The Boatmaker

by John Benditt

Longlisted for the 2016 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction

Part fable, part allegory, The Boatmaker is the haunting and passionate story of a voyage of self-discovery.

A fierce and complicated man wakes from a fever dream compelled to build a boat and sail away from the isolated island where he was born. Encountering the wider world for the first time, the reluctant hero falls into a destructive love affair, is swept up into a fanatical religious movement, and finds himself a witness to racial hatred unlike anything he’s ever known. The boatmaker is tempted, beaten, and his journey marked by chilling episodes of violence and horror while he struggles to summon the strength to make his own way. The Boatmaker is a fable for our times, a passionate love story, and an odyssey of self-discovery.

Genres: Fiction, Magical Realism, Literature, Historical Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction

460 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 19, 2015

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Made myself finish this one for book club. I kept waiting for this to become something great, that at some point everything would tie together into something wonderful revealed at the end. But there was never really anything here. Nothing inspiring in the writing, but it did make for a good discussion book, since we were all left a little confused by it. I'm just not sure what the point was.

[Jonathan Wellerstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished this and plan to write a review as i won it in a giveaway. Need to let it settle first. So, so good.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted this book to be amazing.

The jacket description was so promising... and misleading.  "Reluctant hero" and "destructive love affair" are interesting descriptions for a man who would more accurately be referred to as an emotionally abusive (and at times physically violent) alcoholic who himself had been abused by his mother, who shacks up with a prostitute for as long as his money lasts, and then again once he sold off his only valuables to throw more money at the woman. Which happened to be about 70 pages that aside from making the boatmaker out to be an aggressive psychologically abusive drunk.

When the boatmaker reaches the Mainland the novel hits its main narrative stride, and this probably could have functioned on its own with only a chapter or two to introduce the boatmaker and the quest his fever dream has set him on, rather than the 130 pages of set up and unnecessary exposition that exists. The novel, as well as the boatmaker, spend this next arc redeeming themselves and creating a story that's truly engaging. The boatmaker's journey through the Mainland and his experiences there understanding money, religion, prejudice, and redemption was addicting.  It took me six months to get to that point, and a week to read the other three quarters of the novel.

The consistency of style is the most impressive thing about this book, and worth reading for such a technically well executed novel, despite the story itself, the meandering and elusive point of it all, lacking in satisfaction by its end.  

Or maybe that was its intention...

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Boatmaker is an everyman who starts out on Small Island , moves to Big Island and then to the mainland. Benditt cleverly avoids the use of real names of countries or people so you don't get bogged down in detail and miss his point. He stars out as an abused alcoholic and returns a man ready to take on the world. This is a marvellous allegory on how experience shapes us and taking chances and risks pays off. I don't mean risks in an 'Adventure novel' way, I mean confronting existential angst, and fighting it to the ground. THE BOATMAKER is a modern Odysseus , traveling from island to island becoming brave, or like Huck on his raft confronting all the evils of mankind.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 4.25 of 5

A modern fable; an allegorical tale; a journey -- an odyssey -- that will bring to mind shades of other popular coming-of-age novels, such as The Catcher in the Rye, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, The Odyssey, and The Book Thief. Benditt's world is both an imaginary one, and one that is all too real and recognizable to the reader. It is my town. It is your town. It is the world we live in.

With the opening sentence ("The man of Small Island is dreaming of a wolf.") we can predict that we are about to begin a dangerous journey. Our protagonist, who is generally referred to only as The Boatmaker, is a 'man of Small Island' -- a place with no other name, but clearly an allegory for the safe haven of home ... a place where a man is safe from the ravages of the larger world. But the fact that he is a boat-maker already suggests his eagerness and desire to explore the world beyond his Small Island.

What the Boatmaker discovers during his odyssey outside of Small Island is women, religion, politics, greed, and racial hatred. Life on Small Island seems so much better, so much safer, but the Boatmaker also learns that it is impossible to un-learn what he has experienced. That you can never truly go back.

Not knowing what to expect, it took me a bit to get in to the book. The lack of proper names, but instead the use of Boatmaker as pronoun, threw me off for a while. As I got a sense of the nature of the book, I went back to start it again, reading it as an allegorical tale, with each unique moment being a learning step along his way.

With so many new books being published all the time, it is rare for me to re-read a book, but this one is definitely going on my re-read list! I think that there's more here than I caught the first time around.

Looking for a good book? Digging in to The Boatmaker by John Benditt is worthwhile, and the story will stick with you long after you put the book down.
I received this book in electronic form from the publisher, through Edelweiss, for an honest review.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spare and plain yet a compelling read. This is the kind of book that would sustain an academic discussion. Not to give away the plot, but for those who have read it, is the romance/wedding credible? Are we cheated by not knowing the boatmaker's name until the end?

[daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

an almost clinical study in the differences between 'simple' and 'simplistic'-- and how the former is rich with potential while the latter is tedious with, well, tedium.

but it has heart, and so i liked it.

[Jane Ciabattari · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my books to read in February for BBC.com:

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/2015...

[Adrienne]

I read the first 200 some pages. I cannot finish the rest.

I really wanted to like this book, but it was a struggle.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. The story flows effortlessly and becomes much more than one is anticipating without noticing.

[Kip · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried.

[Venus · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Benditt's The Boatmaker is a gripping tale of isolation, desire, and the search for meaning. The novel follows a nameless protagonist, a skilled craftsman compelled to build a boat and escape his insular island home.

What unfolds is a haunting journey marked by equal parts beauty and brutality. The protagonist's isolation is palpable, mirrored by the stark, elemental landscape. Benditt's prose is spare and evocative, creating a world both familiar and alien.

As the boatmaker ventures beyond his island, he is thrust into a larger world fraught with conflict and moral ambiguity. His experiences are often harrowing, yet the narrative maintains a lyrical quality, even in the darkest moments.

The Boatmaker is a challenging read, demanding the reader's full attention. It's a novel that lingers in the mind long after the final page, inviting contemplation on themes of identity, belonging, and the human condition. For those who appreciate literary fiction with a mythic quality, this book is a rewarding experience.

[Aemon · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the months since I read it and am writing this review, The Boatmaker has cemented itself as my favourite book I have ever read. Boasting a compelling main character whom I hesitate to call a protagonist as his role in the strange and fascinating world-that is ever so slightly different from our own- is one of an aimless wanderer, a man who does not understand the world he inhabits and stumbles his way through it at the whim of the wind. This may sound like it would make for an uninteresting story but the technical mastery of this book makes it instead a touching character study and something so brilliantly self contained. Not for everyone I acknowledge, but the way it touched me in a way I can hardly explain means I give it 5 stars and recommend it highly.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Boatmaker is a fictional narrative of a Jesus Christ-like character set well before the invention of automobiles. It communicate Jewish concerns with Christian concepts such as 'being saved' and agreeing/cooperating, under any circumstances, with martyrdom. Normally, I wouldn't read this sort of religious novel. Though, while visiting a bookstore in Telluride, Colorado, I asked the shopkeeper to recommend a few fiction titles. The Boatmaker was the first book suggested. A better understanding of Jewish spiritual priorities is one result obtained from reading John Benditt's first novel.

[A-ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was almost a good book. The prose was consistently excellent. After 200 pages of setting up this complex, flawed, yet likable protagonist, the story just failed to catch wind (I don’t apologize for this pun.). It became scattershot, unfocused, and left me unsatisfied in the end, which is shame, because this had the potential to be something very special.

[Nancy Steinle gummel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The boatmaker by John Benditt is an excellent read. Its a moving tale of rebirths told from the Boatmakers point of view. It reminds you of a miraculous play. Its about self reliance, independence, do it yourself mentality and self help.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have no idea what I think of this. In so many ways, I could relate to the man from Small Island, trying to find his way in a bigger, more complex world. But the ending totally confused me. Who was he?

[Julia Trace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. sometimes slow, but great details and meaning.

[Naomi Whittlesey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Literally had to force myself to finish it. Definitely gets better in the second half but I still don’t think it really goes anywhere or was done well.

[Loverforbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It felt like the book was like the main character difficult and simply but also complex. It’s a well written journey that I enjoy thinking back on.

[Cameron Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having lived half a lifetime on the remote Small Island, trapped by island fever, sweat-ridden dreams of childhood and a green-eyed wolf, and the puncturing monotony of daily living, the boatmaker finds the urge for truth and expansion irresistible. He is a rather quiet man who works long hours alone in his wood shop and has a palate for booze. His flat-spirited relationship with his community—his ever-present partner, his broken family, no one to pass as a friend—makes him flee beyond the life he has known. John Benditt takes us through his mindscape as he handcrafts a boat, sails to the outer stretches of the capital, to the Big Island and the Mainland, and lurches into the unknown.

The book’s narration seems to often coalesce with the boatmaker’s thoughts: his careful observation of people, customs, religious bigotry, racial hostility, the unsettling and breakneck-pace of modern progress. Benditt gazes in so far as the lashes and pores of these stress-ridden citizens of the Mainland, like the tweed-suited man, his face “redder, his brown hair curly, electrified…having difficulty remaining seated,” who speaks out against the daughter of the Jewish House of Lippsted, the novel’s superpower in banking, for their acquisition of wealth and their class-wrecking inflation. The sudden eruptions of anti-Semitism and social division lend to the story’s aggressive undercurrent; much of it is pent-up in the minute gestures and intonations of people.

The wealth of description John Benditt unfolds is largely telling of the boatmaker’s intensely transformative integration with society, having only ever known the ways of a recluse on an estranged and uncivilized island. He remains anonymous; he is sparing with his words so that he may learn the words and ways of others. By mirroring the larger world against himself, the boatmaker discovers what it means to integrate: to teach others, to make friends, to love, to lose, to understand money—how it changes, and sometimes abuses, people and society. The boatmaker learns how to find himself and his purpose in the mess of the world’s “teasing superiority.”

Though it is a long book, the story is escalating and momentous, strange and intimate. The Boatmaker is a worthy read for adventurists and readers intrigued by the question “What if?” What if you grew up in the middle of the ocean and had to face yourself and your fears in a new, strange and civilized world? Could you imagine? Benditt’s novel would also delight enthusiasts of all classic dystopian novels, such as We, 1984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

So good. I'd give it 4.5 if I could.

The Boatmaker is a rich, yet simple story of self discovery and is best described as a fable written for adults. My reading found similarities to the iconic journey of Siddhartha stripped of the idealized and spiritually motivated vision of Herman Hesse’s book. I draw the parallel with Siddhartha because the The Boatmaker is a journeyman tale wherein the protagonist, an unnamed young man is motivated by a fever-induced dream to build a boat and sail away from his home on Small Island to reach Big Island, and later the Mainland. Other than his motivation to build a boat and set sail, the Boatmaker doesn’t know what to do with himself and like the protagonist Siddhartha, the Boatmaker finds himself caught up in worldly distractions of drink, money, and sex as he attempts to make sense of his place in the workings of the world as he attempts to make sense of the world. However, unlike Siddhartha, the Boatmaker finds a simpler answer to his worldly pursuits than Siddhartha’s transcendent revelations: the Boatmaker ultimately discovers the roots of his identity and his skill with carpentry and wood lie within his familial roots.

[Ray Sinclair · Rating 5 out of 5]

The boatmaker is a young resident of Small Island, somewhere in Scandinavia. He doesn't have much going for him except for the memory of a dead brother, a mother, and a woman who loves him. While suffering from an intense fever, he has a dream that subsequently guides him on a 3-year journey to Big Island and Mainland where he experiences a little of the good, but mostly the bad side of his fellow humans. He learns from every interaction -- always as much about himself as those he meets.

Told with strikingly concise prose (somehow, even the boatmaker's name is almost beyond what is necessary), this is the story of a man who believes that spoken words are mostly a distraction to be avoided as one pursues life by hard work and concentration on allowing the person within to guide life choices. It was a powerful character and story for someone like me who knows so little of himself yet speaks so much.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

there's an elegant simplicity to this book that's rare in modern fiction. john benditt pens something that would have been valuable and believable a century ago and will easily be a century from now. his boatmaker embarks on a journey and changes because of it. a simple premise. the novel progresses more like a play though, in that it's composed of a variety of set-pieces rather than focusing on the transitional periods of the journey itself. there's a lot of reality mixed with metaphor, making it difficult to discern whether events are truly happening or are imagined by the narrator. in the end it does the work that good fiction does, by asking questions, rather than proclaiming answers. it's dense, but addictively readable. funny, sparse, depressing, uplifting. if benditt never writes anything else, he's still accomplished something big with his debut novel.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Well written and I know other readers will rate this book even higher than I, which I would not question, as it is a good book. Simple yet deep, the more literary type will devour this piece of work. I enjoyed it, but had questions with several events that the Boatmaker found himself in, thus I wanted more explanation, which is not how this book was put together. I can see this book being well read and achieving high ranking on book lists.

I received my copy of this book through the goodreads giveaway program. What a great program and I am grateful to all those that made it possible for me to get a copy.

[Jorelle Arroyo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is by far the best book I have ever read. The novel contains a great deal of symbolism. Every sentence was carefully written in order to interact with the story while injecting true meaning and wishful thinking. John Benditt (the author) allows the reader to independently embark on a imagination conquest, by neatly describing the surroundings without naming key landmarks or actual locations. When I finished this book I was filled with with a variety of emotions that made me reflect on my childhood, family and personal goals. I don't want to give away the storyline all I can say is that I highly recommended this book! The definition of quality over quantity!

[Johnny G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting book, and, I believe, meant to be an allegory for our world. I like the fact that the Boatmaker, a simple man, uses his one skill (carpentry) to try and learn more about the complicated lands outside of his home island. I like that he struggles, gets beat up, taken advantage of, is puzzled, betrayed and everything else, and he keeps on asking questions about the way life works on "the mainland". At first I didn't understand the fierce anti-Semitic and alcoholism undertones, but it all becomes clear in the end. Really a different but enjoyable book!

[natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the description, I never would have picked this book up. I read it because it came highly recommended and occasionally I try to read outside of my comfort zone. It's well written, original, and it moves quickly but I couldn't help thinking the whole time I was reading: this is a man's book. I don't feel great saying that as I certainly don't only read "chick lit" but I think more men than women will relate to and enjoy this book.

[Victor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly stunning read. Minimal and deep, this novel will give you pause and even the occasional chill. It will leave you with a longing for the forgotten earth and make you want to build something with your own two hands. Easily one of the best books I've read in the last five years. Well done Mr. Benditt.

[Claudia Putnam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Certainly a male fantasy novel in that a) the protagonist is a Gary Stu, and b) has a grand total of 2 baths, while never washing his clothes, and yet has sexual conquests that seem extremely improbable

So, the strong, silent, filthy type. Not my favorite.

However, the style is terrific and worth the ride. And Tin House always makes beautiful books.