The Odd Sea

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... Read Full Review

At the heart of this gem of a novel lies a mystery. Sixteen-year-old Ethan Shumway walks down the driveway one spring morning and simply disappears. His family and friends naturally launch an all-out search for him, but what ensues is less of a "search story" than an exploration of the nature of absence and the way absent people and things are carried with us through our lives. The author's empathy for his characters... Read Full Review

What a book! I was taken by the description on the back cover. For once I was right to trust my instincts. As soon as I read a page, I could not put this novel down! Reiken's voice is pitch perfect, and the story carries tremendous amounts of emotion while never once becoming sappy or sentimental. The pacing of the novel is so carefully timed that we follow the narrator Philip Shumway through all the stages of loss... Read Full Review

Some books you fly through and never think of again. There are others that you finish reluctantly, wishing that they would never end. Then, there are those rare few that you put down with a combination of regret and relief. This is one of the last ... a book that moved me to the point of that seeming contradiction. I wanted it to go on forever, yet was relieved to be free of its emotional yoke. A truly powerful book... Read Full Review

It's rare that a book possesses both the intellectual complexity and the depth of emotion present in The Odd Sea. Yet this book seems to have it all. Most importantly, the characters are strong and the story so compelling that the novel grabs you by page 3 and won't let you go until you've stayed up all night to finish it. The story revolves around a 16 year old boy's disappearance and is loosely based on The Odyssey... Read Full Review