The One True Ocean

By Sarah Beth Martin

Book Overview

There are two oceans, mom used to tell me. There is one that is blue-a clean, bright Disney World blue, which simply is the mirror of a clear sky above. But look at the ocean on a cloudy day, she would say, and here lies the green ocean-the true ocean, full of algae and kelp and slimy creatures, evil lurking in the shadows. The One True Ocean is a searing "what happened?" novel driven by suspense and tension when a twenty-something artist returns to her abandoned childhood home and begins to dig into her past. In a search for answers to her aunt's suicide and her father's identity, Jenna discovers that her seaside house holds dark secrets that will unravel her family history and shatter the truth she has come to believe. In this eloquent debut novel, Sarah Beth Martin mixes dark psychology and real emotion with breathless storytelling to explore the deep connections between past and present, love and loss, the dead and the living.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1402201435
• ISBN13: 9781402201431
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
• Length: 351 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful

This is definitely one of the best can't-put-it-down books I've read in a long while. The characters were complex, and the way the author interweaves the locations, nature, her art, and her past is truly compelling. Some passages are a little ponderous, but since it's her first book, we'll give her a pass on that. I'm not in a book club, but if I were, this would be an excellent choice - it leaves you with lots to talk/think about and keeps you guessing until the end!

Beautifully Written, Highly Evocative

The lyrical language in this first novel from Sarah Beth Martin was a pleasant surprise, not because I expected the book to be poorly written, but because I don't believe that first novels are usually this evocative of time and place. Most of the action takes place in a quiet seacoast town in Maine, moving back and forth between the 1980s, when the novel's two principle characters -- a mother and daughter -- were young, and the present day, when the daughter is a widow in her twenties. Mother and daughter have never communicated with one another very well and Martin gradually allows the reader to discover why by letting each of the women tell her side of the story, switching between narratives and points of view. While the daughter does end up learning the identity of her biological father, that is not her true quest in this novel. Rather, she is searching for the *meaning* of what took place in her childhood, not merely trying to uncover the facts. I always enjoy stories where the author gives me tidbits of a story and I have to use my wit and intuition to figure out what really happened, pulling information from the narratives of the main characters to find objective reality beneath the characters' subjective experiences. This is one of those books, and I quite enjoyed unraveling the mystery as I savored Martin's beautiful prose. I highly recommend this book for readers who appreciate a good story, well told.

A good read that keeps you turning pages.....

I particularly enjoyed the artful, descriptive narrative. Thoughts, emotions and relationships were fully captured and understood without being unecessarily wordy. I find it difficult to find a book that can convey emotions well. This book hits the mark. Very interesting ending that ties up the questions raised throughout the book. Looking forward to more!

A nostalgic beautiful novel

I LOVED this book. Sarah Beth Martin really gets inside the narrator's mind to create a story that is tragic and rings very true. In reading this book, I revisited the ghosts of my past...very thought provoking. An amazing debut! I can't wait to read more...

First Rate Fiction from a Fresh Voice

The One True Ocean is wonderfully conceived, expertly rendered and a remarkable achievement. While the plot focuses on family secrets and things hidden--both physically hidden, and those areas of the mind we often hide from ourselves--the novel's greatest strengths are rich characters who impact strongly on the reader (certainly they did me), and a prose style which is both lyrical and compelling. The relationship between Jenna and her mother and father as she struggles to cope with the loss of her husband Seth is tense, believable and ultimately touching. All the characters connect in a way that is human and real.Sarah Beth Martin shows a strong sensitivity for the way people really are with each other, as well as a keen sense of story and storytelling. As Jenna's life unravels around her--just as the secrets of her mother's and her own past do--the reader is taken along on a wild emotional ride, culminating in an understanding which, while sad in a way, is very satisfying and rings true.The One True Ocean is a treat for the serious reader.