Ocean State by Stewart O'Nan

 

Like most coastal cities, Ocean State was divided between the haves and the have nots.  Miles was a have, rich, attractive and the one all the girls sighed over.  Birdy was poor but attractive and popular.  When these two get together, it was a secret as Miles has a three year girlfriend and Birdy a steady boyfriend.  But, inevitably, the secret leaks out with tragic circumstances.

This story is told by Marie, Birdy's little sister who was nine at the time but telling the story as an adult many years later.  When Birdy and Miles' relationship leaks out, Birdy is scorned at her high school, branded as a man stealer and a slut.  She is physically attacked by Miles's girlfriend.  The girlfriend also demands things of Miles to stay with him, auditing his phone, making him promise to never talk or look at Birdy and eventually forcing him to make an assignation with Birdy at their secret hideaway.  But this assignation is a setup to again beat up Birdy with both Miles and the girlfriend participating.  But things don't go as planned and the girlfriend ends up dead.  

Stewart O'Nan is an author who writes about New England and the surrounding states.  His work portrays the working people of the region and the way their lives have changed as manufacturing has moved overseas.  This book portrays the angst of teenage relationships and the way that they can go wrong, sometimes with deadly results.  The reader will emphasize more with Marie than any of the main protagonists as Marie is an innocent child struggling to understand what went wrong and what will happen to the older sister she idolizes.  I listened to this book and the narrator, while not having the strong New England accent, still portrays the sorrow and pain that this family went through.  This novel is recommended for readers of literary fiction.