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Course of the Waterman
Seventeen-year-old Bailey Kraft knows where he is going. He will "follow the water" and become a waterman like his father, grandfather, and generations of men before him. The work is backbreaking and often dangerous yet framed by the breathtaking beauty of the Chesapeake; it is a bred-in-the-bone life. But it is also a dying livelihood. Fish stocks are plummeting and with them, the harvests. Watermen, unable to earn a living, are being forced to give up their time-honored way of life. Yet Bailey is a Kraft---river royalty---with the Kraft gift for finding fish coded into his genes. He has a sense of purpose and belonging, until the day his father shatters his lifelong plans. Suddenly, he must fight the people he loves most, including his best friend, to hang on to his birthright. Set on the Chesapeake Bay's Eastern Shore, Course of the Waterman is the coming-of-age story of Bailey Kraft; his tough and determined little sister, Hannah; his best friend, Booty; and Booty's bitter, alcoholic father, Tud. Bailey faces fear, loss, and wrenching changes; yet amidst it all, he glimpses the unexpected possibilities that life can offer.
199 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2004
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February 5, 2014
A teenager struggles to maintain his dream of becoming a waterman like generations of his ancestors after the sudden death of his father. An okay book - except for one thing that dogged the story throughout. I enjoyed the descriptions of the setting and the protagonists relationship to it - but more so than most would because I spent time as a kid exploring the marshes of the Chesapeake Bay, which indeed was the reason I picked up the book at the library. And I was impressed by the author's knowledge of boating and crabbing.
It's just that the protagonist was unlikable. He invariably chose the selfish, adolescent alternative to every decision he faced, looking after no one but himself after his father's death much to the detriment of literally every other character before only half-learning his lesson in the last pages of the book. An unlikable, unrelatable teenage prick that for me at least dogged a story that was otherwise a good, relaxing read.
It's just that the protagonist was unlikable. He invariably chose the selfish, adolescent alternative to every decision he faced, looking after no one but himself after his father's death much to the detriment of literally every other character before only half-learning his lesson in the last pages of the book. An unlikable, unrelatable teenage prick that for me at least dogged a story that was otherwise a good, relaxing read.
Displaying 1 of 1 review