The Starboard Sea

Summary (from the publisher): Set against the backdrop of the 1987 stock market collapse, The Starboard Sea is an examination of the abuses of class privilege, the mutability of sexual desire, the thrill and risk of competitive sailing and the adult cost of teenage recklessness. It is a powerful and compelling novel about a young man navigating the depths of his emotional life, finding his moral center, trying to forgive himself, and accepting the gift of love.

 

Review: It's 1987 and Jason finds himself spending his senior year of high school boarding at Bellingham, a third tier co-ed prep school for misbehaving rich kids who have been kicked out of more prestigious academies. Jason arrives at Bellingham with significant baggage; he is reeling from his best friend Cal's suicide and also struggling with his own sexuality and his parent's failing marriage. Jason quickly finds that his new schoolmates are professional delinquents whose wealthy families mean they can easily buy their way out of any consequences of their actions. Jason finds unexpected solace in Aidan, a young girl with a mysterious and dangerous past. But after a hurricane sweeps along the coast, Jason is left questioning how well he knew Aidan and later the ethics of his fellow classmates.

 

The world of preppy, rich kids in which Jason has been raised is clearly meant to be jarring to the reader. This is a cutthroat world where hazing, drinking, and sex are prevalent. The students are cruel and ruthless with one another. Many of these troubled kids are the result of troubled homes. Most shocking to me was the lack of adult support from any quarter. When he tries to discuss his grief with his sailing coach, he is rebuffed by his coach telling him, "With your experience, you probably know more about this stuff than I do" (173). He is similarly rebuffed by his brother, who warns him that Jason has given his parents enough stress already. Even a last resort, a hired chauffeur, rejects him when Jason tries to talk, saying, "Look, kid, I just drive the car" (187). Jason is stoic in his isolation, even determining that lacking a confidante is for the best: "I needed to learn how to be alone with my grief. I would spare my family the details of this loss, this sadness" (167). Yet the consequences of this absence of supervision and guidance is great. In the wake of the hurricane, a student is missing for days without the school realizing it. The lesson seems to be that the wealthy parents are paying for discretion, which is ultimately a penance rather than a blessing for their privileged offspring.

 

Throughout the novel, Jason continually refers to both the physical and personal similarities between the two friends, who are almost mirror images of one another. "Cal was the movie star. I was the stunt double" (150). In fact, Jason is mistaken for Cal when he first arrives at Bellingham. When their friendship turned sexual Jason says, "because our bodies were so much the same, Cal knew just how to apply the right grip of pressure and quickness. Exactly what I would have used on myself (41). This twin-ness between the pair underscores both the immense loss that is Cal's death but also the tortured guilt and shame Jason feels for allowing his friendship to stray and sour into something darker.

 

At heart, this novel is about Jason coming to terms with his grief and guilt, his sexuality, and his own moral code. In examining these issues, the novel sheds light on the troubling ability of wealth and privilege to outweigh honesty, obligation, and integrity. This melancholy story is told with frequently original turns of phrase, such as Jason describing Aidan's beauty by saying, "I'd been to Greece and seen broken statues. A tour guide told me that the heads were removed because the Greeks felt they were too beautiful for the conquering Romans to see. Had even one of those faces survived, it would have been hers" (9). Yet many of these moments felt like a teenager's attempt to be profound. Likewise, the title captures both the significance of sailing to the novel, but also the journey Jason goes through in this novel. Coined by Cal, the starboard sea "means the right sea, the true sea, or like finding the best path in life" (274).  

 

Despite it's supposed depth, there was something about this coming of age tale that rang false for me. It was difficult for me to believe that school officials would turn such a very blind eye to such flagrant behavior as described in this book. Similarly, it was hard to believe that Jason would lose two close friends in such quick succession, or that the school would be so negligent and hard hearted as to barely acknowledge the death of a student. At times, it seemed as if the author strayed away from writing difficult scenes, such as Jason revealing his secrets to Aidan, which are only referred to in retrospect and not witnessed firsthand by the reader. Finally, the friendships and relationships Jason forms near the end of the novel seemed unbelievable as did his quick tidying up of his emotional baggage as he nears graduation from high school. On the other hand, the actions of his fellow students during the hurricane seems casually brushed under the rug rather than resolved. In the end, as throughout, their were no consequences for the unethical decisions made by the wealthy students throughout, and the resolution and acceptance of this reality by Jason seemed far fetched.

 

Stars: 3