Review of OCEAN STATE by Stewart O'Nan (New Release)

 4 Stars

This novel begins with a shocking statement:  “When I was in eighth grade my sister helped kill another girl.”  The rest of the book focuses on the events leading to the murder (in the autumn of 2009 in a small coastal town in Rhode Island) and its repercussions. 

The perspective of four women is given:  Angel Oliviera is the accused; Carol is her mother; Marie is  her younger sister; and Birdy is the victim.  Angel has been in a relationship with Myles Parrish for three years when he secretly begins seeing Birdy.  When two teenagers become intensely obsessed with the same guy, chaos is not unexpected.

The book can be described as a character study of these four women.  Each emerges as a flawed, realistic character.  Angel, for example, is beautiful, athletic, and popular; Marie describes her as “strong and confident with a wicked tongue.”  Her weakness is being easy to anger.  Angel’s fear is losing Myles who “was her first . . . her only.”  She suspects she will lose Myles to some rich girl once he leaves for college the following year while she stays behind, working and attending community college part-time.  In the meantime, she is desperate to hold on to him.

Carol is a divorced, single mother who works as a nurse’s aide in a seniors’ care facility.  She struggles financially.  She wants her daughters to have a better life and not repeat her mistakes, but her questionable choices do little to provide stability.  She has a history of choosing unreliable men, two of whom she continues to see despite their tendency to violence.  She often drinks to excess.  Marie states her mother “was lonely and didn’t know what else to do.” It’s obvious that she is seeking excitement and romance, though financial stability also appeals.  She acknowledges that she is self-absorbed and so has failed to see what’s been going on:  “She’s been too busy, too caught up in Russ and Wes and trying to figure out the rest of her life to understand what was going on with Angel and Myles and this other girl.”  Nonetheless, she supports Angel and tries to get her a good lawyer.

Birdy is a good girl who is close to her mother, though she changes once she becomes besotted with Myles.  She starts sneaking around and lying; at one point, she wonders “if there’s anyone she won’t lie to.”  Rather insecure, she falls for Myles’s charm and soon becomes desperate not to lose him to her rival.

Thirteen-year-old Marie is the opposite of her sister whom she idolizes.  Despite Angel’s less than angelic behaviour towards her, Marie keeps her secrets.  She thinks of herself as a nerd, someone who does well in school but has no real friends.  She is kind-hearted but not perfect because she does act out.  She is described as being “afraid of everything.”  Often left at home alone, she spends her time over-eating.

In many ways, the book is about what people will do for love.  Angel’s actions are extreme in this regard, but others also crave love and affection.  Marie describes Carol as not being able to “stop wanting to be in love.”  Birdy is willing to end a relationship with someone just so she can be with Myles.  Marie thinks of herself as “the needy keeper of secrets”; wanting her sister’s love, she acknowledges inadvertently playing a role in events.  In her closing monologue, Marie gives further details about what she has done because of love. 

The title is perfect.  Rhode Island is nicknamed the Ocean State so the title is a nod to the setting.  However, it also refers to love.  I thought of “Love is an Ocean” by Earth and Fire:  “Love is an ocean always in motion/Endless and ever so deep.”  And of course, love, like the ocean, is often stormy and unpredictable. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  It caught my attention from the first sentence and kept it throughout.

Note:  I received a digital galley from the publisher via NetGalley so quotations may not be as they appear in the final copy.