Ocean State

The stories of Ocean State roll over the reader like a wave. Family pleasures, marriage, the essential moments and mysteries of a seemingly ordinary world that break into magical territory before we can brace ourselves -- Jean McGarry puts us in life's rough seas with what the New York Times has called a "deft, comic, and devastatingly precise" hand.Praise for Jean McGarry"A gifted observer, records with fidelity the daily minutiae of life and introspection." -- Publishers Weekly"Ms. McGarry's stories have the feel of paintings by Edward Hopper. Her characters are solitudinous and lonely, rarely funny, but they often carry with them, even in their defeat, a certain dignity. She is a writer who honors the human condition." -- Baltimore Sun"McGarry's thickly layered prose, with its stunning emotional accuracies, is always just on the verge of exploding into dream or fantasy." -- Women's Review of Books"At her best, McGarry illuminates our quirky, flawed selves and neighbors, and makes us nod even as we sigh." -- Providence Journal"McGarry's prose is fresh, her plots unpredictable, and her dialogue shimmeringly wry... Reading McGarry's stories is to be surprised and delighted." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)