The Oceans and the Stars

A Sea Story, A War Story, A Love Story; The Seven Battles and Mutiny of Athena, Patrol Coastal Ship 15

De: Mark Helprin

Narrado por: Traber Burns

Mark Helprin, New York Times bestselling author of Winter’s Tale and A Soldier of the Great War, returns with a fast-paced, beautifully written novel about the majesty of the sea; a life dedicated to duty, honor, and country; and the gift of falling in love.

A Navy captain near the end of a decorated career, Stephen Rensselaer is disciplined, intelligent, and determined always to do what’s right. In defending the development of a new variant of warship, he makes an enemy of the president of the United States, who assigns him to command the doomed line’s only prototype­—Athena, Patrol Coastal 15­­—with the intent to humiliate a man who should have been an admiral.

Rather than resign, Rensselaer takes the new assignment in stride, and while supervising Athena’s fitting out in New Orleans, encounters a brilliant lawyer, Katy Farrar, with whom he falls in last-chance love. Soon thereafter, he is deployed on a mission that subjects his integrity, morality, and skill to the ultimate test and which ensures that Athena will live forever in the annals of the Navy.

As in the Odyssey, Katy is the force that keeps him alive and the beacon that lights the way home through seven battles, mutiny, and court martial.

In classic literary form, an enthralling new novel that extolls the virtues of living by the laws of conscience, decency, and sacrifice, The Oceans and the Stars is nothing short of a masterpiece.

©2023 Mark Helprin. Published in 2023 by The Overlook Press, an imprint of ABRAMS, New York. All rights reserved. (P)2023 Blackstone Publishing

Great Book / Wonderful Story

What a great book-could not put it down - stop listening. I love the moral compass of Mark Helprin!

I have no words…

I have no words to describe the beauty of this at once contemporary yet classic tale of sea, war and love. Just read/listen to it and you will see/hear. Yes, there are some brutal episodes, such as cannot be avoided in a military story. However the valor, decency, and soul of the main character in particular restored my belief that such honorable and truly lovable men do exist!

Pleasant surprise

Though spending 12 years in the service, I tend to not enjoy military books. This however, was a pleasant surprise and a perfect read for the week of July the 4th. The Narrator was excellent and I will seek other book read by them.

Great story. Excellent audiobook.

Was excellent start to finish. Maybe as good as A Soldier of the Great War if not better. Loved it. Loved the audio. Will wait a few months and read it.

A great yarn

I most liked Rensselaer’s attitude about things: his courage, integrity and ability to innovate and improvise. He was the true embodiment of a leader.

A Book That You Won’t Forget

One of the best books I have
read in past 2 years .
I couldn’t wait to ger back to it!
Inspiring story on multiple levels, beautiful writing .

A story within a story within a story

It is an awesome story within a story within a story. Yes, it's a war story, a love story, and a history of the sea (Navy). As I have no knowledge to base such things on, I will say that the depictions of naval warfare feel authentic. This is the first modern war (ISIS) story I've read. I mostly stick with WWII. Very well written. If you enjoy the sea and naval combat, you will definitely enjoy this read. If you are reading for the love story, you will probably think there isn't enough love and too much sea and war. I still recommend it.

Great story.

Didn’t care for the narrator; voice too deep and not enough variety. But another Helprin great.

An engaging, important story

I read A Winter's Tale a couple decades ago. A Soldier of the Great War is one of, if not my favorite book of all time. But when it comes to audiobooks, my taste is a little less, um, refined. Not to name names, but for the past couple years I've been enjoying series whose main characters rhyme with "Trippy" and "Moe". Those are also wonderful and entertaining stories with excellent performances, but one cannot compare them to this book, in which every word seems to have been chosen specifically for its contribution to the narrative and every character, event, and story has been meticulously, but seemingly effortlessly, developed.

It's Bach compared to Elvis or pizza and filet mignon.

I wasn't sure about the performance at first, either. But after understanding who Rensselear is, I came to appreciate how the narrator's sparse delivery suits the story perfectly.

This is one of my favorite performances of the last several years. Mr. Helprin's politics, to be crass, or sensibilities and morals, to be more gentille about it, are on full display here, but/and they added to my engagement with the story, which is what I/we want/need in our current climate.

Thank you to the creators for making such and important reminder of the value of exceptional storytelling.

Outstanding, well written, thoughtful, well researched, compelling.

Couldn’t put it down. An interesting mix of story lines. Well read, lots of interesting characters.