The Year of Oceans

The Year Of Oceans by Sean Anderson is a sensitive book about dealing with loss, the overpowering and omnipresent grief that ensues and about individual growth. It was a very likeable read, albeit being on the heavier side of the spectrum.

It was very interesting to read about Hugo, the protagonist, and seeing his journey for an entire year after the loss of his beloved. Many times I found myself feeling a wide spectrum of emotions that the protagonist goes through – sadness, frustration, loneliness, disdain and emptiness. But as the book progresses, the author artfully shows the growth of the main lead in a way that felt very real and relatable.

I loved the writing of the author as it complimented the story well. The story had a good flow to it and I was able to navigate through it easily. I liked the story from start to end, and in spite of an unexpected ending, I felt it was very apt for the book.

The best part about this book, though, was that the subject of death and the grief that one has to cope with afterwards (which is a very tricky one) was handled, to my pleasant surprise, quite skillfully with the much-needed delicateness and subtlety. It was a bit hard for me to read this book as the subject of loss, personally, is agonising for me to handle, but I’m glad that the author respected a person’s sense of loss, in general, and worked gracefully around it, touching on the nerves only as required.

A wonderful book for a debut novel that I’d recommend to everyone and anyone who can handle reading about loss, grief and pain related to a close one’s death.

This moving and at times painful but ultimately life enhancing book centres around the subject of grief and how those who have lost a loved one cope or not cope with their bereavement. The book is segmented into chronological monthly chapters following a year in the life of retired accountant Hugo Larson who in January losses his wife after a short terminal illness. We follow Hugo as he follows a carefully mapped out routine and daily tasks knowing that the issue of confronting the loss of the most important person in his life remains untackled and unresolved. He regularly goes to the local bar, where sitting in the same seat he watches his favourite football team ensuring that he only has one drink, he plays chess regularly with his friend Paul, goes swimming and maintains the garden. On the surface he appears to be coping but this is an illusion for underneath he cannot come to terms with his change in circumstances and in reality he is now clinically depressed.

The author takes time to patiently demonstrate how Hugo's behaviour slowly but definitively becomes more erratic as his drinking escalates and he pushes away those nearest and dearest to him. The book also looks at how fraught and complicated at times relationships can be as Hugo struggles to come to terms with (in his opinion) his under achieving son and always positive brother. Memory is also a theme here and we see that whereas Hugo now begins to regret when younger not taking a job offer that would have taken him to California the reality is that at the time he absolutely believed that staying in his beloved Seattle with his young family was the right and only decision to be made. Indeed Seattle and its surroundings with the descriptions of its downtown and coastal areas is an integral part of the book.

Sean Anderson has produced a work that combines elements of pathos and comedy as well as taking a meaningful and spiritual look at something that many people in their lives have to face. Certainly he has made Hugo a believable character and the emotional rollacoaster of a journey that we follow him take will leave I believe the reader experiencing a range of heartfelt emotions.

This is a very heartwarming book about grief and how it affects one person's life through the course of a year. The author beautifully describes the pain of grief and how difficult it is to find one's balance and start over without their loved one. This is a very real depiction of life after loss. I found it hard to read had just lost my family hence the late review. A very touching realistic look at grieving.

The Year of Oceans is an interesting novel written by Sean Anderson. A story that is relatable and realistic. The characters are well-developed and relatable. An insightful read that shares the story of how someone copes with death. The Year of Oceans is an emotional read full of pain, hope, and resistance. Anyone who has dealt with loss can relate to this story.