Amy Shearn has a knack for description. As I read How Far is the Ocean from Here, I could feel the heat coming off the desert pavement and could easily visualize the quirky cast. However, as much as I wanted to embrace the characters, I couldn’t find any reason to particularly like them. Susannah’s choices seemed selfish, and I never really found it in me to root for her. Despite my neutral opinion of the characters, the faster pace of the latter half of the book compelled me to continue reading.

Even though Shearn's way with words is engaging, I never felt the emotional connection to the characters that I crave in books. Therefore, I can only give the novel 3 stars.

Madapple provided an interesting read. I haven’t read anything else quite like it so the uniqueness of it kept me going. I looked forward to the trial sequences which proved to be the most entertaining and enlightening portions of the book. The trial sequences kept me reading though the other chapters just to get to them. However, I frequently felt bogged down with all the plant descriptions, and found I skimmed them. I also didn’t connect with the characters until the second half of the book. Despite these issues, I’d recommend it as a unique and thought-provoking read.