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. 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. In the Wake of the Boatman is a brilliant drama, stirringly and sensitively told, about the elusiveness of identity. Another important novel from one of America's most praised and accomplished novelists, it's a masterpiece that won't soon be forgotten.
"In the Wake of the Boatman - the title refers to Carl, the backyard boatman, who builds his own craft that sink upon launch - is the kind of book I did not expect to like. But I found it totally absorbing, incredibly realistic, and emotionally hard-hitting. I read it more than six weeks ago, and I'm still thinking about it. When the publisher offered me a review copy, my initial reaction was to t
Reading Matters blog (London, England)
"As drawn by author Jonathon Scott Fuqua, the main character of Putt transcends antiquated notions of the American man. He's a hometown hero, complete with the financial security of a military job and a secret that could sink him just as easily as one of his father's boats. The more he discovers who he is, however, the more he can let go of his father's impossible standards. Will he succeed in the
