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There are currently 26 member reviews
for The Starboard Sea
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Kathrin C. (Corona, CA)
Writing wonderful; story less wonderful
My final sum up on this debut novel of Amber Dermont: Her ability to write extremely well is unmarred. Her very deft play with language in many of her sailing and racing descriptions -wonderful. But her portrayal of the main character, Jason Prosper, became so convoluted, forever twisting through layers of sexual ambiguity, intense grief, teen camaraderie suffused with competition, and exuberant privilege-drenched egoism, I never took any serious interest in Jason Prosper or his world. That all said, I would still be interested in a second novel by this author, hopefully in a different time, a different place, with engaging characters and definitely a more focused story.
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Jennifer F. (Saratoga, CA)
A Glimpse into Preppy Boarding School
Unfortunately, all the stereotypes are present in this unappealing novel from Amber Dermont. Expected vices and a genuine lack of empathy mark this work as just another peek into the exclusive but nasty world of exclusive boarding schools. Her characters are not sympathetic enough for the reader to care what awaits them. In general, an un-relatable novel, except for the very few readers who have inhabited this world.
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Glenda A. (Naples, FL)
The Starboard Sea
Reading The Starboard Sea I had mixed emotions. The setting is interesting, the author does have a good flow to her writing, and there is excellent info about the ocean, sailing and racing. However, many nautical terms I did not always understand. The characters recklessness and rule breaking, treatment of others, drug abuse and privileged status, I had trouble relating to. Too many problems in the plot did not have conclusions or endings for me, left me wondering what was the story's message.
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Vicki H. (Greenwood Village, CO)
Not all smooth sailing
We take to the water with debut novelist Amber Dermont in The Starboard Sea, a coming-of-age novel that treats us to both the beauty of sailing and the dark side of privilege. I never tired of Dermont’s lovely homages to the wind; her protagonist Prosper reads it like prose: “You never sail with one wind. Always with three. The true, the created, and the apparent wind; the father, son, and Holy Ghost. The true wind is the one that can’t be trusted.” Indeed, as Dermont plays out the metaphor, we watch Prosper continually trim his sails to fit his new situation: he has been kicked out of one prep school (acting out after his best friend’s suicide), and is shifted to another for his senior year of high school. A few mysteries -- one of which may be murder -- keep us turning pages.
I grew weary, however, of the stereotypes; it seems every “prep school novel” comes ready-made with a cast of profligate, spoiled, rudderless rich kids. Prosper tells us, early on, “I felt myself becoming a cliché. The boy in trouble. The wealthy father. The school in need and willing to offer refuge.” Indeed, these rich boys commit horrendous acts with no conscience. The girls are glamour queens, naked beneath fur coats. (“It’s tanuki, silly. Japanese raccoon dog. Very rare. I should probably be arrested for wearing it.”) All are dissolute heirs to fortune (“…Yazid had a killer British accent, a closet full of bespoke Savile Row suits and a well-heeled cannabis habit.”) They have “prep school nicknames” (Taze, Kriffo, Race, Cakes). When the boys go to The Head of the Charles Regatta, they first cruise through a party in the penthouse of The Charles Hotel, grab Bloody Mary’s and speak to the president of Harvard, who begs one of the boys to “ditch Princeton and come to Cambridge.” They party in houses with famous paintings and sculptures, and with girls like Fernanda and Flavia, who “looked like the results of the world’s most successful genetic experiment. Each girl had caramel skin, full lips, bright blue eyes…” and “ …went to Le Rosey in Switzerland. The school of actual kings.” But even if you live in the rarefied air of East Coast and international prep schools, you will find it difficult to believe the sardonic, snappy repartee between characters is from the lips of teens. (When a white Mercedes and a driver show up for the boys, courtesy of Kriffo’s parents, Taze complains. “Thought your dad was sending a BMW. Not this pimpmobile.” Later, when the Mercedes is swapped for a black BMW, Cakes says “Nice car. Are we doing a drive-by shooting later?”)
In this episodic novel, we sail quickly from scene to scene, experiencing vandalism, awkward attempts at sex, shady Wall Street goings-on in the stock market crash of 1987, even a murder and its cover-up. I loved Dermont’s beautiful passages of wind, weather, and celestial navigation but lamented the overdrawn characters at the prep school. (Of course the dean is corrupt. Of course the local police can be bought off.) But there is enough here that is deft and skillful that when I see her name on another novel … I’ll bite.
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Chris H. (Wauwatosa, WI)
Starboard Sea
I found this novel to be a cookie cutter story of prep school boys from rich families gone bad. The story revolves around an individual who was kicked out of the "good" prep school and now attends the prep school for "bad" and troubled kids. Decisions are made, some are mistakes, kids learn, sometimes with life changing results. I'm afraid the best thing I can say is that the book kept me interested long enough to finish.
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