Rating: 
Summary: Interesting , sometimes moving story.
Review: I seem to like this book a bit less than others. I found the story intriguing and some of the writing to be moving but was irritated by the clunky and often false-sounding dialogue. Also, I never quite trust an author who doesn't seem to have a sense of humor. I know this is a somber subject but I thought Reiken could have relieved the measured tone somewhat with an occassional witty phrase or humorous take on some of the family's actions. The end sort of saved it for me -- thought it was nicely imagined and beautifully written.
Rating: 
Summary: Haunting, moving--you won't forget this one
Review: A small story beautifully told. Memorable characters, vivid writing, a story that tugs at your heart.
Rating:
Summary: Poignant, Moving, Engrossing
Review: A short time ago I finished Wally Lamb's megabook. It made such an impression on me that every book I picked up after was a dissapointment. That is until the Odd Sea. As I got to the end of this book I wanted to turn back and start it all over again. I cried on the bus, at home and everywhere else I read this book. It was moving and totally engrossing. Too short, though, I wanted more.
Rating: 
Summary: An powerful book for maturing teenagers.
Review: The Odd Sea is a book for young adults. It involves many issues which may be disturbing and confusing to pre-adolescents. Throughout the book, there is swearing and sexuality. However, it is very much like the Homer Epic, the Oddysey. Each character searches for Ethan in his or her own way. The reader will feel all the troubles and sense each character's feeling's, especially those of Philip and Ethan. As I have said before, the swearing and sexuality is very strong in this book, and this should be taken in consideration along with the age of the possible reader. This is a powerful book that should be read sometime in one's life.
Rating:
Summary: "As Good As It Gets!"
Review: From the first paragraph my interest was piqued so I put down other books to read this one. Lucky me! "The Odd Sea" is a beautifully written and expertly imagined novel that exudes the charm of an old English novel with its descriptions of the lovely countryside in which it takes place. Athough maddingly short (maddingly since I wanted it to last longer) the characters are as realized as if the author had written volumns about them. In fact, the book feels so real and true that it is easy to assume that the voice of the narrator is in fact the author's own voice and that the book must be autobiographical. The mixture of violence and beauty, sanity and the loss of it, the warmth of family and the depths of despair and alienation combine to make this first novel an auspicious beginning that feels like the work of an experienced professional. Mr. Reiken, please publish again soon and prolifically in the future!
Rating:
Summary: wonderful book
Review: I picked this book up at the library yesterday, and stayed up till 2AM reading it. It was a great story, but rather weird for me to read. I live in one of those hill towns, and I'm a student at Mohawk Trail Regional High School, so alot of the places in the book we're familiar. But I think this fact made me get so enthralled in the book. I hope that if the author continues writing (and why wouldn't he?) he keeps the setting of the stories in Western Mass.
Rating: 
Summary: Description
Review: "When I was thirteen Ethan disappeared. It was a Saturday in late May, the first hot day we'd had all spring." Thus begins the plot of a novel of surpassing wisdom, an extraordinary debut of a young writer who combines the emotional power of Sue Miller with the exacting eye of John Cheever. In a tone that is both worldly wise and understated, Philip Shumway tells the story of his family's efforts to deal with the seemingly inexplicable disappearance of his older brother and idol, Ethan, and the struggle to care for one another. The oldest of Philip's sisters simply leaves town, his insomniac mother bakes in the hours before dawn, and his father, a carpenter by trade, discovers the ancient craft of timber-frame house construction, then spends a summer searching for antique chisels all over New England. While Philip is trying to locate his brother physically, he also embarks on a journey of finding the person who Ethan really was. And in the journey Philip finds himself.As every member of the family navigates the dangerous waters of loss and longing, each arrives at a safe place. And the ending of this luminous novel will make you weep, with an inspired combination of surprise and recognition that marks the hand of a superb storyteller.
Rating:
Summary: A powerful, very simply-drawn novel
Review: The Odd Sea, a first novel by Frederick Reiken, is about a boy in Western Massachusetts who disappears one day. The title is a play on Homer's epic tale of--what is it?--travel and return, going missing and coming up found. The boy in this novel never comes back in the "living, breathing, visible body" but, as we come to learn through the course of the novel, he surfaces in different ways in the memories and thoughts of those who loved him. The Odd Sea is a metaphor for where things go when they disappear. More precisely, where grief is located, I suppose, where we hide the things we know best and can't confront. It was a powerful, very simply drawn novel. I was impressed with a young writer for being so good at staunching the flow of words, controlling it to say more with less, etc. It was a very unflashy book, in some ways sharing the vocabulary and setting of the more sophisticated children's books I remember reading, like My Side of the Mountain.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good Reading
Review: The telltale sign of a good book, for me, is when it continues to come into my mind for several days after I finish it. An Odd Sea contains some fantastic characterizations handled in an manner that draws the reader through the novel. You sense the ending, but realize that the real story is about the family members and the path each chose to deal with such a bewildering event. There is a caring in the character creation that hints of To Kill A Mockingbird, but this is a novel which stands on its own. I enjoyed the prose - it is wonderful to read an author who loves language and uses its power so deftly. It is also a statement about Reiken's ability that he was able to provide the reader such complete pictures in a relatively short work.
Rating:
Summary: Filled with longing & sadness without being maudlin
Review: Reiken's first novel is slightly reminiscent of The Deep End of the Ocean in that it deals with a family coming to terms with the disappearance of a child. The Odd Sea concentrates upon Philip's perceptions and we grow with him in his journey to understand and accept his older brother's vanishing act. The Shumway family all deal with their grief in different ways, all of which are believable. Because we see all this through Philip's eyes, we have a child's sense of movement and detachment. Very powerfully and skillfully told.
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