Share for friends:

Read Oceans Apart (2004)

Oceans Apart (2004)

Online Book

Genre
Rating
4.23 of 5 Votes: 2
Your rating
ISBN
0310247497 (ISBN13: 9780310247494)
Language
English
Publisher
zondervan publishing company

Oceans Apart (2004) - Plot & Excerpts

I seriously hated this book... but it was a book club pick so I read it.The story is about an airline pilot who has a wife and two daughters and living a perfect life in Florida. But, his family doesn't know that he had a one-night stand eight years ago in Hawaii on a layover during a hurricane. What he doesn't know is that the chick got knocked up and he has a son. The woman gets killed in a plane crash - she's a stewardess still - and her will states that her son should spend two weeks with his father (not knowing he is his father but rather his mother's friend) and then the guy can decide if he wants to keep him or send him back where he'll become a ward of the state and hopefully be adopted. Knowing it is a Christian author, I bet you can't guess that it's a story about forgiveness. *gag* The convenient aspect is that the harlot stewardess was really a "good girl" who only ever slept with this pilot this one night and ended up pregnant. (Now it sounds like what my parents used to tell me when we'd have the 'don't have sex until you're married' talk... it only takes once!) Apparently she somehow fell in love with this one-night stand and pinned away for him and never loved anyone else. (Like that's realistic... NOT!) Now she is devoted to her son and God and thus the little boy is this bible reading 7-year old. Sorry, my eight year old isn't that advanced of a reader so I don't buy it!The first problem was the preaching and heavy-handed shove-it-down-your-throat-on-every page religious bullshit. Seriously, I get that there is a market for people who want to read books with characters in them who share their religious beliefs. However, I do not believe there are any real people living who think or act like these characters did. The book was more like a sermon with a little bit of a story thrown in for entertainment. I knew this was a religious book going in and could have overlooked it.But then there was this problem of bad writing. How the hell does drivel like this get published? And I heard this author was a bestseller... and it wasn't her first book? The characters were so shallow it was like little walking cardboard puppets on popsicle sticks. The dialogue by the little boy was done so it sounded like he was 5 instead of 7. And, the ending was so badly foreshadowed that I knew exactly what was coming from about the third chapter and just kept waiting for her to get to it already. The descriptions lacked depth - I still don't have a clear picture of what the two daughters even looked like nor most of the main characters. "Handsome" doesn't really tell me anything, does it? But go ahead and tell me he's handsome over and over again! (Show, don't tell, people! It's the first lesson an author should learn!) And the religious stuff wasn't even woven into the story. Just all of a sudden the character would be spouting off about how "I know this is God's plan" without the benefit of hearing the human struggle of deciding that's what they were going to choose to believe. Plus the preaching was so repetitive... find a new phrase because you used that exact one two paragraphs ago, lady! The actual content of the story could have been summed up as a short story but instead was drawn out far too long.Skip this one... I wish I had!

I think my problem with this book was the overwhelming perfection of a woman who slept with a married man... she was perfection personified...in love with a man she slept with once....she never had another man after him...she birthed a perfect son..a 40 year old god trapped in a 7 year old childs body.. yeah thats the whole setup.... the paragon of virtue dies and it so happens his perfect mother seeing fit to never tell her "beloved" one night stand of her pregnancy she leaves a letter to him to keep their son (he has two daughters who don't seem to matter much as he apparently only wanted a son...and now he has one by the pargon of his one night mistress). Could not get past the perfection of both other woman and the perfect kid.. the book made the cheated upon spouse seem a shrew...i mean what owman would not welcome a child from a woman who slept with her cheating husabnd at her kitchen table every night. I agree the child is innocent however once he arrived the stupid anti hero only saw his son...his daughters and wife would just have to put up with him since it was HIS dream child. Now ther paragon apparently only thought he was separated...uh paragon..if hes still married your a slut to sleep with him...bible thumping aside. she assumed he was sepearetd not because he said so , but because he was cute and lived apart from his family and mistakenly started something with her and they both sinned...but in this story the only sin is the vile shrew who wont forgive him and take a child in. Pissed at reading it and reminded me of why i seldom read christian fiction...they never react the way real people do..no one would ever react like any of the characters in this book. The husband is so selfish and driven by a male heir that he is unlikable and pretty much thinks since he hasnt cheated again she should just forget it... he cares not what the child does to his other children..after all they are just worthless girls...sadly the only person i liked was the shrew...she at least acted like most humans...until she was shamed by her feelings. No i do not ever blame a child, but I cannot ever imagine watching my husband love a child that represented the worst of our marriage nor face the humiliation that would come in his showing up in our lives. I would have taken my duaghters and left him with his beloved son, even at the end he only saw his sons return as his life complete, her "forgiveness": was a means to the ends. disappointed and irritated, much prefer a non christian book as they tend to have "less perfect" real life endings.

What do You think about Oceans Apart (2004)?

I gave this book five out of five stars, because it is a really good book. It also is really easy to read, but I recommend it to all girls, teenagers and adults.I liked this book, because it has a very good theme behind it, and it was really easy to read, like all of Karen Kingsbury's books. This book is about Conner and his wife Michael, and how they have to get through their struggles, while eight year old Conner has to live with out his dead mom. All Conner wants is a dad, and his dog, but allot of forgiveness is needed. I like how this book changes point of views every chapter, so you know all of the main characters feelings throughout the whole book. I enjoy how this book references prayer, God and bible phrases, because it helps me with my own personal faith. I also like how all of Karen's books are inspirational, and how they quickly change you feelings from happy to sad all of the time. I hope you to read this great and inspiring book.
—Emily Brunswick

This book is really amazing. It makes you think more on the right and wrong decisions and it makes you think in faith and if your being loyal to a certain person. It could be a friend,a boyfriend or even a husband if you're married. In this book Conner Evans, a pilot, makes a poor decision that leads to a major concequence. He was a married man with children when he breaks the greatest promise he ever made. He had an affair with a flight attendant named, Kiahna Siefert. He never saw her again. But eight years later he receives a call related to her. Unfortunately she died when the plane she was on crashes in the pacific ocean. And she has left behind a seven year old boy named Max. Max is the son of Conner Evans. Her will clearly states that if she dies she would like Max to meet Conner Evans, though Max would go thinking he is a very special friend of his mom. She would like Max to stay with him and his family for two weeks, then they would have to decide if they want to adopt him because Mr.Evans is not named as his father in his birth certificate or if they want him to go to another family. Now Conner Evans has to make a decision if to keep his boy or to let him go in order to save his family from destruction. This book has to do a lot with religion the characters are Christians.
—Amainary

I stumbled upon this book in our garage, read the summary, and knew that this was going to be my next read. And I really enjoyed it. Karen Kingsbury did a great job putting together a very realistic life story filled with love, forgiveness, and second chances. I felt like this book had a realistic plot; a pilot has an affair with a woman while he is overseas, delayed one stormy night. Though Connor knew it wouldn't ever "happen to him," and he would stay true to one of the most important promises he had ever made - the promise at the altar - it still did. And that's so true, because we all think that it won't ever happen to us. But in reality, it can happen to us as much as the next person.The story started out a bit slow, but it wasn't dull or boring, so I never felt like I wanted to put the book down. The flow was kept, with good transitions throughout. I really liked that the story was in third person, and I loved that it switched between four people; Connor, Michele, Max, Kiahna, and Ramey. We were able to see their lives, and feel their feelings, even though it was still in third person. I liked that a lot. It gave us the opportunity to switch between the characters smoothly, and it kept the story flowing rather than switching from first person to first person. Throughout the story I felt interested, intrigued, suspicious, curious, sad, happy, and joyful. I felt love, the genuine kind, and I saw forgiveness. At the ending, my heart was touched. A few tears escaped. I loved the itty bitty tidbits throughout the story that added on; I loved the butterflies especially. I liked the friendship Max and Buddy have. I love Max and Kiahna's song. And most of all, I loved the part that God played throughout the lives of Connor, Michele, Kiahna, Max, and even Connor's father, another beautiful story. Love happens when people forgive.
—Ana

Write Review

(Review will shown on site after approval)

Read books by author Karen Kingsbury

Read books in category Fiction