{"product_id":"9781451636079","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\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\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.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\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.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eExquisitely observed and lyrically recounted, this is a compelling and often humorous account of an ordinary man’s struggle to live an extraordinary life.","brand":"Scribner","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47143210451184,"sku":"9781451636079","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781451636079_p0.jpg?v=1763839995","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781451636079","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}