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How Far Is the Ocean from Here
“An accomplished and sophisticated debut...an affecting portrayal of the lengths people travel for love and companionship.” — Publishers Weekly
Susannah Prue is a young, unmarried surrogate mother who, in the days before her delivery date, panics. Jumping into her car, she flees her Chicago home and a few days later pulls up to a bleak motel in the Southwest—the Thunder Lodge. There, she encounters misfits, much like herself, who also carry the motel’s terse proprietors, their mentally disabled son, and a woman transporting her niece to the father she’s never met. But when the parents of Susannah’s baby discover her whereabouts, she can no longer ignore the profound power she holds over their lives.
Beautifully written, How Far Is the Ocean from Here explores the ways in which people care for one another and the ways in which they fail, the kinds of families we create when we have no one else to turn to, and the strangeness and unpredictability of love.
Susannah Prue is a young, unmarried surrogate mother who, in the days before her delivery date, panics. Jumping into her car, she flees her Chicago home and a few days later pulls up to a bleak motel in the Southwest—the Thunder Lodge. There, she encounters misfits, much like herself, who also carry the motel’s terse proprietors, their mentally disabled son, and a woman transporting her niece to the father she’s never met. But when the parents of Susannah’s baby discover her whereabouts, she can no longer ignore the profound power she holds over their lives.
Beautifully written, How Far Is the Ocean from Here explores the ways in which people care for one another and the ways in which they fail, the kinds of families we create when we have no one else to turn to, and the strangeness and unpredictability of love.
- GenresFiction
320 pages, Hardcover
First published July 22, 2008
About the author
Amy Shearn
7 books250 followersAmy Shearn is the award-winning author of 5 novels: How Far Is the Ocean from Here, The Mermaid of Brooklyn, Unseen City, Dear Edna Sloane, and Animal Instinct.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
May 6, 2025
I've read this one many, many times.
June 11, 2025
Although this was Shearn's debut novel, it was the last one I read during my binge of this writer. I can definitely see why it got plenty of attention and praise. Like all her work, it is well written, funny in places, tragic in others, and creative. However, I think her subsequent novels are even better, which is not always the case for writers who do well with their first effort. I also think this novel is not quite as plausible as her others, which is a rather ironic assessment considering that a few of her later books include supernatural elements. But she raises some pretty serious ethical dilemmas in this story whose characters are diverse, quirky, struggling, and wonderfully flawed. At the heart of the novel is the conflicted emotions surrounding parenthood, with all its expectations, heartbreaks, ecstatic joy, and wildly different manifestations. Susannah, the very pregnant protagonist, is a multilayered and complex character who is faced with some life-changing choices, which sets in motion a series of decisions and actions with huge consequences. Some readers may argue that the ending is a bit contrived, perhaps too tidy. I don't know; it worked for me.
June 19, 2008
I read an ARC of this book and had high hopes for it. While the prose was pretty and her descriptions had me feeling the heat rising off the desert pavement, I could never manage to like the characters who all seemed too self-absorbed. Almost every character had a point of view and she frequently changed POVs within the same paragraph which was jarring.
I did like the second half much better than the first and I was surprised near the end, so that pulled this book from an abyssmal 2 stars to 3.
I did like the second half much better than the first and I was surprised near the end, so that pulled this book from an abyssmal 2 stars to 3.
July 13, 2008
I read an advance copy. To be honest, I am not usually a literary fiction reader. My choices tend towards non-fiction politics, history, Judaica and detective/thriller types. However, due to personal connections, I received a copy of "Ocean."
It's a great tale well told. At varying times...poetic, funny, thrilling....It pulled me into Susannah's world and those who intersect with her.
The law of unintended consequences holds sway in this novel as it does everywhere else. It is a novel of decisions..the profound and the moment by moment....
It's a great tale well told. At varying times...poetic, funny, thrilling....It pulled me into Susannah's world and those who intersect with her.
The law of unintended consequences holds sway in this novel as it does everywhere else. It is a novel of decisions..the profound and the moment by moment....
March 19, 2009
I hated this book. I didn't finish it. I disliked all the characters and felt sorry that the author seemed to be so jaded.
July 22, 2020
The Pc issues did not age well and kind of made this book like watching a slow train wreck. But otherwise it was a good first novel.
September 11, 2020
Great writing. Can't go wrong with a road trip. This book is a keeper.
May 9, 2012
Amy Shearn’s debut is an earnest and sincere endeavor that nevertheless doesn’t work for me. How Far is the Ocean From Here centers on a runaway surrogate mother with an entirely unclear notion of where she’s going or why. She ends up in a rundown motel in New Mexico, where various circumstances combine to propel Susannah Prue toward the ocean in a stolen car with a young girl and a retarded 17-year-old adonis.
Shearn performs some interesting acrobatics with her point-of-view, sending the reader ping-ponging sometimes among three or four POV’s and backstories in the same scene. It’s an interesting device, which she handles skillfully and without confusion. However, it comes off more as a piece of showmanship than an aid to meaning or exploration of character. Similarly, the girl our pregnant protagonist takes off with has a serious physical issue. revealed only near the end, which is gross manipulation because it is central to the protagonist’s life and would be part of her every waking thought and probably some of her dreams as well. (I won’t name the issue here in case you want to read the book) Because Shearn treats it so late and so lightly, it seems to be more of a sideshow oddity than a serious attempt to explore a dilemma. The character is secondary to the story, and the problem so interesting and unique that it deserves fuller treatment. As it is, Shearn leaves us without backstory, solution, or foreshadowing of solution concerning a situation that has captured our attention. Unfair and a serious flaw.
Finally, the pivotal event of the book seems to me to occur without sufficient foundation. Prue’s flight to the ocean happens at a time and in a way that could occur only if she were deranged, not merely confused and upset. In my mind, she isn’t nearly far enough gone to make the leap. Similarly, the (indeterminate and interminable) time she spends at the motel seems unbelievably aimless. I felt the author stalling for plot convenience, did not believe the character is stuck as Shearn would like us to believe she is. I found myself skipping large hunks of interior description because I’d already learned as much as I wanted to about these people and wanted simply to get on with the action. Maybe it’s a guy thing.
So, despite its virtues, I think the book is pretty much of a dud. Can’t recommend it, though I wish the young author well.
Shearn performs some interesting acrobatics with her point-of-view, sending the reader ping-ponging sometimes among three or four POV’s and backstories in the same scene. It’s an interesting device, which she handles skillfully and without confusion. However, it comes off more as a piece of showmanship than an aid to meaning or exploration of character. Similarly, the girl our pregnant protagonist takes off with has a serious physical issue. revealed only near the end, which is gross manipulation because it is central to the protagonist’s life and would be part of her every waking thought and probably some of her dreams as well. (I won’t name the issue here in case you want to read the book) Because Shearn treats it so late and so lightly, it seems to be more of a sideshow oddity than a serious attempt to explore a dilemma. The character is secondary to the story, and the problem so interesting and unique that it deserves fuller treatment. As it is, Shearn leaves us without backstory, solution, or foreshadowing of solution concerning a situation that has captured our attention. Unfair and a serious flaw.
Finally, the pivotal event of the book seems to me to occur without sufficient foundation. Prue’s flight to the ocean happens at a time and in a way that could occur only if she were deranged, not merely confused and upset. In my mind, she isn’t nearly far enough gone to make the leap. Similarly, the (indeterminate and interminable) time she spends at the motel seems unbelievably aimless. I felt the author stalling for plot convenience, did not believe the character is stuck as Shearn would like us to believe she is. I found myself skipping large hunks of interior description because I’d already learned as much as I wanted to about these people and wanted simply to get on with the action. Maybe it’s a guy thing.
So, despite its virtues, I think the book is pretty much of a dud. Can’t recommend it, though I wish the young author well.
August 4, 2008
n How Far Is the Ocean from Here, author Amy Shearn examines the ripple effects of a single decision, and the unlikely relationships formed when strangers need a family more than they need familiarity.
Susannah Prue signed on to a be a surrogate to matter to someone, to get attention for doing a noble thing, to feel a part of something after a life of many nothings. In the weeks before the birth, in a moment of panic, Susannah leaves Chicago (and the baby's parents), heading on an impromptu road trip to see the desert, to see the ocean, to find herself.
When her car breaks down in the vast stretch of land linking Texas and New Mexico, she settles in at the Thunder Lodge as its only resident, hoping to buy herself some time to think. It is at this decrepit, sad motel that the motley cast of characters comes together. There are Char and Marlon Garland, proprietors of the lodge, and their mentally disabled son, Tim, to whom Susannah is immediately drawn. When Dicey joins them, as a respite on her way to deliver her niece, Frankie, to her father in Arizona, a family of sorts is formed.
Meanwhile, back in Chicago, the couple waiting for Susannah to deliver them a child, Julian and Kit, enter a new stage of waiting...and wondering how to get back the baby that belongs to them.
In the desert, time seems suspended, as the endless, dry days play out, repeating themselves over and over. But Susannah knows her due date looms, and that every day brings Julian and Kit closer to finding her. Again in a panic, she makes another rash decision that will alter the lives of everyone, with both disastrous and heart-warming results.
Have you ever read a book and imagined the movie version in your head?
That's how this book was for me from the very beginning. Perhaps it was the vivid descriptions of the desert landscape and the little motel in the middle of nowhere, or the peculiarity of the characters who could very easily come to life on a screen, or the relationships that were powerful and real enough to survive off of the page.
In her debut novel, Shearn paints with a unique brush a story that kept me wondering how it was all going to turn out, invested in every line.
Susannah Prue signed on to a be a surrogate to matter to someone, to get attention for doing a noble thing, to feel a part of something after a life of many nothings. In the weeks before the birth, in a moment of panic, Susannah leaves Chicago (and the baby's parents), heading on an impromptu road trip to see the desert, to see the ocean, to find herself.
When her car breaks down in the vast stretch of land linking Texas and New Mexico, she settles in at the Thunder Lodge as its only resident, hoping to buy herself some time to think. It is at this decrepit, sad motel that the motley cast of characters comes together. There are Char and Marlon Garland, proprietors of the lodge, and their mentally disabled son, Tim, to whom Susannah is immediately drawn. When Dicey joins them, as a respite on her way to deliver her niece, Frankie, to her father in Arizona, a family of sorts is formed.
Meanwhile, back in Chicago, the couple waiting for Susannah to deliver them a child, Julian and Kit, enter a new stage of waiting...and wondering how to get back the baby that belongs to them.
In the desert, time seems suspended, as the endless, dry days play out, repeating themselves over and over. But Susannah knows her due date looms, and that every day brings Julian and Kit closer to finding her. Again in a panic, she makes another rash decision that will alter the lives of everyone, with both disastrous and heart-warming results.
Have you ever read a book and imagined the movie version in your head?
That's how this book was for me from the very beginning. Perhaps it was the vivid descriptions of the desert landscape and the little motel in the middle of nowhere, or the peculiarity of the characters who could very easily come to life on a screen, or the relationships that were powerful and real enough to survive off of the page.
In her debut novel, Shearn paints with a unique brush a story that kept me wondering how it was all going to turn out, invested in every line.
October 3, 2008
As reviewed on my website: http://fictionwritersreview.com
How Far is the Ocean from Here, Amy Shearn’s captivating debut, follows a young surrogate mother who flees to the desert shortly before her due date.
Accomplishing a seemingly impossible goal, the novel sustains the quality and language of a short story for 320 pages. Shearn exceeds at painting characters and relationships - particularly the bond between surrogate Susannah and father Julian; an adopted child himself, Julian feels a strong pull to the woman carrying his first blood relative–much to the chagrin of his wife, Kit. The book’s POV, a shifting third person with hints of omniscience, is ambitious and ultimately succeeds. Especially praise-worthy is the narrator, whose tender revelations refrain from passing judgment, even when characters are at their ugliest.
How Far… has its flaws; occasionally the gorgeous prose turns purple or suffers from simile fever — and the climax feels too conveniently plotted and melodramatic. But ultimately this is an emotionally sophisticated first book, well-written and well-crafted. Like its narrator, readers will feel more inclined to engage with the characters than to judge them.
How Far is the Ocean from Here, Amy Shearn’s captivating debut, follows a young surrogate mother who flees to the desert shortly before her due date.
Accomplishing a seemingly impossible goal, the novel sustains the quality and language of a short story for 320 pages. Shearn exceeds at painting characters and relationships - particularly the bond between surrogate Susannah and father Julian; an adopted child himself, Julian feels a strong pull to the woman carrying his first blood relative–much to the chagrin of his wife, Kit. The book’s POV, a shifting third person with hints of omniscience, is ambitious and ultimately succeeds. Especially praise-worthy is the narrator, whose tender revelations refrain from passing judgment, even when characters are at their ugliest.
How Far… has its flaws; occasionally the gorgeous prose turns purple or suffers from simile fever — and the climax feels too conveniently plotted and melodramatic. But ultimately this is an emotionally sophisticated first book, well-written and well-crafted. Like its narrator, readers will feel more inclined to engage with the characters than to judge them.
November 21, 2008
I am surprised as I read most of the reviews of this book considering I did not enjoy the novel AT ALL. I read through it, but was disappointed at nearly every turn. Maybe I am a shallow reader, but I could not connect to any of the characters, particularly the main character. In fact, I was repulsed by the main character, but not in a fascinating way, just in a repulsed way.
Others might consider this poetic, but I just found it annoying and a desperate attempt at poetry when the author would throw out three random words to describe a situation or a character....."Sea. Smooth. Gray." Or whatever combinations she used. It seemed too forced and not at all meaningful.
While it seems like the book is wrapping up in disaster, I then found myself further annoyed when the author "fast-forwarded" a number of years and made some corny ending to make the whole thing come full-circle.
Maybe I was just in a bad mood when I read this book, but I would not recommend it at all.
Others might consider this poetic, but I just found it annoying and a desperate attempt at poetry when the author would throw out three random words to describe a situation or a character....."Sea. Smooth. Gray." Or whatever combinations she used. It seemed too forced and not at all meaningful.
While it seems like the book is wrapping up in disaster, I then found myself further annoyed when the author "fast-forwarded" a number of years and made some corny ending to make the whole thing come full-circle.
Maybe I was just in a bad mood when I read this book, but I would not recommend it at all.
October 6, 2013
I enjoy reading debut novels. It's like sipping on a new wine for the first time. My rating might seem too generous to those folks who are comparing this debut novel to the works of more established authors but there can be no denying Shearn's talent. She writes with delightful playfulness and fluidity. Her imaginative juxtaposition of landscapes with the moods and preconceived ideas of her characters is impressive. The offbeat and often narrow perceptions of the world expressed by the characters, as they careen from one bizarre event to another, is inspired. "When they woke in Oklahoma, they learned that all the dirt had gone red overnight." or "They drove all morning through Oklahoma, which turned out to be precisely how they had always pictured Texas...." If Shearn handles her enthusiastic and effervescent writing style - close to the surface in this novel - with more subtlety and narrative aplomb in her future work, she'll be amazed at all the new fans she acquires "overnight."
October 23, 2008
This was OK- the author's first novel. The plot is interesting- definitely different from the norm: a young surrogate freaks out and runs away from Chicago without telling anyone, so the parents are rightfully very upset. She ends up in the desert at a roadside motel and the parents eventually figure out where she is and follow her.
What I didn't like about this book was the characters are not very likable- I never warmed up to any of them. Also, Amy Shearn has a tendency for run-on sentences. If you read this book out loud, you would be out of breath because her sentences just run on and on. English teachers would not like that!
Anyway, some people might love this, but I am just lukewarm......
What I didn't like about this book was the characters are not very likable- I never warmed up to any of them. Also, Amy Shearn has a tendency for run-on sentences. If you read this book out loud, you would be out of breath because her sentences just run on and on. English teachers would not like that!
Anyway, some people might love this, but I am just lukewarm......
June 24, 2014
A rare book (for me) is one that I look forward to reading -- a book that I will gladly hop into bed early to resume. This is one of those books. Heck, I even left it in the men's room at my office. But enough about me...
Amy Shearn's debut is a fast-paced ride (figuratively and literally) through the desert and the minds of a handful of highly relatable and yet strangely disparate characters. The most enjoyable aspect of the novel is getting inside each character's head as they agonize over the decisions they've made that have brought them to this point.
The final chapters I read through in a daze, as the action picked up and catapulted me to the final scenes. Pick this one up -- you don't regret it!
Amy Shearn's debut is a fast-paced ride (figuratively and literally) through the desert and the minds of a handful of highly relatable and yet strangely disparate characters. The most enjoyable aspect of the novel is getting inside each character's head as they agonize over the decisions they've made that have brought them to this point.
The final chapters I read through in a daze, as the action picked up and catapulted me to the final scenes. Pick this one up -- you don't regret it!
September 21, 2010
Though a genuinely disturbing novel, I would 100% recommend Amy Shearn's How Far is the Ocean From Here to everybody who is a reader. Shearn is not afraid to tackle the nitty-gritty of Americana as she writes the story of a runaway surrogate mother who meets an older couple with a mentally handicapped teenager, a young hermaphrodite, and her own muddied thoughts and intentions. Amy Shearn does this in a mixed writing style, keeping a 3rd person perspective for the majority of the novel, breaking her style about halfway through to give a 3rd person limited view on other characters. Very good book. Many thoughts and questions and unsettling feelings raised by it.
June 3, 2011
This book kept my interest. I definetly wanted to finish it although I did not particuarly love the writing style. I felt it jumped to different characters so much that I often had to restart the paragraph to figure out which character we were reading about. I got confused towards the end when they jumped ahead so far that we never did learn what happened with all of the characters. I found it sort of slow and did not feel sorry for the young woman. I felt bad for the parents although I did not care for them either. Overall I am still happy I read it and still enjoyed it other than the ending.
August 20, 2018
What I loved most about this novel is the setting: a down-at-the-heels motel in the overheated Southwest, with a semi-clean swimming pool the suspicious proprietor calls "the grotto." It's the perfect place to hide for Susannah, a young, pregnant surrogate who's decided she might not give the baby to the biological parents after all once he's born. Susannah searches her soul, questions her life choices, seeks signs in ordinary things; but there's never too much doubt that she'll make things right. The surprise here is the tragedy that turns Susannah's self-absorbed escapade into something dark and irreversible.
April 10, 2009
Didn't really care for this book (neither did the rest in our Book Club) ... hence the reason I forgot follow-up and write my review on GoodReads.
The story was a mix between the lady who had her baby in WalMart and Juno and Little Miss Sunshine and at the end Jodi Picoult-ish. But not as well written as any of those stories.
Book Club decided it wasn't written for our age group (37-65). Probably more for those in their 20s, who appreciate a story about aimless wandering and not taking responsibility for actions.
The story was a mix between the lady who had her baby in WalMart and Juno and Little Miss Sunshine and at the end Jodi Picoult-ish. But not as well written as any of those stories.
Book Club decided it wasn't written for our age group (37-65). Probably more for those in their 20s, who appreciate a story about aimless wandering and not taking responsibility for actions.
July 27, 2013
I have mixed feelings about this book, so I'd really give it maybe 2.5 stars. I almost jettisoned it at the 80 page mark, just couldn't connect with it, but gave it one more try and was hooked and had to at least see how it all played out. It is well written, especially in terms of place - you really get a sense of the southwest and the remote location. The characters take a while to grow on you, but they have a feeling of real-ness, maybe because of the constant switching of POV. It's not a love or hate novel, it's really just okay.
September 23, 2008
This book has a fantastic plot...a surrogate who just before the baby is born runs away and finds herself at a semi-abandoned hotel somewhere in the desert. (yes, it is very Hotel California). Despite the interesting plot line, I couldn't get into the book. I found it very hard to connect with the characters and find any sort of sympathy for any of them. Worth a try though, I know some people loved it.
November 12, 2008
I have been recommending this book to my students as the anti-Juno. Protagonist Susannah Prue has agreed to be the surrogate mother for a young couple, but as the due date approaches she flees to the Texas-New Mexico border and stays at the Thunder Lodge. There she meets the rest of the cast of oddball characters, two of whom she kidnaps and takes on the rest of her pilgrimage to the ocean. Madcap and dangerous - I liked it well enough to call it a great end of the summer read.
September 19, 2008
the language in this book is so fluid and precise that reading it felt ethereal and familiar -- like dreaming a dream so vivid you'd swear it was real; the story reveals itself organically, the plotlines weaving back and forth, it was a thrill to read, and a book i felt completely invested in without ever feeling manipulated by its many tips and turns.
August 10, 2008
I felt myself slightly confused at first, but continued to read on. Though I didn't think of this as a five star read, I enjoyed enough small portions within the book to consider it a book worth reading. The author gave descriptions that made me envision the surroundings and characters very clearly.
Currently Reading
August 6, 2008Her language is beautiful. The author (Amy Shearn) just happens to be a friend, so I am just now starting to get over the fact that I have this gorgeous book on my coffee table that someone I know wrote. A novelist! Once I get over that hurdle of notoriety I can start to read this lovely work of fiction. Yes fiction, Amzs is reading fiction.
October 9, 2010
I read this book three times. I enjoyed the characters and suffered with their choices. Susannah Prue leads a life of indecision and the cast of characters she encounters along the way, made me laugh and broke my heart at the same time. I'm waiting for this authors next novel. I'm sure it will be spell binding.
September 1, 2008
I thought the author's language was clever and lyrical which I enjoyed very much...I wanted to write down some of her metaphors because they were so true and made me smile. I thought the middle of the book became slow, but the end was unexpected, and I loved the way everything wrapped up.
August 10, 2008
Although I could be biased since this is Matt's sister-in-law, I really loved this book. It was pretty easy read with interesting, non-typical characters. It was also easy for me to lose myself in the book and not hear Amy's voice.
March 17, 2009
It took me a little while to get into the book, but once I did it was difficult to put down. Although the main character isn't particularly likable, her relationships with the other characters are quite interesting and I was dying to know how the whole thing would be resolved.
October 18, 2010
Great social commentary on family life/early upbringing and events will impact your future. Contemporary issues woven throughout the narrative with a surprise ending! Great description of the desert terrain/
January 2, 2018
I wanted to put this down so many times, but the ending was so unexpected that I am glad I kept going. A lot of times I wanted to slap the main character and tell her to quit whining, which is probably why I was lukewarm on the book overall. But an interesting situation, and pretty good book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews