The Oceans and the Stars presents one man's life experiences when put to the test. Through his good work ethic and the integrity by which he lives, he is able to rise above the obstacles placed in his path. The book gives the reader a good example of how one should always look passed the tartness of lemons to the sweet lemonade that we can create with them.

I wrote about this on The Storygraph and Goodreads with links sent to one or more social media sites (X, BlueSky, Threads, Instagram, Facebook, Mastodon). Review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5973829463

First found Mark Helprin with Soldier of the Great War. I enjoy his epic tales of relationships and drama. Ocean and Stars is a well researched and beautifully written story of love, war and Sea. At times it is hard to read, but you are rewarded with so many beautiful vignettes of the emotional reality of life in battle.

Epic tale in the line of Odyssey (especially the love story)

Thank you Overlook Press and NetGalley for an advanced copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

I love Helprin's writing so i jumped at reading this one. This author is very talented and his stories keep engaged and turning pages with great characters, situations, and plot. Recommended.

I really appreciate the free copy for review!!

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

An modern take on The Odyssey with a middle aged couple. Set in the United States, a Naval captain runs amok with higher ups and is sent on a perilous mission. Before departing, he meets a woman named Penelope Catherine, known as Katy. Like the mythical Penelope, Katy waits for the man she loves while he undergoes harrowing warfare.

Wow. The Ocean and the Stars is the first of this author I have read, and I have already ordered one of his older books. This one has a cast of characters you care for and understand, a compelling plot, an achingly beautiful love story and lyrical writing that makes you read a paragraph once for the story and again for the sake of the writing. What more could a reader want? This is a war story, and a love story that would not appeal to my high school students, but everyone who loves good writing, and who would not be put off by a war story should read this. Thank you to NetGalley for introducing me to this author, and for not influencing my review.

The Oceans and the Stars: A Sea Story, A War Story, A Love Story by Mark Helprin is a very highly recommended literary epic saga that surely reflects the whole title.

Navy Captain Stephen Rensselaer corrects and talks back to the president of the United States, who retaliates to his truth-telling by trying to humiliate him. He assigns Rensselaer to command the Athena, with the intent to humiliate a man who should have been an admiral. While supervising Athena’s fitting out in New Orleans, Rensselaer meets and falls in love with Katy Farrar. It is the love of a lifetime. Soon after this, he is deployed to the Indian Ocean near the Horn of Africa. Rensselaer is ultimately faced with a decision to follow his conscience and keep his integrity intact or disobey an immoral order and faces the consequences of his decision.

Absolutely excellent writing, strongly developed, fully realized characters, and a compelling, detailed, action-packed plot are featured throughout this amazing epic. Using a classic literary form, The Oceans and the Stars commends the virtues of living a life where following your conscience is the obvious choice, despite the consequences. The narrative also demonstrates how using disciplined, intelligent actions may result in sacrifices.

As a character, Rensselaer comes to life in this novel. Readers will know and want the best for him while despairing over the choices placed before him and the fortitude he displays when acting upon his principles.

Those who love stories about the sea, ships, the military, and battles will relish the details and action Helprin includes. Some of the details are brutal, but there are also moments of bravery and sacrifice displayed even during the darkest moments.

This is a perfect choice for those who enjoy literary fiction, action/adventure thrillers (especially those set at sea), and love stories involving the one left at home.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of The Overlook Press via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Edelweiss, X, and Amazon.

"The Oceans and the Stars" by Mark Helprin is nothing short of a grand epic that takes readers on a sweeping journey of war, love, and the boundless sea. Helprin's storytelling prowess shines as he weaves a narrative filled with three-dimensional characters and intricate plotlines that captivate from start to finish.
At the heart of the story is Stephen Rensselaer, a Navy captain and former Seal who dares to stand against a fictional US president, setting the stage for a tale of courage and conscience. Helprin's attention to detail is evident in his vivid descriptions of weaponry, tactics, and the inner workings of naval life, making it a treat for military aficionados. Yet, amidst the strategic maneuvers and conflicts, the novel is imbued with profound sentiments about loyalty, military ethics, and the depth of human relationships, elevating its characters to larger-than-life status.
While it may take some time to fully immerse oneself in this epic, the journey is progressively engaging and exceptionally well-written. Helprin's storytelling prowess shines as he balances the warmth of loving relationships with the harsh realities of torture and crimes against humanity. The moral dilemmas faced by the hero add layers of depth and complexity to the narrative, leaving readers with a profound sense of humanity's capacity for both cruelty and compassion.
This is not a book for the faint of heart, as it explores the darkest aspects of humanity, juxtaposed with moments of unwavering bravery and sacrifice. Helprin's ability to blend the brutal and the tender in his storytelling is nothing short of masterful. This epic journey is one that lingers in the reader's mind long after the final page, leaving a lasting impression.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Overlook Press for the ARC and the opportunity to provide this honest review.

Fans of reading about military strategy and the inner workings of naval life will enjoy this detailed novel about Stephen Rensselaer, a Navy captain and former Seal who had the nerve to disagree with a fictional US president. As a result, instead of being promoted to admiral as expected, he was relegated to captain a ship on a mission for which it was ill-equipped. With a distrustful crew, he was able to overcome overwhelming odds in several conflicts, though eventually paying the price for disobeying orders in order to save lives. In the background is his continual thought of romance with a woman waiting for him in New Orleans. There are lofty sentiments expressed about loyalty. military ethics, and relationships, which make the main characters sometimes seem larger than life.

This book was very well researched. It felt like reading a non-fiction book. It was a great story, but did get bogged down in certain places with historical content. If you love non-fiction and historical fiction then this is a great mix of both.

This is an epic tale in many ways. It takes a while to get into but it us progressively engaging and exceptionally well written.
I gave it the following SCORE:
Setting: Present day New Orleans, Washington DC, Persian Gulf, Somalia
Characters: Captain Stephen Rensselear, a love interest, Katy Farrar, the well-defined crew of the Patrol Coastal, Athena, military personnel, terrorists, and tourists
Overview: After a disagreement with the President concerning the future of upgraded Navy Patrol Coastal boats, Rensselear is essentially punished by being assigned to the Athena, his advanced design of a small warship, and given nearly impossible, but considered far less important, assignments in the Middle East. In a series of encounters and battles, both on land and sea, he and his intrepid crew solve increasingly desperate situations with creativity and bravery while ignoring and breaching direct orders. The decisions he must make and the consequences that follow make this a terrific epic story.
Recommendation: I rate this book 5 stars
Extras: I was expecting a book along the lines of Helprin’s “Paris in the Present Tense” and was initially disappointed at the prolonged, well-researched cataloging of weapons and armaments (although he does warn readers and gives the option to skip ahead). This is a book that includes warm, loving, trusting relationships but also torture and terrible crimes on humanity – not for everyone in that regard. It is a long, epic journey but definitely worth the time spent.
Thanx to NetGalley and the Overlook Press for the opportunity to provide this candid review.

I picked up this book three times before it clicked, and then I couldn’t stop reading. It was a thrilling story of the sea and a saga of war, informed by enduring love and the mystical connection to the endless generations of those before who gave their lives to their country. It is a treatise on living a righteous life, aware that each of us is but a small blip in eternity, and it is a manifesto on authority higher than that encompassed in any human personage or institution.

The detail and specifics made me doubt it was fiction, while the characters are portrayed with such humanity and love, their suffering or death was heartbreaking.

Scenes will be hard to read, the violence inflicted appalling. Our hero understands that he must decide: obey orders, knowing that civilians will be cruelly massacred, or disregard human authority and do anything he can to rescue them.

This is an amazing book that combines thrill and horror and eschatology, a story that entertains and makes one aware of the big pictures and big questions of life.

I loved it.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book.

I have read and enjoyed several of Mark Helprin’s previous books (Winter’s Tale, Paris in the Present Tense, In Sunlight and In Shadow), so I was eager to read an ARC copy of his forthcoming novel, The Oceans and the Stars, to be published in early October.

The Oceans and the Stars follows our hero, Captain Stephen Rensselaer, on a modern-day “Odyssey” as the commanding officer of The Athena, a Patrol Coastal warship doomed to be the last of its line. Rensselaer is an experienced, highly skilled naval officer, who consistently demonstrates the highest levels of integrity, morality, and decency – despite being sent on this designed-to-fail mission on the whim of a vindictive US President.

The subtitle of the novel reads “A Sea Story, a War Story, A Love Story” and, indeed, the book is all of those things – with heavy emphasis on the sea and war stories. The love story portion of The Oceans and the Stars is quite comparable - in both scope and purpose - to the love story portion of The Odyssey. There really isn't much “there there,” and it could have been left out altogether and still told the same tale. A disappointment. I have always found Helprin’s female characters to be less-developed and more stereotypical than his male characters.

Although Helprin is a wonderful storyteller, and The Oceans and the Stars is well-written and well-researched, this was just . . . not my book. Too much “sea story” and “war story” for my taste, with very little “love story” to temper the overall effect. That said, I think it will prove to be an exciting read for those interested in the perils of the sea and naval combat.

Thank you to Abrams, Overlook Press and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on October 3, 2023.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4