What do readers think of The Starboard Sea by Amber Dermont? Write your own review.

Amber Dermont's novel is beautifully written and probably one edit shy of a 5 rating. The numerous characters came alive throughout the story. Many of the passages I committed to memory. You don't have to be a 17 year old boy to appreciate this extremely well-crafted story.

Bellingham Academy awaits Jason Kilian Prosper, a senior who experiences shame about his past at Kensington Prep, which gets him banished from the school, sexual confusion during a relationship with his best friend, Cal, and guilt about Cal’s suicide, hazing at a new boarding school, sailing competitions, love of Aidan, death, mystery, loyalty, betrayal, and the ability to forgive himself. Amber Dermont gives us a story that brings to mind The History Boys by Alan Bennett, or The Secret History by Donna Tartt. We are once again thrust into the life of a wealthy, exclusive, good ole boy private boarding school. Jason must navigate the dangerous waters of this new competition carefully even though he has a raw and damaged spirit. You will share his journey with the salty spray of sadness and depression and the warmth of sunny joy and love until Jason is able to find the right, true, starboard sea.

Deeply flawed young people at a second rate prep school. The narrators "girlfriend" was just plain weird. Read the last few pages several times as the ending was so equivocal.

I don't know much about the 80s (I identify more with the 90s), so I can't comment on how accurate the way kids thought and felt. All I know is that I got this book yesterday and finished it yesterday. It was like Dead Poets Society without the idealism. I don't like boats or preppy kids, but somehow there was something intriguing about the story that made me want to keep reading. Of course, halfway through, I can figure out what the mystery was all about, but there were some startling surprises sprinkled throughout. There were also too many characters--more than I care to know about that made it a bit of a chore to read. Some characters weren't necessary and it only served to break the momentum of the book. The author was bold with some themes and she wrote about them in such a way that made me reread a few passages every now and then just to be sure I read it right. This book could be used in a book club for sure.

If this book had skewed more to the murder mystery genre, perhaps I could have forgiven its poor character development, and been more compelled by the story. Or, if the characters had been written more deeply, perhaps I could have enjoyed it as the literary novel I was hoping it would be. As it is, it's a rather weak novel with weak characters that I just didn't care about, with a predictable and overly-dramatic "mystery" dragging it along. I'm giving it 3 stars because Dermont's prose is occasionally quite fine, so it's difficult to toss the book altogether. But on the other hand, that makes it all the more disappointing.

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.

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.

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.