Literary Fiction | Book Chatter

The Starboard Sea
By Amber Dermont
(St. Martin’s Press, Hardcover, 9780312642808, February 2012, 320pp.)

The Short of It:

Deeply introspective and hard to put down. The Starboard Sea has something for everyone.

The Rest of It:

After a losing his best friend to suicide, Jason Prosper leaves the world of Kensington Prep, to attend Bellingham Academy, a rich, private school reserved for those who have had less luck elsewhere. His sailing ability allows him the mix and mingle with the “in” crowd but these students are all broken in some way and as he grieves for the loss of his friend, he meets and falls in love with Adrian, who is different from any girl he has ever met. His love for Adrian and who she reminds him of, is what forces him to deal with a previous indiscretion. An indiscretion that has held him captive since his days at Kensington.

What a fabulous book. This book surprised me. Mostly because I love books that feature a prep school setting, but not many can compare to A Separate Peace by John Knowles which happens to be one of my favorite books. The Starboard Sea has a little bit of everything…interesting characters, heavy themes and a main protagonist who is tortured by something he’s done. Very similar to A Separate Peace in that regard and probably why it appealed to me. What also impressed me, is that these students are much more complex than your average prep school students and not nearly as predictable. The author does a stellar job of revealing them slowly, layer by layer. Just when you think you know them, you realize that there is so much more to know.

The Starboard Sea is a book that reads easy, yet gives you plenty to think about. The story itself might appeal to younger readers, but I should note that there is casual drug use along with drinking and sexual references. Keep this in mind if you are thinking about giving this to a teen in your home.

Source: Sent to me by the publisher via Net Galley.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

The Elephant Vanishes (stories)
By Haruki Murakami
(Vintage, Paperback, 9780679750536, June 1994, 336pp.)

The Short of It:

Endlessly amusing.

The Rest of It:

I think this is the third short story collection that I’ve read by Murakami and it might be one of his tamest. These stories are a bit longer than the ones I’ve read in the past. Some of them almost had a novella feel to them, but what they all share is that these are normal folks doing or experiencing very strange things.

In one story, a women goes about her life without sleeping and she is perfectly fine with it. In another, TV People come and go delivering large TV screens to a man’s home and office, without anyone noticing them except him. My favorite one had to do with a man who has decided to mow his last lawn. I should also mention that one of the stories in this collection was the basis for The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, one of his more popular novels.

This is a great collection to read if you want to escape from the day-to-day. I read it very slowly, right before bed over the course of several months and it never failed to lull me into a deep sense of relaxation. Something about Murakami’s writing leaves me utterly calm and at peace with the world. He has a way of taking “normal” and twisting it just enough to make it interesting. Some of his stuff can be overly sexual in nature but this collection was not. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Chatting with friends about books and life…