An Ocean in Iowa: A Novel - Softcover

Hedges, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 068485970X ISBN 13: 9780684859705

Publisher: Touchstone, 1999

Synopsis

In a small town in Iowa, Scotty Ocean has announced that seven is going to be his year. It does turn out to be his year, but not quite the one he had imagined. It is the year his mother abandons the family. At first, Scotty does astonishing things to get her to return. When he realizes she won't be coming back, he decides he must replace her. And when that proves impossible, he takes the dramatic step of trying to remain seven forever. Funny, sad, and constantly surprising, An Ocean in Iowa explores the fragile contracts between parents and children and what it really means to grow up.

About this title

Review:

In his first novel, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, author Peter Hedges constructed a coming-of-age-in-Iowa tale around his 24-year-old title character. In An Ocean in Iowa, Hedges's second novel, he returns once again to both Iowa and the theme of growing up, but this time his hero's age is in the single digits and the issues he faces have less to do with figuring out the rest of his life than making it to his next birthday. Seven-year-old Scotty Ocean lives a middle-class life in Des Moines with his strict father, a judge, his alcoholic mother, a failed artist, and his two older sisters. "Seven is going to be my year," he announces at the beginning of the novel, but when his mother abandons the family shortly after his birthday, Scotty's life begins to fall apart. He blames himself for her leaving and determines to be better. When that doesn't bring her back, he starts acting up at school, and finally embarks on a drastic course of action in order to remain seven forever. Even as he traces Scotty's disintegration, Hedges also follows his absent mother's alcoholic despair and his rigid father's increasingly desperate attempts to maintain control. Dark as the novel's themes are, the writing is leavened by considerable humour and a remarkable eye for detail.

By setting his novel in 1969, Hedges is able to draw on the considerable turmoil of the times as the Vietnam war, the women's movement, and fundamental changes in the family changed the fabric of American life--even in the Midwest. Peter Hedges has undertaken a real challenge in writing a convincing and interesting story about a year in the life of a young child; with An Ocean in Iowa he has largely succeeded.

Review:

Jen Nessel The New York Times Book Review Hedges has the ability to climb into a child's mind and simply look around.

Patrick Beach The Des Moines Register Hedges absolutely shines....An Ocean in Iowa is funny, touching, mysterious, and absurd.

Liesel Litzenburger Detroit Free Press Peter Hedges's quietly devastating new novel...is unapolegetically simple and pure, a sadly perfect little tale.

Michael Giltz Entertainment Weekly Funny, unaffected prose...'A.'

Shirley Manson Harper's Bazaar This funny and supremely moving book is full of hope and possibilities and robustness of spirit.

Cynthia Hanson The Christian Science Monitor Hedges manages to make his novel a delightful romp through the age of seven with an endearing character who revels in life's smallest details.

Dale Jones Cedar Rapids Gazette An Ocean in Iowa is a delightful read, full of fancy and vivid imagery of suburban Iowa in the 1960s.

About this edition

• Publisher: Touchstone
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 068485970X
• ISBN 13: 9780684859705
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 258