Ship of Fools

'Ship of Fools' is the kind of novel that makes the whole thing seem easy. It's the kind of novel that makes you wonder how and why so many people have gotten it wrong. Enough with plot buildup, plot developement, plot twists! Katherine Anne Porter knows the truth about plots and it's this: you don't really need them. All you need are a handful of meticulously human characters interacting with each other. Each character seems molded by hand, and each is relatable, lovable, and hatable in their own way, much like the people in our own lives. I really cannot say enough how much I love this book. When you're done with it, check out KAP's short story collection 'Pale Horse, Pale Rider.' She is truly one of our great twentieth century writers, and should be taught in school right next to Hemingway and Fitzgerald, or preferably on top of them.

I got into SHIP OF FOOLS back in the day when I was a Deadhead and followed the band around from stadium to stadium. "Ship of Fools" as many know is one of their loveliest ballads and would never fail but put me in a trance. At one bookstore in the Bay Area I spotted lyricist Robert Hunter and I gathered together all my courage to approach him and to tell him how much his lyrics had meant to me and my kind. Somewhat to my surprise he asked me to name one of his songs that I loved. "Ship of Fools," I said. In the years since I have sometimes wondered why I didn't ask about "Row Jimmy" since that is even more puzzling. But anyway Hunter couldn't have been more receptive and even charming. I asked him where he found the inspiration to write "Ship of Fools" and he mentioned the Renaissance or medieval tradition of the ship of fools journeying out into the main without a solid plan and how it's a metaphor for the religious voyage of life. He mentioned other works based on this legend including Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark" and finally, Katherine Anne Porter's novel SHIP OF FOOLS, which he said he had read in the 1960s, close to when it came out originally. SHIP OF FOOLS tells the story of a group of German nationals on a boat from Bremen to the USA, and it is apparently based on a real life voyage. Jews by the boatload were attempting to escape from an atrocious abd repressive regime, and what they did not realize is that the shipboard lifestyle was a microcosm for the pains of the rest of the world. We meet dozens of characters, some more skillfully developed than others, including a young American couple through whose eyes we get to see the whole tragedy unfolding. There is a tragic romance between a middle-aged countess and the ship's doctor, and a sense of foreboding about the whole voyage. The champagne and the crepe paper and the sparklers are out over the dark Atlantic, but we sense the lights going out all over the world. Porter worked over thirty years writing this, her only novel, and when it came out it was a commercial success and a Book of the Month Club selection, though in general the critics were disappointed that it did not hit the heights of the short stories that had made her name starting in the 1920s. Some have criticized this book as too slow and too portentous. To me it hits the right note over and over again. There is a movie version of this novel, directed by earnest, plodding Stanley Kramer, but I think if I saw it, it could not begin to compare to my experience of either the novel nor the song. "Now I cannot share thy laughter, ship of fools."

Less a plot-driven novel than a closely observed portrait, Porter's famous novel deftly exploits the author's ability to focus on the telling details of personality--and the result is a sometimes funny, often touching, and ultimately stinging examination of the insularity, hypocrisies, and pretensions of shipboard passengers en route from Mexico to Germany on the eve of World War II.Porter's cast of characters are primarily German, but a handful of Spanish, Mexican, Swiss, and American characters give the novel an international perspective. Whatever their individual backgrounds, the characters tend to adopt reactionary postures toward and make assumptions about their fellow travelers based on both class and nationality; consequently, they tend to regard each other in a stereotypical light--but even as they fail to understand the truths behind the stereotypes, Porter highlights their lack of comprehension in a frequently comic but extremely disconcerting manner, thus demonstrating that her characters are at sea in more ways than one.There is obviously a certain symbolism to the novel, but Porter does not belabor it, and we are free to decide if we wish to read for pure pleasure or for deeper meanings. Fortunately, there is an abundance of both. Still, this not a novel to read quickly or casually. It requires time to develop clearly in the mind, so readers are advised to approach it with ample time in which to enjoy this superior work.

I stumbled across this by novel by accident only to discover that this must be one the 10 greatest works of fiction! While a darkish portrayal of the human condition, and man's inability to escape the pettiness of mankind, this is a very clever novel that entertains while thrusting more truth your way than you may be prepared to accept.

Ship Of Fools is a bone chilling account of a world moving into the second world war. Those seeking to get inside the German frame of mind should read this book for it predicts(the book was written before the concentration camps were even discovered)the horrowing images of German hate toward the Jewish Religon. Through all the hate and "Proud German Order" Porter asks us to perform a difficult task; to find love or forever be lost on a ship of fools.