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The Veins of the Ocean by Patricia Engel

Literary fiction

The Veins of the Ocean

by Patricia Engel

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Quick take

Lush and entrancing, steeped in love and sorrow, faith and myth... A novel about redemption and place and home and the bonds of family, how inescapable they are, for better and worse.

Why I love it

South Florida is a world unto itself. When I am there, I always marvel at the wildly diverse people. Miami, in particular, is full of strangers in a strange land, people trying so hard to create a sense of home so far from the homes they have long known.

As a writer, as a child of immigrants whose parents had to create a new home in the U.S., I am endlessly curious about the lives of other displaced people. I want to know those stories of the Cubans and Haitians and Colombians and Hondurans and Filipinos and so many others who find themselves in Miami and all over this country.

Patricia Engel's The Veins of the Ocean satisfies that curiosity with power and beauty. Reina Castillo is a young Colombian American woman living in Miami, living a half-life. She spends her weekends traveling from Miami to the South Glades Penitentiary where her brother Carlito is on death row. For seven years, Reina has imprisoned herself so that she might share some of her brother's suffering. As the novel unfolds, we learn about the Castillo family's troubled history and watch as Reina tries to free herself from that history, as she tries to learn how to live a full life, on her own terms.

The Veins of the Ocean is lush and entrancing, steeped in love and sorrow, faith and myth. This is a novel about redemption and place and home and the bonds of family, how inescapable they are, for better and worse. This is not only Reina's story but also that of Nesto, whom she meets after she moves to the Florida Keys seeking a fresh start. Nesto, a Cuban who left his children behind on that island, is doing everything in his power to bring his family back together. He is a man who can fix things and maybe people, and who shows Reina the power of the water all around them and the power of faith.

Patricia Engel is a gorgeous writer and I love the confidence of her prose. She knows the story she is telling, inside and out. She knows the story and its unfathomable depths and so that's how we experience reading this novel—fully, deeply, like an ocean.

Member ratings (399)

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Literary fiction
View all
Intermezzo
The Book of George
Real Americans
Dirty Diana
Wellness
Margo’s Got Money Troubles
The God of the Woods
Same As It Ever Was
Annie Bot
Bear
Mercury
True Biz
Family Happiness
The Lady Waiting
The Other Valley
Hard by a Great Forest
Good Material
The Bullet Swallower
Happy All the Time
Rental House
Alice Sadie Celine
Let Us Descend
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Shark Heart
Homeseeking
Transcendent Kingdom
Hello Beautiful
Dominicana
What's Mine and Yours
The Unsettled
Ask Again, Yes
Vladimir
Infinite Country
The Prophets
Normal People
The Verifiers
Salvage the Bones
The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
I Have Some Questions for You
Black Buck
The History of Love
Age of Vice
Paper Names
The Light Pirate
The Secret History
The Kite Runner
Memorial
The Half Moon
Happiness Falls
The Gifted School
The Death of Vivek Oji
The Knockout Queen
Little Monsters
Yerba Buena
Beautiful World, Where Are You
Free Food for Millionaires
A Burning
The Mothers
The Water Dancer
Small Country
The Sympathizer
Fleishman Is in Trouble
Lot
An American Marriage
The Animators
The Mars Room
Exit West
White Fur
Woman No. 17
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
Eat Only When You're Hungry
Rainbirds
A Ladder to the Sky
Golden Child
The Goldfinch
The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P
& Sons
The Association of Small Bombs
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All Grown Up
Marlena
Signal Fires
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Woman of Light
Marrying the Ketchups
The Shards
Blue Sisters