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Cheryl B. (La Porte, TX)
A promising novel that falls short of expectations
This book focuses around a rowing group at Fenton Prep school. Upon invitation to his 15th year anniversary, the protagonist, Rob Carrey, has flashbacks between his current life and his rowing days, where something went quite wrong. Carrey is a scholarship kid, a scull rower and is used to rowing alone and not in a team environment. Parts of this book were beautifully written, but some of the scenes dragged. I especially felt Ruth, Conner, and the last person of the God Four team is so flatly developed that I can't even recall his name or any one thing that stood out about him.
Angela J. (Highlands Ranch, CO)
Disappointing
I felt like I have read a hundred books similar to this. Do we really need another coming of age book? It's the same old story about a poor kid on a scholarship getting to mingle with the rich privileged kids. I found all of the back and forth very distracting; with a lot of unnecessary detail trying to add drama and atmosphere. After all this buildup, the ending was extremely disappointing; I found I really didn't like the adult Carrey.
Kathy S. (Danbury, CT)
Rowing the Housatonic
Flat Water Tuesday is the story of Rob Carrey. As a senior in high school, Rob is recruited for his rowing skills to attend a post graduate year at Fenton, a private boarding school in CT. A scholarship student, Carrey is an outsider in this world of privilege and feels the need to constantly prove himself. The expectation is that Carrey will excel on crew and go on to crew at Harvard. The story alternates between the year at Fenton and present day, however even the present day is narrated in flashbacks as Carrey travels the globe filming documentaries. I found all of the back and forth very distracting; the story would work much better told chronologically. I failed to see how the events at Fenton noticeably impacted Carrey's present day life, and found neither of the women in the story particularly memorable. None of the characters pulled me in, and I did not find Carrey particularly interesting as an adult.
Jill S. (Eagle, ID)
Flat Water
Being a high school athlete, I really looked forward to this book about 5 high school seniors and their coach. Although the story had opportunities to be a great novel, I was so distracted with descriptions that I to re-read a number of sections. This book is not a complete disappointment, one will gain an appreciation of the sport of rowing. Now that I've finished the book, I thought that it was just ok.
Barbara K. (Brooklyn, NY)
Disappointing
Flat Water Tuesday is the story of 5 members of a high school rowing team & their coach who share experiences during their senior year at an exclusive school. It is told by Carrey, one of the team members, an 'outsider' to this world of privilege, recruited because of his rowing skills. Eventually they share a tragedy as often befalls teenagers who engage in reckless behavior.
Interspersed in the story are details of the hard work it takes to train & excel in a sport, in this case, rowing. Also interspersed throughout, an adult Carrey tells of his present life & we see it is not working. However, it is not clear as to how this relates to his earlier days. The transitions between these time periods were disjointed & made little sense to me.
I found this book to be just OK. Although it was well written, I couldn't get invested in these characters & so I wouldn't recommend it.
Elizabeth M. (Syracuse, NY)
Not enough unique features, but a solid example of its genre
I feel like I have read a hundred books similar to this. Do we really need another prep school book? There are some elements that make this book unique: the very detailed descriptions of the mechanics of training for and competing in crew; the career of the main character as an adult, which is a documentary filmmaker, adds some interesting elements; and the obstacle in the romantic relationship of the main character as an adult was one of the more gruesome elements I have read in a novel.
Aside from these unique features, however, I mostly found that the familiar tropes of prep school fiction were present. The poor kid who is really the smartest character in the book and is only able to come to the school because of some amazing talent he has. The wealthy student who can't survive under the weight of the pressure and expectation heaped upon him by his parents. The gruff teacher who rarely says it but cares fiercely for his students. The troubled female student who struggles with becoming a woman and leaving her childhood behind. I just felt like there wasn't enough new here for me.
It probably is important to note that I am not and have never been much of an athlete and so the long montages of training and competition for slots on the team and trying to win the big race just did not resonate for me. I think that for someone who had an experience where being on a sports team was an important part of their formative years this book may have more impact.
Malinda N. (Wheeling, WV)
Flat Water Tuesday Falls a Little Flat
I fully anticipated enjoying this book. I tend to enjoy coming of age novels and, having attended a prep school, enjoy reading novels with a similar setting. For the most part, I did enjoy the story. I liked the characters as they all seemed complex and damaged and I was fully expecting an ending that would tie them all together and answer some of the questions that were posed throughout the novel. Unfortunately the ending did not meet my expectations. I felt that the author created a complicated story and then left the reader hanging. It just didn't come together which is unfortunate because the story had a lot of potential. Also the crew information dragged at times although it was somewhat integral to the story. If one knows nothing about the sport the story probably won't interest them.
Elizabeth L. (Beavercreek, OH)
A decent story but...
It took quite a while for me to get interested in the story even though the book's premise hooked me right away. Part of it was because the author was trying far too hard in the beginning. His writing style kept getting in the way of the story. The story line kept getting lost in a forest of metaphors. I was very annoyed by this particularly when the metaphor filled paragraphs were about things that were totally irrelevant to the story like the plane trip back from South Africa. Meandering descriptive paragraphs about a plane ride are just filler to make the book longer. The other problem was that even though the Fenton years were by far the more interesting story, the author's "voice" as a teenager never seemed genuine to me. There was too much extrapolation of adult conceits onto his teenage characters.
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