The Ocean Inside

by Janna McMahan

Book Overview

The acclaimed author of "Calling Home" delivers a gripping and evocative new work, in the tradition of Jodi Picoult, about a family thrown into crisis. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0758253931
• Release Date: January 2010
• Publisher: Kensington Pub Corp
• Length: 342 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.5" x 1.0" x 4.0"

Customer Reviews

A Great Beach Read

I loved this book--read it in a day at the beach! The plot made me think about what my future holds with teenage girls.

Wonderful Read

The moment I started this book, I could not put it down. The story begins at once and never lets you loose. The chapters flowed together and did not drag with unimportant filler. Reading the book moves even faster as the story line progresses. I wanted to know what was next, I was living the story. I could not put it down. The characers were real and believable. At times, I felt I could have known this family from my community and been apart of their lives. The story has a purpose and at the end of the book, I was satisfied with the conclusion. (This does not always happen at the end of a book!)This is a book I have told my family and friends is a must read. I am now a big fan of Janna McMahan.

The Ocean Inside

The Ocean Inside is wonderfully written, with great attention to detail. This is my favorite author. Janna keeps the storyline moving so well that you are literally so "wrapped up" in her book that you can hardly put it down! She leaves you searching and longing for her next book release.

An excellent novel

What a great novel from Janna McMahan. This is a wonderfully written story about a family's struggle with children's cancer and a young girl's coming of age. The story, set in the South Carolina town, Pawley's Island, has lots of South Carolina references. The story is told from all of the characters points of view and you feel their worry, pain and heartache. The characters are very real and human. You experience their struggles and begin to understand what families have to go through when cancer is diagnosed. Within each character the reader can find a part of themselves. Pick up a copy and take out to the beach with you this summer. But take plenty of sunscreen, because you won't want to put it down. Also, take a look at her first novel Calling Home as well.

thoughtful contemporary tale

On Pawley's Island, South Carolina, Emmet and Lauren Sullivan raise their two children in a wonder loving home. However, their idyllic lifestyle takes a horrific blow when their youngest daughter nine years old Ainslie becomes critically ill. Emmet and Lauren try their best not to neglect their teenage older daughter Sloan, but cannot help their focus has to be on Ainslie. Sloan feels increasingly like an intruder filled with anger, resentment and remorse as even their grandparents ignore her while taking a zillion photos of her ailing sibling. She begins to turn to reckless actions like swimming in the ocean at night alone and falling for her boyfriend Cal's pressure in order to gain some attention from her parents. THE OCEAN INSIDE is a profound look at what happens to internal relationships when a trauma crashes the lives of a happy seemingly well balanced family. The Sullivan foursome is fully developed with each having a unique personality so that the audience can see how they react differently to Ainslie's health crisis. Lauren dives into charities; Emmett worries about paying medical bills; Sloan feels deserted; and Ainslie turns reflective as she knows how her sister, her parents, and the islanders feel. Janna McMahan provides a thoughtful contemporary tale that will leave her readers pondering how we would act. Harriet Klausner