A Door in the Ocean: A Memoir

by David McGlynn

On a warm September night in 1991, in a quiet neighborhood north of Houston, Texas, David McGlynn’s closest friend and teammate on the high school swimming team is found murdered on his living room floor. As the crime goes unsolved and his friends turn to drugs and violence, McGlynn is vulnerable, searching for answers. He is drawn into the eccentric and often radical world of evangelical Christianity—a journey that leads him to a proselytizing campus fellowship, on a mission to Australia, and to Salt Lake City, where a second swimming–related tragedy leaves him doubting the authenticity of his beliefs. In his post–evangelical life, he finds himself exiled from his parents, plunged into financial chaos, and caught off–guard by the prospect of fatherhood. A new job offers hope for a new beginning, until the possibility of losing his newborn son forces him to confront the nature of everything he believes.

A Door in the Ocean celebrates the author’s love for swimming, the enduring metaphor for his faith and the setting for many of his life’s momentous occasions, while it charts the violent origins of one young man’s faith and the struggle to find meaning in the midst of life’s painful uncertainties.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography, Biography Memoir

280 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2012

About the author

DAVID McGLYNN was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and grew up in Houston, Texas and Orange County, California. He graduated in 1998 with a B.A. in English and Philosophy from the University of California, Irvine. He received an M.F.A. in 2001 and a Ph.D. in 2006 from the University of Utah, where he also served as Managing Editor of Western Humanities Review. His fiction and creative nonfiction have appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, Image, Mid-American Review, Shenandoah, and other literary journals. He currently teaches at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, where he lives with his wife and sons.

A lifelong swimmer, he was captain of the swimming and diving team at UC Irvine. He captured a national championship in the 500-yard freestyle at the 2001 United States Masters Nationals. He now competes in open-water races, and on most mornings is the first one in the pool.

Reviews

[Debra Monroe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those memoirs I love because it clarifies all the ways life does NOT turn out like a date-movie or Victorian novel. An early trauma not only destroys the narrator's child-like sense the world is safe but also blows his family apart. In search of a place to belong, he becomes evangelical, because doing so seems to be the price of belonging to his father's new household. But that's just the trigger: the evangelical certainty takes hold for the narrator because, if you buy in to it, it provides insurance that nothing can ever go totally wrong. But he's a bad fit in the evangelical community. It always feels a little wrong to him. This book traces his journey from simplistic faith to complex faith that acknowledges evil and bad luck and suffering exist, no matter how much you pray or worship. This is one of the most intelligent books about the spiritual life I've ever read. It simplifies nothing.

[Ben Smitthimedhin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, descriptive scenes. Characterization is a little lacking, and the book needs a clearer connection for all the chapters.

[Gavin Tomlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the major vivid descriptions I’ve ever read. Wonderful.

[Charlie Parramore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only knew of this book because I heard a review of it on NPR. It was a very positive review and it came to mind after I finished my last book. I read it pretty quickly and felt very involved in it from beginning to end. The book is a memoir of the author and I could relate to his personality. He is an accomplished swimmer and spent his young adulthood immersed in evangelical Christianity before finally realizing that this kind of religion does not fit who he truly is although he does retain his core faith. It seems a very honest portrayal of himself and it's beautifully written as well. There were a few sections in the book in which I became irritated with the author's piousness to the point where I felt squeamish for him. But I think he was likely portraying himself realistically as the person he was rather than the more even-minded person he becomes. What struck me in this book is how the author's struggles with religion mirrored my own growing up and although I did not cling to my beliefs with the fervor that the author did, I could still understand his inner struggle to either let go or grab tighter to beliefs that had previously defined him.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved the way this book navigated between several narrative threads: loss, swimming, faith, family. McGlynn does a good job of tracing these narratives throughout his life. I, of course, enjoyed the focus on swimming and how swimming & religious faith become the two main staples of his life, the things he can rely on to mitigate the normal losses of life.
I had read several of these essays on their own, and I enjoyed reading them again within the larger context of the book. They all fit together nicely to create a complete story of his life.
In the end, I was more interested in the swimming, and his life as a writer and parent. But, even as a religious outsider, his account of his faith made a lot of sense to me in the context of his life.
Highly recommended!

[Erin]

I know David McGlynn through the many years that he spent as a Masters swimmer in Utah. He was always in the super fast lane, but enjoyws talking to all swimmers. He was also a great coach.

I am interested to read his memoir about how swimming and faith guided him in his life. I, too, feel that swimming and my faith have made it possible to keep going. In my most grief stricken moments, the only thing that got me out of bed was the fact that I had to go coach a swim team. This was truly a life-line.

[Harry MacLean · Rating 5 out of 5]

David McGlynn takes you on a rough but rewarding journey in his memoir A Door in the Ocean. Themes of murder and loss and faith are woven together improbably but beautifully through the sport of swimming. I found myself reading the book in small pieces to fully absorb the power of the story and the elegance of the writing. The images are vivid and startling, and a few of them stayed with me long after I put the book down. A Door in the Ocean is the best memoir I’ve read in a long, long time.

[Grace Hoffmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a terrific memoir. Great writing about two things I don't normally read about: swimming and evangelism. I really think people who are turned off by evangelicals should read this memoir as a way to understand a bit more. I definitely learned, and it's just part of his story, not the whole story. I was ecstatic at the end that he ended up an Episcopalian!!! In my home state of Wisconsin!!! What could be better. Will keep an eye out for this writer.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly written! David McGlynn is such a young writer to have a memoir, but when you read this book you understand all that he's been through to make his life what it is today. He touches on faith, tragedy, fear, love and speaks of how swimming helped him cope. One of the best books of non-fiction I've ever read.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a little disappointed that this book's main focus was not really on swimming. It was a lot on evangelical rhetoric, which at times got tedious. My favorite chapter was the final one called "Open Water", "Wandering Around Zion" was good too. The prose was clean and descriptive. I think this young writer might be good at fiction. Will keep an eye out for more from McGlynn.

[Janet Frasier · Rating 4 out of 5]

So amazed at my friends who find the bravery and the willingness to be exposed by sharing very personal and deeply affecting stories to draw out compassion, understanding and grace within we lucky readers. I'm lucky to have a handful of such friends. And I'm grateful to have read the story -- stories -- shared so intimately in this book.

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting memoir, a bit slow in the middle. The book cover let me know a second trauma was coming, and I was eager to reach that point. Also, I would have stopped the memoir with the move to Wisconsin. Seems like the beginning of a new, unrelated chapter in his life. Worth a read, especially if you enjoy memoirs and or Wisconsin authors.

[Katrina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan. I just didn't care about this guy. I think I have higher standards for non-fiction than fiction because it's not really my genre. This book didn't grab me, or even draw me in. I'm personally a little turned off by the religiosity of the book too--again, just not my thing.

Apparently other people really enjoy this book but I can't say that I'd recommend it.

[Marilee Steffen · Rating 3 out of 5]

At age 15, the author's best friend and family members were brutally murdered in their home in Houston. That event and his parent's divorce shaped this man's character and life. In his search for answers as to why God allows bad things to happen, he becomes involved in the radical world of evangelical Christianity until another tragedy leaves him doubting his beliefs.

[Joseph Schickel · Rating 4 out of 5]

David McGlynn's beautifully written memoir offers a knowledgeable, frank, loving, skeptical, and faith-filled assessment of the state of evangelical christianity in America today. I found his observations especially applicable to my role as father of high school and college age boys.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic literary memoir!

[Kim Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the highly personal examination of the formation of faith and the strength, and traps, of evangelicalism.

[Jack]

Now called "A Door in the Ocean"