What do readers think of How Far Is the Ocean from Here by Amy Shearn? Write your own review.

I thought the book was good. A little hard to follow at times. The ending was disappointing. The Author seemed to be in a hurry to finish the book.

I would recommend watching out for future works by this author, but I can only halfheartedly recommend this book.

The author's use of language is poetic and compelling, especially regarding a sense of place. However, I never really felt like we got to know the runaway surrogate mother, Susannah, even though we tagged along with her halfway across the country. The tension of wondering what she was thinking kept me from losing myself in her misadventures.

I also had a sense that, as John Irving sometimes does, the author tried to pack too many quirky characters into one place. I will still watch for Amy Shearn's next work.

Although the concept of surrogate motherhood is intriguing, this book is not compelling for me. There is no character in the book with whom I can identify. It seems every character is intentionally quirky, making the book unbalanced. There is no normal from which to play..

I'd call this a 'kitchen sink' book. Every simile, metaphor, descriptive phrase that caught Shearn's attention seems to be in included in this book. There could be several books among the ideas in this one book. One overriding theme is isolation.

Watch for this author. She has potential As she matures, so will her writing. Perhaps I'm too old for this book!