Courage

This tidy little 150-page story is interesting, at times compelling, and eerily philosophic. While reading, you think about concepts such as courage, fear, isolation and decisions you have made that took you away from people you loved or put you in harm's way. While 4th mate Driscoll is the main character, there's no hero here, only ordinary men (and some shore-bound women), but author Littell avoids all stereotypes. Just people wondering what their life is all about, especially when it might very well be too late (in the face of life-threatening danger) to change anything. No one in the story is very lovable or very unlikeable. Just people like your cousins, your uncles and maybe you. The plot is hard to follow at times, forcing the reader to flip back a page or two to see where your mind wandered off, only to find that it was the author who wandered. But that is a small complaint. The author makes you work a little to fill in all the blanks. Anyone who likes a well-crafted story will appreciate the author's skill. I estimate that about 40% - 50% of the story is NOT on board a ship, and so to call this a seafaring tale is somewhat of a stretch. But the story is very good, and its high tension and climax occur during a ferocious Atlantic storm. The characters are all interesting, and the author shows the brisk terseness of style that characterizes Ernest Hemmingway or Alan Furst. There are no extraneous words. And, at the very end, one must use one's imagination to bring a satisfying completion to the story. You'll increase your vocabulary a bit with the likes of "scabrous," "chimerical," and "fidley." It's a good 2-evening read, and you'll think about it for a long time after. When you finish the book, re-read the two little quotes from Joseph Conrad and Philip Larkin on one of the front pages, before the story begins.

This is a story about a merchant seaman. It remindes me of Richard Woodmen's seafaring book entitled "Endangered Species." It is a book about simple seamen doing their routine jobs at sea. The protagonist is not one of those super heroes who now appear in sea adventure novels. His name is Driscoll and he is a merchant marine officer who quit his seafaring life for a short period and decides to go back to sea. And on his return to the bridge of a ship, his captain receives a distress signal from a floundering ship with a small crew hanging on for their lives in a stormy Atlantic sea. Driscoll is no ,longer certain he can help in the rescue, but nevertheless he finds himself in charge of the rescue effort and finds his courage to pull it off. This book is for a reader who likes seafaring stories, but is looking for a respite from the likes of the sea stories in Clive Cussler's fantasy-like novels. This book offers a dimple, easy to read and realistic seafaring adventure.