Review: In the Wake of the Boatman ~ by Jonathon Scott Fuqua

 

A review by Shellie for: In the Wake of the Boatman ~ by Jonathon Scott Fuqua

Set around the Vietnam war, this is a dark and heart wrenching story of identity with an atypical hero as the main character.

About: This is a story about a boy who awkwardly grows into a damaged man, in part due to his experiences of emotional abuse at the hands of his father. Putnam, the main character, endures extreme swings in his father’s attentions; in his attempts to please his difficult father, “Put” does a number of things which cause a descent into self doubt and confusion, furthering his personal misunderstandings about himself.

As he becomes a young man and in an attempt to bury his feelings, he takes steps into a lifestyle where he believes his proclivities will be repressed or changed. Choosing the military and officer training, he throws  himself into his studies and intense physical training. Yet that does not stop the temptations he is trying to mask. He takes this attempt at repression one step further, and in his depressive state volunteers for a tour to Vietnam – a mission of apparent suicide. The story has been set and this is the beginning of a number of heroic actions.

Thoughts:  In this heartbreaking yet redemptive literary novel, there is an underlying question as to whether a person who is “confused” or who has a sexual identity which is not entirely accepted  socially is less capable of defending his or her country. As a reader I could feel deeply for what was going on internally and externally for Putnam, as he tries to reconcile who he is and what social expectations are for him as a soldier and a man. Even more, the book asks - what is it that actually defines a person as a hero?  This novel is GLBTQ, and serves to show that even individuals who do not fit into our “ideal” of what a hero is, can be committed to their country and can be just as heroic as those who do. I give this powerful and emotional novel 4 stars.

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Purchasing links for Amazon are US/UK/Canada, The Book Depository Euro/AUD.

For further information on this book please see Layers of Thoughts preview for the book.

This book will be included in a variety of challenges – GLBT 2010, Feel My Sorrow, War Through the Generations – Vietnam, New Authors Challenge.

Thanks for reading!

Preview: In the Wake of the Boatman ~ by Jonathon Scott Fuqua

   

In the Wake of the Boatman ~ by Jonathon Scott Fuqua

Publisher’s Blurb:  Puttnam Douglas Steward isn’t having an identity crisis—he is one. To his father Carl, he’s a disappointment, and has been since the day he came home from the hospital.

To his mother, he’s “Mama’s Boy,” and will forever be nothing less and nothing more.

The Army thinks he’s a hero, having single-handedly saved his troops from an ambush when they stumble upon a major, unknown supply line in Vietnam, then exposing a major Soviet espionage ring in the U.S.

His brother-in-law Survival, a career military man, thinks Putt’s weak—a mere cadet—no matter how high he rises in the Army’s ranks or how much national celebrityhood he achieves.

Only Milton, Putt’s college friend and environmental activist, and Putt’s sister Mary see that something is deeply confused about Puttnam Steward. Yet neither of them knows that the only time Putt ever truly feels happy is when he wears a woman’s clothes and becomes, for a brief, fleeting moment, someone else. And they don’t know how much that disgusts him.

Unable to escape the expectations of the people around him, Putt’s never quite reached a true understanding of himself. After he pokes a boy’s eye out with a rock at the age of six, he’s briefly proud for having done what his father had always taught him—stand up for himself—but his father responds with unalloyed hate. At 18, Putt proudly escapes Norfolk to study at the University of Virginia, but a drunken night at an off-campus bar forces him to question his own sexuality for the first time.

As he drowns in expectations and disappointments, the matter of who he is—who he truly is—eludes him. Except for one thing: He’s a freak. He has to be. It’s the only answer that makes sense.

And through it all, there’s his relationship with father Carl, the hobbyist boatman whose creations always find their way to the bottom of the river. A man who’s never been close with Putt, Carl feels nothing but disappointment in his son—disappointment he never feels or expresses about his daughter. Maybe it’s because Carl’s growing old and weak. Maybe it’s due to his inability to build a boat, to make his knee work, or to hug his son. Whatever the reason, Carl is certain that their dreadful disconnect must be Putt’s fault alone.

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About the Author:   Jonathon Scott Fuqua has written the highly praised and Alex Award-winning novel, The Reappearance of Sam Webber, as well as the critically acclaimed and recently published book, Gone and Back Again. 

Fuqua has received two Maryland State Arts Council Awards for fiction writing, and is the writer-in-residence at the Carver Center for the Arts. Both his writings and paintings have appeared in newspapers, magazines, books, on book covers, posters, limited edition prints, postcards, and stationery. A teacher of fiction writing, literature, and art, he lives in Baltimore with his wife and daughter. Bancroft Press author info.

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Purchasing links US/UK/Canada, The Book Depository Euro/AUD; 320 pages; Bancroft Press; 1st edition (November 1, 2008)

This book was sent for review from Bancroft Press. Thanks Harrison. Review coming soon!

Thanks for reading Layers of Thought.