{"product_id":"by-the-iowa-sea-a-memoir-9781451636062","title":"By the Iowa Sea: A Memoir","description":"\u003cb\u003eThis vivid memoir about the heartbreaks and ecstasies of marriage, fatherhood, and small-town Midwestern life is \"so raw and true you'll gasp\" (\u003ci\u003eO, The Oprah Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eHeralding 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.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAfter 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eExquisitely observed and lyrically recounted, this is a compelling and often humorous account of an ordinary man's struggle to live an extraordinary life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBlair, Joe:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cb\u003eJoe Blair \u003c\/b\u003eis a pipefitter who lives in Coralville, Iowa, with his wife and four children. His essays have appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Christian Science Monitor\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Iowa Review\u003c\/i\u003e.","brand":"Scribner Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50466270937362,"sku":"9781451636062","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_2573d66e-9ed9-465b-8cb4-b4ac0253a87e.jpg?v=1730116918","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/by-the-iowa-sea-a-memoir-9781451636062","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}