The Family Ship

Blame And Forgiveness. Let's face it, the central conceit of this tale - a mostly abandoned boat left on a property that a family purchases that the parents and older kids then use as a mechanism to control the younger kids - is a bit... strange. And I note this as the son of two people who both had six or more siblings each - so while I only have two brothers myself, large family dynamics are not completely foreign to me. This noted, once your brain accepts the central conceit here, the actual story is truly a very solid one of finding oneself, struggling with roles that are not always chosen and not always permanent - both by choice and by situation, and, ultimately, self-recrimination of past wrongs and the need to forgive both yourself and others. The back half really picks up, and actually features a scene reminecent of one particular story of my own family history that I was told for years - in this case, a particular confrontation at a particularly ... inopportune... time. (Doing my best to note that this was a phenomenal scene without giving much away, since it does happen in the climax of the tale.)

Ultimately, those who have only known smaller families - where you and your entire family you've ever known have had the stereotypical-ish 2-3 kids or less - may struggle a bit with keeping up with the fairly large family and the dynamics therein. But work with it, because most everyone gets their chance to be a mostly-realized age-appropriate actual person... even as most of the actual action really does focus on the more senior people. (In other words, even the toddlers get a chance to be toddlers, but the teens and adults ultimately drive the story.)

Truly a great work, and a Toby Keith level master class in “I can spin off a story about anything”. (Look up the story of TK's “Red Solo Cup” to understand that reference. ;) )

Very much recommended.

3.5 stars

It took a long time for me to get into this one. There just wasn't much happening. And the insights into the characters were few and far between.

That said, the first 100 and last 100 pages made a pretty good book.