenage girl. Most of the story is told from the perspective of teenage girls, although Marie and Angel's mother Carol also plays a part. The motive for the murder was ostensibly jealousy: Angel was jealous of Birdie and possessive of Myles, who was fooling around with Birdie on the side. However, we never get much of a glimpse into the mind of Angel. She was a good student, held down a part time job, and while her mother Carol was overworked and sometimes neglectful, she was never abusive and was doing the best she could. So I had a hard time being convinced that Angel had the personality and motivation to turn murderous.

The book was interesting for its depiction of life among working class families of Portuguese descent in Rhodesia Island. There's a lot about the lives and habits of teenagers on the cusp of adulthood in this milieu, which I was less interested in, although this was enough to keep me reading. Nevertheless I don't consider it a particularly successful book due to my failure to be convinced that Angel would actually murder someone.

2 stars ( )

From the opening sentence of Ocean State by Stewart O’Nan we know that we are going to be reading about a murder, but this book is not a thriller or a mystery. Instead it is an exploration of relationships, those between mothers and daughters, those between sisters and those between teenagers who believe they are in love.

Angel and Marie Oliviera live with their mother, a nurse in a seniors care home who earns enough to keep them modestly. Angel has been dating Miles Parish for three years. Miles comes from a wealthy family and Angel is well aware that next year, when Miles goes to college she will probably lose him to a rich girl. But they are together for their senior year and Angel is hoping for something to happen that will keep them together. Unfortunately what Angel doesn’t know is that Miles is cheating on her another senior, Birdy Alves. Birdy has fallen hard for Miles. What is never revealed to my satisfaction is what makes Miles so irresistible as to me he seemed rather boring. When Birdy and Miles are exposed, Angel sees red and vows to get revenge upon Birdy. What follows is the story of how the Oliviera and Alves families fall apart when they have to deal with what happens.

I am a big fan of this author but would have to say that Ocean State isn’t one of his best. Don’t get me wrong it is still an excellent read as this author excels at capturing the lives of working class people. The narrative is told from a number of viewpoints all of which rang true, the voices of Marie, Angel, Birdy and Angel’s mother, Carol felt spot-on and drew me into really caring about these people. What remains unclear to me is exactly what O’Nan was trying to show us with this story of obsessive love, adultery and murder. ( )

This is a painful story on all levels. I so appreciated all of the different points of view in these women’s/young girl’s lives and Stewart O’Nan’s brilliant writing made me feel all of the emotion with them. The town in Rhode Island is almost a character in itself - depressed, hope starved and struggling. The obsessiveness, possessiveness and desperation that exists for these girls is palpable and scary sad - and the worst part is that it’s all very true to real life. ( )