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Raft
Death doesn't scare me; I'm just terrified by the prospect of not being alive.
Clark Whitaker needs a break. His kids are driving him batty, his marriage has hit a rough patch, and his job as a children's book author and illustrator is a creative nightmare. It's enough to make any self-respecting man walk headlong into traffic. Fortunately for Clark, he's about to get gobsmacked with perspective when he wakes up one morning to discover ... he's a penguin! Told in the four voices of the Whitaker family members, this funny and touching tale by award-winning screenwriter Stu Krieger follows one suburban family through an unforgettable summer as they flock together to solve the most unusual riddle of their lives.
Clark Whitaker needs a break. His kids are driving him batty, his marriage has hit a rough patch, and his job as a children's book author and illustrator is a creative nightmare. It's enough to make any self-respecting man walk headlong into traffic. Fortunately for Clark, he's about to get gobsmacked with perspective when he wakes up one morning to discover ... he's a penguin! Told in the four voices of the Whitaker family members, this funny and touching tale by award-winning screenwriter Stu Krieger follows one suburban family through an unforgettable summer as they flock together to solve the most unusual riddle of their lives.
222 pages, Hardcover
Published April 25, 2023
About the author
Stu Krieger
5 books12 followersStu Krieger's lastest novel RAFT is the tale of stressed-out children's book author Clark Whitaker whose midlife crisis take an unexpected twist: he turns into a penguin. Told in the alternating voices of Clark, his harried wife Julia, their high school senior son Charlie and sophomore daughter Katie, RAFT is a comic family adventure that the late, great David Crosby called, "fun and imaginative...just the kind of trip we all need right now."
Stu is a professor of screen and television writing in the University of California, Riverside’s Department of Theatre, Film & Digital Production and in the Creative Writing for the Performing Arts MFA Program at UCR. From 2001-2020, he also taught the Producing the Screenplay class at USC’s Peter Stark MFA Producing Program.
Krieger co-wrote the Emmy award winning mini-series A Year in the Life and was nominated for a Humanitas Prize for co-writing the Disney Channel original movie, Going to the Mat.
Additional credits include writing the animated classic The Land Before Time for producers Steven Spielberg & George Lucas and ten original movies for the Disney Channel, including Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century and its two sequels, Tru Confessions, Smart House, Phantom of the Megaplex, Gotta Kick It Up and Cow Belles.
Mr. Krieger’s TEDx Talk, “Choose Joy,” can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v02wr...
In April 2017, Stu received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Screenwriting at the opening night gala of the 2017 Riverside International Film Festival.
Listen to a full interview with Stu at findingfounders.co/episodes/stu-krieger.
Please follow him on Instagram and TikTok: @stukrieger
Stu is a professor of screen and television writing in the University of California, Riverside’s Department of Theatre, Film & Digital Production and in the Creative Writing for the Performing Arts MFA Program at UCR. From 2001-2020, he also taught the Producing the Screenplay class at USC’s Peter Stark MFA Producing Program.
Krieger co-wrote the Emmy award winning mini-series A Year in the Life and was nominated for a Humanitas Prize for co-writing the Disney Channel original movie, Going to the Mat.
Additional credits include writing the animated classic The Land Before Time for producers Steven Spielberg & George Lucas and ten original movies for the Disney Channel, including Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century and its two sequels, Tru Confessions, Smart House, Phantom of the Megaplex, Gotta Kick It Up and Cow Belles.
Mr. Krieger’s TEDx Talk, “Choose Joy,” can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v02wr...
In April 2017, Stu received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Screenwriting at the opening night gala of the 2017 Riverside International Film Festival.
Listen to a full interview with Stu at findingfounders.co/episodes/stu-krieger.
Please follow him on Instagram and TikTok: @stukrieger
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 29, 2023
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 29, 2023
Raft is so much fun. I laughed out loud so much that my husband kept turning around with a worried look on his face. I so appreciate a book where the characters are all trying to be their best, even the teenagers (which is a neat trick). This is a family I wanted to spend even more time with, and I don't say that about many books I read. Sure the premise is absurd, but that's half the fun -- I kept thinking, "how are they going to get through this?" and every time, my answer was, "wow, that really worked." Take a break from the real world and read this book. It will make you happier.
Raft is so much fun. I laughed out loud so much that my husband kept turning around with a worried look on his face. I so appreciate a book where the characters are all trying to be their best, even the teenagers (which is a neat trick). This is a family I wanted to spend even more time with, and I don't say that about many books I read. Sure the premise is absurd, but that's half the fun -- I kept thinking, "how are they going to get through this?" and every time, my answer was, "wow, that really worked." Take a break from the real world and read this book. It will make you happier.
July 22, 2023
Briefly - Certainly made me laugh 😀.
In full
Just a story of everyday family folk… Clark, dad, is having problems with his work, the kids are at an awkward age and his wife probably doesn't understand him. He is also "nearly 50" according to the journal that this book starts with but "that has nothing to do with it". Anyway - one morning he wakes up as a penguin (like I said - everyday family folk…). The journal does continues with him as a penguin. I would say how the hell did he write it but he manages a remarkable amount with a beak and flippers!
We also hear from the other members of the family. Julia is the wife and generally she deals with things. Katie is the daughter and has other priorities such as school and life and stuff but she does love her dad really. His son is Charlie and his priorities are drama and girls - indeed there is a line somewhere about how long has it been since Charlie made any decision without the help of one portion of his anatomy - he is very much a teenage adolescent! Nonnie is a background character too and lives with them.
Comedy is such a difficult genre I think. I've read a fair number over the years and some have simply left me cold. This one - utterly daft though it is - kept me fairly well entertained. Also, being in mind that this is incredible, I found the characters mostly credible. Clark was pretty good as was Julia his wife. Charlie does get going immediately but he was fine. Mostly Katie, his daughter, was ok too. Overall the story worked quite well too - it is a different take on a mid life crisis maybe. For a family that wasn't communicating much this changed things!
The problem is always sustaining the humour. Too much and it loses it and too little means it isn't really comedy. Again I thought this struck quite a reasonable balance between story and comedy. Set in the USA as this is I guess some humour didn't work quite so well for me (in the UK). However much of it did. I guess I didn't laugh out loud but I did grin quite a lot. All in all this entertained me and my thanks to the author for that.
Note - I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair review
In full
Just a story of everyday family folk… Clark, dad, is having problems with his work, the kids are at an awkward age and his wife probably doesn't understand him. He is also "nearly 50" according to the journal that this book starts with but "that has nothing to do with it". Anyway - one morning he wakes up as a penguin (like I said - everyday family folk…). The journal does continues with him as a penguin. I would say how the hell did he write it but he manages a remarkable amount with a beak and flippers!
We also hear from the other members of the family. Julia is the wife and generally she deals with things. Katie is the daughter and has other priorities such as school and life and stuff but she does love her dad really. His son is Charlie and his priorities are drama and girls - indeed there is a line somewhere about how long has it been since Charlie made any decision without the help of one portion of his anatomy - he is very much a teenage adolescent! Nonnie is a background character too and lives with them.
Comedy is such a difficult genre I think. I've read a fair number over the years and some have simply left me cold. This one - utterly daft though it is - kept me fairly well entertained. Also, being in mind that this is incredible, I found the characters mostly credible. Clark was pretty good as was Julia his wife. Charlie does get going immediately but he was fine. Mostly Katie, his daughter, was ok too. Overall the story worked quite well too - it is a different take on a mid life crisis maybe. For a family that wasn't communicating much this changed things!
The problem is always sustaining the humour. Too much and it loses it and too little means it isn't really comedy. Again I thought this struck quite a reasonable balance between story and comedy. Set in the USA as this is I guess some humour didn't work quite so well for me (in the UK). However much of it did. I guess I didn't laugh out loud but I did grin quite a lot. All in all this entertained me and my thanks to the author for that.
Note - I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair review
July 18, 2023
I don’t know if I have ever encountered the complete opposite of an existing literary work . Until now.
The Raft is the complete opposite of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis.
I’m not sure if it conceived as such, inspired by it, or merely a random thing, but there it is.
Mind you, it’s a very sunny, uniquely American in its relentless upbeatness revision. Now let’s look in detail:
1. Instead of a clerk turning into something that disgusts people, you have a children’s book author who turns into something everyone adores—a penguin.
2. Instead of having no reason for the transformation making it unsettling in its vagueness, here the reason presumably is stress.
3. Instead of the main character’s family abhorring the transformation, here they end up really going for it.
4. Instead of a bleak realistic narrative, this one turns cuter and cuter by page, eventually veering into something bordering fantasy complete with a quaint small town populated exclusively by gorgeous awesome people.
5. Instead of a realistically bleak ending, here it’s a doozy of a happy, shmaltzy one.
6. Instead of a poignant novella, you got a rambling novel-size adventure.
Which is why one is a literary classic and one is a silly book. A silly book that had a potential for more, but chose to (very deliberately, it seems) be as silly as possible.
Raft is entertaining, sure, but that’s about it. It’s cute, too cute, aggressively cute as the story progresses. So your reading enjoyment will directly depend on how much that works for you.
Overall, a light quick read. Thanks Netgalley.
The Raft is the complete opposite of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis.
I’m not sure if it conceived as such, inspired by it, or merely a random thing, but there it is.
Mind you, it’s a very sunny, uniquely American in its relentless upbeatness revision. Now let’s look in detail:
1. Instead of a clerk turning into something that disgusts people, you have a children’s book author who turns into something everyone adores—a penguin.
2. Instead of having no reason for the transformation making it unsettling in its vagueness, here the reason presumably is stress.
3. Instead of the main character’s family abhorring the transformation, here they end up really going for it.
4. Instead of a bleak realistic narrative, this one turns cuter and cuter by page, eventually veering into something bordering fantasy complete with a quaint small town populated exclusively by gorgeous awesome people.
5. Instead of a realistically bleak ending, here it’s a doozy of a happy, shmaltzy one.
6. Instead of a poignant novella, you got a rambling novel-size adventure.
Which is why one is a literary classic and one is a silly book. A silly book that had a potential for more, but chose to (very deliberately, it seems) be as silly as possible.
Raft is entertaining, sure, but that’s about it. It’s cute, too cute, aggressively cute as the story progresses. So your reading enjoyment will directly depend on how much that works for you.
Overall, a light quick read. Thanks Netgalley.
August 17, 2023
*4.5 stars*
Absurd, funny and highly entertaining…
Stress can kill you. Or that’s what they say. What happens if you aren’t quite that far gone, but instead, you spontaneously morph from a husband, father, writer, worrier into a… penguin. That’s right, Clark, in an instant, becomes a carefree, cute as a button animal with the only bill he has to worry about now is the one on his face that he wants to stuff with all the fish…
Hilarious, poignant, this was a story of any family really. Teenage angst, career problems, and overdue payments – they’re all here. Even though they are the catalyst of many of the situations (and the major crisis) that is not what I dwelled on (though I highly enjoyed the funny bits). Instead, I read of a family coming together, foibles and all, working towards the health and safety of the man who was their rock. And perhaps needed a gentle reminder of how much he was and meant to them…
I didn’t think too hard about some of the shenanigans or the story would have fallen apart in a waterfall of disbelief. Instead, I enjoyed the humour, the heart and the relatability of mundane things you still have to deal with even if your dad/husband is now a penguin… The ending was abrupt, I wanted to have all the bows tied up nicely, but otherwise a wonderful, breezy read.
*I happily reviewed this book
**Thank you to Pipevine Press & NetGalley
Absurd, funny and highly entertaining…
Stress can kill you. Or that’s what they say. What happens if you aren’t quite that far gone, but instead, you spontaneously morph from a husband, father, writer, worrier into a… penguin. That’s right, Clark, in an instant, becomes a carefree, cute as a button animal with the only bill he has to worry about now is the one on his face that he wants to stuff with all the fish…
Hilarious, poignant, this was a story of any family really. Teenage angst, career problems, and overdue payments – they’re all here. Even though they are the catalyst of many of the situations (and the major crisis) that is not what I dwelled on (though I highly enjoyed the funny bits). Instead, I read of a family coming together, foibles and all, working towards the health and safety of the man who was their rock. And perhaps needed a gentle reminder of how much he was and meant to them…
I didn’t think too hard about some of the shenanigans or the story would have fallen apart in a waterfall of disbelief. Instead, I enjoyed the humour, the heart and the relatability of mundane things you still have to deal with even if your dad/husband is now a penguin… The ending was abrupt, I wanted to have all the bows tied up nicely, but otherwise a wonderful, breezy read.
*I happily reviewed this book
**Thank you to Pipevine Press & NetGalley
September 14, 2023
Raft by Stu Krieger is clearly written by a man, for men.
It’s not badly written, it has humor and thank God the POV changed after a while because the male character is incredibly unlikable. The use of the word ya instead of you alone… And I wanted to tell this childish man: yes there is a world you clearly didn’t know existed where you do household chores (he had to do only a few) and you don’t get praised for it. Who knew!
Unfortunately in every POV the P or D word (whichever you prefer), is very present. The man is excused for inexcusable/unacceptable things and the word grose and its synonyms are used a lot too. I repeat, clearly written by a man.
This book wasn’t bad, the ATM doodle at the beginning was hilarious and it had some nice recognizable events but it just wasn’t for me.
Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
It’s not badly written, it has humor and thank God the POV changed after a while because the male character is incredibly unlikable. The use of the word ya instead of you alone… And I wanted to tell this childish man: yes there is a world you clearly didn’t know existed where you do household chores (he had to do only a few) and you don’t get praised for it. Who knew!
Unfortunately in every POV the P or D word (whichever you prefer), is very present. The man is excused for inexcusable/unacceptable things and the word grose and its synonyms are used a lot too. I repeat, clearly written by a man.
This book wasn’t bad, the ATM doodle at the beginning was hilarious and it had some nice recognizable events but it just wasn’t for me.
Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
May 24, 2023
Continuing to hone in on the complicated and wondrous bond that is family, Stu Krieger (Land Before Time, Zenon…) has written a true delight! Such a lovely and loving hiccup-filled fantasy adventure that is completely down to earth, heartwarming and hilarious. Hope somehow it hits the screen, large or small! A fun and fast read, highly recommended.
September 1, 2023
Satire and humor can be quite difficult to pull off effectively, but this author did a nice job. Some of the story is a bit silly to me but it was a fun read.
Thanks very much for the free copy for review!!
Thanks very much for the free copy for review!!
July 7, 2023
Raft was a truly enjoyable read! It frequently had me laughing out loud and calling my partner over to share the funny moments. Give it a try - you won't be disappointed! :)
May 26, 2023
A well-crafted, fast-paced family adventure sure to please readers seeking an escape from reality. Great comedic moments all the way through. The family dynamic is authentic and layered. Fun and heartfelt!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews