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The Oceans and the Stars is a rousing blend of war novel, love story, and moral compass—and it may be one of Mark Helprin’s most cinematic books yet. Honestly? This should be a movie.
Stephen Rensselaer is a Navy captain near the end of a stellar career: disciplined, principled, and stubbornly unwilling to play political games. When he bruises the president’s ego, he’s reassigned to command the Athena, a small, supposedly doomed patrol ship meant to embarrass him. Instead of resigning, Rensselaer does what he always does—he serves.
While overseeing the ship’s fitting out in New Orleans, he falls into a last-chance romance with Katy Farrar, a brilliant and formidable lawyer who becomes his anchor and north star. What follows is a pulse-pounding sequence of missions, battles, mutiny, and court-martial drama, all tied together by Helprin’s spectacular writing. His metaphors sing, his similes soar, and his command of the sea is vivid and convincing.
Yes, Helprin can be verbose, but here it works. War, love, duty, and conscience crash together like waves. I love how educational it was, too. This is a novel about honor—and it earns every one of its stars.
** Thanks to NetGalley and Overlook Press for a comp of this gorgeous novel. The opinions expressed are my own.