The House on Oyster Creek

When I selected this book to read, I thought it was going to be a light, summer read along the lines of Debbie Macomber -- fun, enjoyable, predictable and easy. The product description says this is a "romance" and that's what I assumed. Boy, was I wrong (and I think the Publishers Weekly review did potential readers a disservice). Anyone who passes on this thinking is a romance or chick-lit and, therefore, inconsequential will be missing out on something wonderful. Oyster Creek is a fictional setting located in the very real town of Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Our main character, Charlotte Tradescome, is married to a man twenty years her senior and they are the parents of a three-year-old daughter, Fiona. When Charlotte's father-in-law dies, her husband inherits the family summer house and Charlotte grabs the opportunity to move from Manhattan and try to find the joy and happiness that has been missing from her life. Her husband is a very reluctant party to the entire effort, but her daughter thrives in the new environment. Conflict between the locals and the newcomers abounds but Charlotte is not your typical New York refugee and actually wants to become part of the fabric of the community. When they sell part of their land to a man who thinks bigger is better and that money should be flaunted, she is just as offended as the families that have lived on the Cape for generations. I really can't express what a delight this novel is and how much I would encourage you to give this a try. The writing is beautiful and the setting outstanding. Each character is slowly exposed to the reader over the course of the novel - much like an onion being pealed one layer at a time. The outer shell of each person is taken away and the reader is witness to what the character is really like and what has happened in his/her life for them to develop into the person they are. Insightful and gorgeous. There is also a heavy emphasis on what life is like on Cape Cod for the locals and how difficult it is to make a living. Oyster farming provides much of the financial support to the local families and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about this since I had no idea it even existed. The author's sister is an oyster farmer so everything in the book related to this subject has the ring of that truth. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys Anna Quindlen, Anne Tyler, or Elizabeth Berg (just to name a few). If you really are only looking for light and fluffy, you might want to look somewhere else since it grapples with emotional issues that aren't necessarily all neat and tidy. Wonderful!!!

This is a terrific story, to be read slowly and savored like a glass of fine wine. It is rare these days you find a read so completely satisfying in all ways. The tempo is slow and easy, but not dragging, the characters are so real they leap off the page and the story line is poignant and believable with no suspension of disbelief required--a rare quality in any book. I have read so many books that are close to--but not quite as good as--this one, and I hated to see it end. To tell the truth, I hope there will be a sequel. A love story with such depth and longing, I was drawn right into it. When a woman married to a man twenty-years her senior finds herself attracted to a local fisherman, she is terrified of her feelings, yet drawn relentlessly to the magic of what amounts to her first real taste of true love. Their unspoken regard is loud in the silence, and yet even her four-year-old daughter senses it. As perhaps does her husband, though he chooses to ignore what he believes to be an simple infatuation. Charlotte is not a woman to take her vows lightly, and does not pursue an affair, though in the beginning her seemingly innocent meetings with Daryl are contrived and feel almost illicit. There are many facets to the tale, and this author, Heidi Jon Schmidt, weaves it with a magical pen. Her characterizations are excellent. I see the curmudgeon older husband, Henry in his many changing moods, the sometimes brilliant and sometimes uncertain Charlotte emerging from her self-imposed shell, and Daryl, the recovering drug addict struggling with his dreams and their opposition to stark reality. I will leave it to you to find out what happens next. Highly Recommended!

I was going to give this only four stars because despite a great start and excellent character development, the plot kind of drags a bit in the middle--just a tad--but then the ending is so true! Read to the scene in the Boston bistro bar, at least! That said, it is a very realistic book in so many ways--I had a very similar experience myself and can attest to this, and my husband's family were washashores in Harwich on the Upper Cape. His brother sank into the working class and that world is quite accurately depicted, as well. The only quibble I would have is that I am the wife of an Ivy League-educated academic, who is the son of same, and the scene at the dinner party with the famous professors was far more arch than accurate. The nasty neighbors, who also strain credulity, are found to be justified in their ways--you understand why they are the way they are--as you do with the main characters so well. A great read, and you will want to discuss it with your friends!

When I started The House on Oyster Creek, I had trouble putting it down. It's about a woman who marries an older, stuck in his ways man, has a child even though it doesn't interest her husband, and when he inherits a house on the Cape, she decides to move them there full time. When she sells off a piece of the property without a second thought, the conflict begins. On the whole,the author, Heidi Jon Schmidt, has a beautiful writing style, she says things in the way I only wish I could. It strikes you as subtle, but then startles you because it's so perfectly said. I also really enjoyed the way she wrote about Cape Cod. For someone who's not familiar with it, it will paint a vivid picture, and for someone who knows it well, it will bring them in for a visit. As for the story, it dwindled in the last hundred pages for a bit, then caught my attention again. Personally the ending disappointed me, but that's creative license and the author's choice, and I respect that. This novel was more of a drama with a small dose of romance, but it's a good read regardless.

This is a beautifully written book about a love triangle of sorts. Charlotte and her husband Henry, 20 years her senior with lots of baggage, move with their 4 yr. old daughter to Henry's childhood home on Cape Cod, which they have inherited. The move from Manhattan to this village, where Charlotte is a "washashore" is one aspect of the story. There is definitely and "us and them" attitude on the Cape and Charlotte doesn't belong. She becomes friends with an oyster farmer who has his oyster beds in the tide flats in front of their home. I learned a tremendous amount about oyster farming, which I didn't even know existed. (The author's sister is a shellfish farmer so she knows of what she writes.) The story goes on to encompass the conflict between the farmers and the environmentalists and the rich owner of the McMansion next door to Charlotte, who wants the oyster farms gone. Then there is the undeniable attraction between Charlotte and Darryl, the farmer who is her own age and has plenty of baggage of his own. The triangle of sorts, is dealt with with a mature and realistic grace. We root for it to turn out one way, then another, and back again. All the story lines of the book are so well-written that I didn't want it to end. I'm a sucker for beautiful prose and here's a great example: "The old town, the real town, was disappearing, little by little, day by day. The men gathered at the SixMart counter seemed to know they were becoming picturesque..." I highly recommend this book.