By the Iowa Sea
A Memoir
-
- $16.99
-
- $16.99
Publisher Description
This vivid memoir about the heartbreaks and ecstasies of marriage, fatherhood, and small-town Midwestern life is “so raw and true you’ll gasp” (O, The Oprah Magazine).
Heralding the arrival of an original American voice, By the Iowa Sea is a wrenching, unsentimental account of the heartbreaks and ecstasies of marriage, fatherhood, and small-town Midwestern life.
After his first cross-country motorcycle trip, Joe Blair believed he had discovered his calling: he would travel; he would never cave in to convention; he would never settle down. Fifteen years later, he finds himself living in Iowa, working as an air-conditioning repairman and spending his free time cleaning gutters, taxiing his children, and contemplating marital infidelity. When the Iowa River floods, transforming the familiar streets of his small town into a terrible and beautiful sea, Joe begins to question the path that led him to this place.
Exquisitely observed and lyrically recounted, this is a compelling and often humorous account of an ordinary man’s struggle to live an extraordinary life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Blair, a pipe fitter and freelance writer living in Iowa, writes that he once prayed to God at age 10 to send him his challenge, but never did he think there would be so many of them, with a faltering marriage and four children, one of them autistic. Years earlier, ever the dreamer and adventurer, the then 20-something author, with his newlywed bride, Deb, on the back of his motorcycle, took a page from his favorite film, Easy Rider, and set out to explore the country. The adventures of the trip remain the high point of Blair's often frustrating life, because nothing goes the way he dreams, and often his grandest schemes and plans derail horribly. All of the highs and lows of early marriage, the major joys and miscues of youth and commitment, give way to the stresses and responsibilities of remaining a viable family, which Blair depicts in a lyrical, vivid voice. Eventually, however, flirtations and interludes with other lovers undermine the stability of the couple's relationship, pressured by parenting and a bland marital routine. However, Blair's thoughtful memoir displays the strength and resilience of committed lovers in a tumultuous relationship.
