Synopses & Reviews
“An accomplished and sophisticated debut...an affecting portrayal of the lengths people travel for love and companionship.” —
Publishers WeeklySusannah 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 secrets: the motels terse proprietors, their mentally disabled son, and a woman transporting her niece to the father shes never met. But when the parents of Susannahs 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.
Synopsis
Once in a while you read a first novel in which the narrative hand is so steady, the characters so lively and original, that you finish it certain you'll be hearing a lot more from this author. Shearn's [work] is just such a book.--Mark Childress, author of "Crazy in Alabama."
About the Author
AMY SHEARNs work has appeared in Jane, West Branch, Salt Hill, and elsewhere. She lives in Brooklyn. This is her first novel.
Visit her at amyshearn.com
Reading Group Guide
In
How Far Is the Ocean from Here, a young surrogate mother escapes her past. Pregnant with a child that is not hers, Susannah Prue abandons the baby’s parents and everything she knows out of a need she cannot explain. And at a lonely, dry corner of the world, she meets strangers who become an indelible part of her future. The questions below are meant to encourage discussion and help you examine your own thoughts on this work–a rare and beautiful debut novel that contemplates relationships, responsibility, betrayal, and longing.
“Spoiler Alert! Warning: the questions below reveal facts you may not want to read before you finish the book!”
1. Susannah feels as if she’s becoming invisible, “the sense of being a supporting character in her own life.” Is this why she decided to be a surrogate? Why she runs away? Takes Tim and Frankie with her?
2. Language breaks down for Susannah, and all she can think of are certain words. “[A]ll she could think was: granule. Arrowhead. Scorch.” (p. 2) When she meets Tim, she thinks, “Anchor. Mast. Swell.” (p. 22) Even Frankie experiences this. “She wanted to say, Hawk. She wanted to say, Blanket. She wanted to say, Burn.”(p. 249) What meaning do you see in these words?
3. Susannah, Tim, Dicey, and Frankie find comfort with strangers at the Thunder Lodge. “She didn’t feel like Tim was molding her into any particular thing.” (p. 26) Why is it that sometimes strangers can feel more intimate than friends or family? How do these new relationships compare to the ones Susannah had with Julian and Kit?
4. At the caves, Dicey thinks Tim may have attacked Susannah, but she says Tim would “never hurt a fly.” Later, in his confusion, he does try to molest her. Can you find any other examples of foreshadowing?
5. Why does Susannah throw away her childhood friend’s ribbon, Julian and Kit’s key, and her other mementoes? Why does she collect new ones? What do Tim’s rituals–collecting the little stones, his breakfast of exactly two Pop-Tarts and four wedges of orange–do for him?
6. Even as a child, Susannah looked for little signs and made wagers with fate, even with life-changing decisions. “If he shook his head slowly three more times, she would go.” (p.163) Is she truly looking for direction? Letting chance tell her what to do? Or would she find a way to make the same choices regardless of the signs?
7. The narration dips in and out of each character’s perspective but remains firmly in the third person. Are these the characters’ inner thoughts? Or is it the narrator commenting on them? Or both? How would you describe the narrative voice?
8. As with the works of Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, and Winesburg, Ohio, this novel contains classic elements of gothic fiction, which is often characterized by elements of the “grotesque.”: Frankie is a hermaphrodite, Tim’s mentally disabled, even Char and Marlon are wizened and drained from age, disappointment, and the desert. Yet the characters mostly inspire empathy, so does the term “grotesque” still apply? Or has the author created something else entirely?
9. Char dislikes Susannah because she sees her own younger self in the girl. In your experience, are people attracted to or repelled by another person’s similarity? And what is it about Susannah that draws so many people to her?
10. Julian begins a flirtation with Susannah even though he loves his wife. Why? How do his affections for Susannah compare to his feelings for Kit? How do they compare to Susannah’s feelings for Tim? How responsible is Julian for Susannah’s actions? And how responsible is Susannah for Tim’s death?
11. Throughout the novel, characters flash back to their pasts while dealing with the present. How influenced are they by the past? Find an example of how past experiences influence a character’s actions.
12. Susannah calls the baby “the stranger.” Later, Kit wonders about babies becoming unexpected, strange adults. Where does this anxiety come from? Is it because the baby is still unborn? Or is this a constant part of parenthood?
13. Consider this passage after Tim’s death: “It’s at moments like these that a person most feels at one with the others around him, most part of that massive human organism….” Do you agree? What are the moments in the book–or in real life–in which people truly connect?
14. Kit, Julian, and Dicey each wonder at some point if their connection to Susannah was just a con. How would you feel about Susannah if you met her? If you were a character living in this novel?
15. What is the significance of the little boy across the road?