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Summary: Very moving story of one family's anguish over a lost brothe
Review: I loved this book! This author is capable of making the reader ache inside about the loss of a sibling and child. I was so moved by Phillip's unceasing attempt to understand Ethan and his continuing search for him. I cried at the end, which is a very rare occasion. I really look forward to this author's future work.
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Summary: it's the best piece of fiction i've read this summer
Review: reiken manages to create unforgettable characters who you connect with and care about. he uses an interesting writing technique in the beginning - using a flashback to open, and having a book center around a character who does not appear in "real" form. overall, a terrific debut, and i look forward to reading what else he has to offer.
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Summary: A Powerful Journey
Review: For weeks, this novel sat on my bookshelf, unnoticed and unassuming. A few days ago, I picked it up because it was on my summer reading list and my English teacher had reccommended it to me. I am very glad I did.
The Odd Sea by Frederick Reiken is a wonderful story about the effects of grief on a family and the power of letting go. The story is beautifully crafted, following Philip Shumway's 5-year journey to try to make sense of the disapperance of his older brother Ethan. Along the way, he sees the effects of his brother's disapperance on his depressed mother and distant father. He recieves new perspectives on the situation from his three sisters- brash, bitchy Amy, no-nonsense, understanding Halley, and naive, bubbly Dana. And he finally begins to understand what he never knew about Ethan's life, particularly about his relationships with his girlfriend Melissa and his mentor Victoria, as well as his love for art and the guitar.
I was expecting to see many parallels to Homer's epic The Odyssey, and at first, I couldn't find them. After a while, I began to realize that this novel is not about the physical journey, but the mental and emotional one. Frederick Reiken has created a gem of a story with real characters in a vivid setting. I became engrossed in the story within just a few pages and couldn't put it down. If you enjoyed The Lovely Bones and want another perspective on the effects of death on a family, I would wholeheartedly reccommend this novel.
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Summary: A great find
Review: What a joy to discover a wonderful new writer. I'm just surprised I hadn't heard about Frederick Reiken sooner. He seems to be doing something that very few writers do these days. He tells intelligent, carefully crafted tales that are also suffused with deep emotion, so that the experience of reading is at once both physical and intellectual. This novel can work both on both the literal and metaphorical levels. It presents the reality of a family grappling with loss and at the same time the absent boy at the center of the story looms as a resonant symbol. The same wondrous adolescent point-of-view present in Reiken's recent New Yorker story "The Ocean" is also in evidence here. I'll look forward to whatever he writes next.
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Summary: Limp, contrived, fluff
Review: I picked this up for $3.00 at a used bookstore. I had figured that for $3.00 it couldn't be that bad. It was a great read. If you have read "We Were the Mulvaney's" by Joyce Carol Oats and liked it, you'll like this book.This book deals with the question "when bad things happen to good people what happens next?" The oldest son from this family simply dissapears one day, never to be found. The book is sad, but not in a depressing way, eventually the family "heals" and does what each needs to do to move on. A great read!
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Summary: my favorite novel
Review: The Odd Sea is simply a marvel and one of my favorite books of all time. I first had to read eat it for a college course and have since given it to at least 10 people as a gift. It's one of those rare novels that promises to be around for a long, long time since the story is so timeless and penetrating and emotionally compelling. If you haven't read this book, I urge you to do so, immediately.
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Summary: Wonderful book...
Review: I read Frederick Reiken's first book, The Lost Legends of New Jersey almost from start to finish, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on his second novel. It was every bit as good as his first, although totally different. It has a unique perspective and brings the reader into the world of a family wracked by a horrible loss that isn't tangible enough to grieve over. They are in a sort of limbo, and every member of the family reacts in a different way.
Reiken paints all his characters with plenty of faults, just like real humans, but they all evoke sympathy from the reader. This novel teaches some valuable lessons about love and life and loss and, especially in these times, we all could use more lessons!
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Summary: Powerful book about loss
Review: The most consistent comment found in other reviews of this book is that "it will stay with you". And it will. "The Odd Sea" is by turns sorrowful and uplifting, but ultimately it is just about dealing. About living one's life in the face of the pain, frequently unexplainable, that comes into every life. As the reader follows Phillip's ongoing, quietly desperate, search for the whereabouts of his lost brother, we see all the characters deal with tragedy in their own way. Eventually, we see Phillip come to grips with his grief. "The Odd Sea" is a short novel, with simple, yet elegant, prose. I read it in just a few hours. However, its moving narrative will stay with me much longer; it is one of the best novels I have read in the last five years.
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