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There are currently 26 member reviews
for The Starboard Sea
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Laurie H. (Stuart, FL)
The Ocean
What I love most about the ocean is that it can be both powerful and gentle, two sides of a coin. The same can be said about Amber Dermont's novel. Beautifully written with powerful and gentle characters, it is a great read.
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Barbara O. (Maryland Heights, MO)
Starboard Sea
A modern day "Catcher in the Rye", the story of a young man's journey to make sense of his life after a tragic incident. Jason Prosper finds others like himself in a new school his senior year. Their stories and Jason's innate decency lead the reader through a tale of teenage angst, tragedy and life in a prep school with a reputation for taking in kids kicked out of other private schools. A good read made even better for anyone with a love of sailing.
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Grace W. (Corona del Mar, CA)
Sailing through the coming of age
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.
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Corinne S. (Paoli, PA)
Th Starboard Sea
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.
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Rosanne W. (St Pete Beach, FL)
The 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.
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Andrienne G. (Azusa, CA)
Compelling coming-of-age tale set in the 80s
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.
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Lucia S. (La Jolla, CA)
Not quite
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.
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