I love a good murder mystery! This wasn't so much of a mystery than a brilliant story.. I never thought I would empathize with murderers but I found myself at times doing just that. The love and pain weaved through this story was very unique to murder mysteries. Also, the chaos and tenderness living side by side in this book really spoke volumes to Stewarts writing and his ability to capture the human experience through words. I was very impressed by this book and it will be my book clubs March read..

Stewart O’nan is one of my favorite authors each of his books is so beautifully written the stories so involving.From the opening lines in Ocean state when we are told by one of the characters that her sisrtrer murdered one of her classmates the story unfolds.A story of teenage romance jealousy but there is so much more.so many emotional involvements.I will be recommending this book.#netgalley #groveatlantic

We learn from the first sentence that a murder takes place and who is responsible, but this is no crime thriller whodunnit. It is a carefully constructed character investigation into four lives, told in first and third voices by women involved in the tragedy and forever changed.

Myles, spoiled rich boy, and Angel, from a blue collar background, have been together in the incendiary three years of highschool, during which they were regarded as the power couple. Then there is Maria who idolizes her older sister Angel and their mother, Carol, who makes questionable choices in her own life but is attempting to raise her girls right (i.e., not like her). Lastly is Birdie, Myles's secret passion, hopelessly besotted with him. All unfolds through the eyes of these women so that the men remain on the perimeter, shadowy and somewhat generic, but that is the point. It is the heat of hormone fueled teenage obsession and the dangers of the fallout that are front and center here, and how such events can affect even family members not directly responsible.

Stewart O'Nan has a deft touch with people and with locale, and as in other works, brings all to life, and I was particularly drawn to descriptors of the Charlestown, Westerly shoreline in Rhode Island during the blustery early fall season in which he sets this story. It fits the events perfectly.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, Grove Atlantic and by #NetGalley. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

I was immediately drawn into the story and didn’t want to put it down. Well done!

What a great premise for a mystery. Eliminate the who to focus on the why and the internal struggles of those involved. Perspectives from the victim, the killer and her mother and sister would be a good story.

Unfortunately, the premise didn't work in Ocean State. There was too much of the victim's story and not enough about the killer's motivation and decision making. The murder happened so late in the book that the aftermath seemed rushed and incomplete.

Thank you NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

That first line! It compels you to keep reading. It’s a hook that embeds itself deeply as you move into the lives of ordinary people and learn more about the motivations of the novel’s female characters. O’Nan is able to plausibly and realistically write with the female perspective in mind. The angst, tensions, drama, and emotional obsession of young teenage girls are brought into full focus. The plot moves forward smoothly, the characters are well-drawn, and the story pulls you in from that first line. Highly recommended! Thanks to NetGalley and the author for the chance to provide an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Stewart O'Nan's beautifully written, heart-wrenching new novel, Ocean State. From the very first page, we learn that Angel is guilty of murder. What unfolds is the poignant tale of two families ripped apart by the aftermath of a shocking act of violence.

In their small town in Rhode Island, Angel and Myles have been together for three years and their seemingly perfect relationship is the envy of their classmates and friends. But when an anonymous social media account announces to everyone at their high school that Myles has been cheating on Angel with Birdy, their lives are turned completely upside down. Birdy is innocent and filled with hope that Myles will break up with Angel and choose her, but she underestimates the force of Angel's jealousy and vindictiveness.

This is an unforgettable story that will break your heart and stay with you forever.

O'Nan is an author whose books remain with you long after you have finished reading them. This latest exemplifies that perfectly. The plot centers around a murder in Rhode Island but concentrates on the characters' handling of this horrific act. His straightforward and non-judgmental writing builds and builds. Yet, at its conclusion, you are left pondering about human nature. I thought I had it all figured out but the mindset of the protagonists threw me.
The writing is stark and poignant. I am always so impressed with O'Nan's book. Ocean State left me with many questions about life and people, a true tribute to an author.

At just 240 pages Ocean State sure does pack a wallop for such a short book. I am a huge Stewart O'Nan fan, he is one of my most read authors, in fact this is my eleventh book by him and he never disappoints.

I loved how this was written, we know right away there has been a murder and who has done it. After the opening chapter we are taken on the journey that leads up to the murder and the repercussions that follow. The story is told from four different points of view. We have Angel, the accused, her sister Marie, her mother Carol and the victim Birdy. I was intrigued by all the characters and their mind-set. O'Nan writes from the female perspective in a most natural and believable way, I was especially impressed with the narrative from the three young adults.

Even though this story is centered on a murder it is very much literary fiction. The wonderful writing is very absorbing and sucks you right in, the pacing is fantastic and the plot, while not entirely unique, was written in a way that was completely refreshing. All. The. Stars.

I was very excited to read this book by Stewart O'Nan. His book Last Night at the Lobster is one of my all time favorite books. O'Nan has an amazing sense of place and Ocean State reminded me of that once again as the reader feels so totally immersed in Rhode Island.
Young love in high school and the pure intensity of feelings are not easy to write without making it feel trite or overstated, but O'Nan's girls are people we all knew and can believe in. This is more of a ten star for me than a five star, but that's all I'm allowed to give!

Perfect read for my first one of the year. This is one author I never miss.

Thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free, it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

Very realistic and completely absorbing. I have heard a lot about this author, but this is the first book I've read by him. I was immediately drawn in and hooked, wondering page by page what was coming next, and I couldn't read fast enough! Definitely a great read and I will definitely be reading more by the author!

This is a very well written novel. My first by this author. I was easily drawn in by the first page, and held captive until the very end.

I love Stewart O'Nan. I think he's one of the most underrated writers in the country. This is a short, fast book that had me completely hooked. I tore through it. Typically great character studies, which he does so well. Highly recommended.

Oh the innocence and naivety of youth. When everything seemed dire, relationships were fleeting and parents were the enemy. When privilege and class defined status and self-worth. That is the story of Angel, Myles, Marie and Birdy on the outskirts of coastal Rhode Island. Jealousy, freedom and deceit play out on a daily basis, and youth is stripped away before if matures to allow logical thought. Kept me glued to the page to find out how this story ended.

"When I was in eighth grade my sister helped kill another girl. She was in love, my mother said, like it was an excuse. She didn't know what she was doing. I had never been in love then, not really, so I didn't know what my mother meant, but I do now."

That first line hooked me instantly. 😍

This is the story of a love triangle gone wrong. Myles and Angel have dated for three years. They are athletic, popular, and beautiful. The envy of their high school.

Birdy on the other hand is a petite brunette, the exact opposite of Angel, and often overlooked until Myles pays her attention. From here they start a relationship unbeknownst to anyone else until they are found out.

Neither Angel or Birdie want to give him up until one of them gets killed. A choice has been made but in the end who proves to be the winner? Sadly, no one does.

The story is narrated by Angel, her little sister Marie, their mother Carol, and Birdie. All perspectives are compelling. Carol, the single mother with a taste for drink and men trying to do what's best for her daughters. Marie, the chubby daughter and bookworm puts Angel on a pedestal. She would do anything to be like her. Birdie, the nice girl. The one no one would ever say a bad word about until pictures leak of her and Myles together. And Angel, of course, who is loyal to a fault for Myles and whose jealousy gets the better of her in the end.

There is no great mystery to solve here. There are no twists and turns. What we have here is some literary fiction at it's finest. I worried briefly that this may be too YA for me but this reads very much like an adult novel. You know who dies and you know who killed them but what is fascinating was everything that happened to bring us to this conclusion. I honestly read this book in two big gulps and I was left extremely satisfied. My first Stewart O'Nan but it will not be last. Several of my friends have enjoyed his previous endeavor Last Night at the Lobster and I am going to get my hands on a copy of that in 2022. Highly recommend! 4 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for my complimentary copy.

The premise of this book piqued my interest - and I did enjoy it. There’s an arresting opening line, followed by setting the scene - and it always helps if you’re familiar, to an extent, with the place:, which I am:‘Ocean State’ takes places in Rhode Island.

The novel focuses on different teenage characters, primarily: Marie, who tells large parts of the tale; her older sister, Angel; and, Birdy/Beatriz. Even though the story is somewhat sinister and depicts life for young people in suburban America, I found some of the narrative switches clunky - and this affected my enjoyment of the story.

Parts of the novel are beautifully written - such as the isolation on the beach when Birdy meets up with Myles. However, I think too many assumptions are made - particularly towards the end, when the crime of the novel’s plot comes to the fore. I also think the final lines are surplus to requirements - ending on the question (you’ll have to read it to find out what I’m alluding to) would have been smoother.

An interesting read but one that sits firmly as a 3/5 for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle ARC. I've read all of Stewart O'Nan's books and I'm a huge fan of his work. I was so excited to be approved to read Ocean State. I had it on my "to read" list since I learned it was being published. Ocean State is now my favorite book by Mr. O'Nan and one of the most well-written. Marie and Angel are teenaged sisters. Angel is older and has a serious boyfriend Myles, who, unfortunately for her, has a wandering eye. Carol, the girls' mother, is a single mom, working full-time with little assistance from the girls' father. The family lives in a run down part of town, across from an old mill that the family used to own. Birdy is the latest girl to catch Myles eye. Tensions escalate for Angel in her anger toward Birdy. The book starts with a murder and tells the story in a fast-paced manner. Carol sees multiple men, usually to satisfy her desires but when she meets Russ, it is more for security, as he is older and wealthy. Mr. O'Nan's story is realistic and haunting. He knows how to write characters who are fully fleshed out and interesting. It is a painful story to read but very much worth it.

O’Nan’s newest work of fiction, <i><b>Ocean State</i></b>, is quite a departure from 2019’s <i><b>Henry, Himself</i></b>, the last of his three novels about the enduring marriage and final years of Henry and Emily Maxwell, a well-to-do Pittsburgh couple. The struggling Olivieras (the chaotic family at the heart of this new book)—single-mother Carol and her two daughters: the beautiful, ironically named Angel and her bookish younger sister, Marie—are a stark contrast to the WASPish Maxwells. Carol barely ekes out a living as a nurse’s aide in an old folks’ home. Hardly more mature than eighteen-year-old Angel, she drinks more than she should, sometimes to oblivion, and has a long history of unstable sexual relationships. She moves from one unreliable man to the next, endlessly seeking something—excitement, romance, distraction, or escape from her circumstances and responsibilities. Seeming to recognize a change of course is required, she resolves to date someone who’s “not her type”. Enter Russ, a homely, monied man almost fifteen years her senior. We’re told she hopes for a better life for her daughters and perhaps she thinks Russ is the ticket.

O’Nan’s novel may go by the informal name for Rhode Island—“ocean state”—on whose seacoast all of the action occurs, but the author is less interested in exploring a geographical state than the repercussions of an intense emotional one—the “oceanic" feeling of romantic (and sometimes pathological) love in which psychological boundaries dissolve and one merges with another.

I recently completed Frank Tallis’s <i><b>The Incurable Romantic: And Other Tales of Madness and Desire</i></b>, a book that presents case studies of patients whose romantic love is pathological. In it, Tallis, a clinical psychologist, observes that even for apparently normal people, falling in love looks and feels an awful lot like madness. The love-struck, with their poor sleep, reduced appetite, altered moods, and compulsions resemble addicts and the mentally ill. Tallis points out that functional magnetic resonance imaging has shown that some of the same regions of the brain are activated in those who are in love and those who are addicted. In <i><b>Ocean State</i></b> Stewart O’Nan seems to be as interested as Tallis in addictive, extreme kinds of love.

The novel is alternately narrated in the first and third persons by the youngest Oliviera, the not-entirely reliable Marie, who has her own addictive tendencies. She uses food, wine, and nitrous oxide to blunt the unease of being in her own skin. We get to know Marie quite well, but her narrative is mostly concerned with her tall, golden-haired, popular older sister. Angel, we are told several times, bears a remarkable physical resemblance to her mother, and has inherited her fiery temperament. She is ruled by her obsessive love for an attractive rich boy, Myles Parrish. The two have been together for three years. Myles has been known to stray, yet Angel’s hold on him is strong; he always comes back. This time the threat is amplified. Beatriz “Birdy” Alves—the petite, dark-eyed Portuguese-American girl Myles becomes involved with—has a passion for him that rivals Angel’s in its intensity and obsessiveness.

“When I was in eighth grade, my sister helped kill another girl. She was in love, my mother said, like it was an excuse,” Marie announces in the novel’s first sentences. She goes on to recollect the events leading up to Birdy’s murder, presenting parts of the story from the points of view of Carol, Angel, and Birdy. Myles’s perspective is notably limited, filtered through the eyes of the females. The reader turns the pages to find out whom it was that Angel “helped” with the killing <spoiler>("Helped" turns out to be the wrong verb)</spoiler> and whether “love” really could be a reason or excuse for her actions. That question is not easily answered. One thing’s certain: there’s a lot of compulsive behaviour in this book.

I initially found <i><b>Ocean State</i></b> absorbing, but by the halfway point I'd had enough of sexual obsession and the teenage trysts at the Parrish family’s luxurious summer house. (The story is conveniently set during the blustery fall off-season when the summer home is unoccupied.) With its preponderance of thinly developed teenage characters and its preoccupation with sexual passion, <i><b>Ocean State</i></b> seems to be intended for a young adult rather than an adult audience. The novel is competently written, but it fails to deliver many insights about the sensational event at its centre, and the conclusion is just too tidy.

Having said all this, I'm still grateful to the publisher and Net Galley for providing me with a digital copy of this novel. O'Nan is a talented writer and I'm always interested to see what he's up to.

Wow! This book was absolutely fantastic. I was drawn in from the start and didn’t stop until I was done. Can not wait for more by author.