Every Boat Turns South left me confused. It always seemed to be leading you down some deep and engaging path, but once there the story fell flat. You can tell the writer leans more towards poetry than fiction. He tried to make you feel there was a deep connection between the characters; Matt and his father, Matt and Rosario, etc... but reading their interaction the narrative dies. There is a bit of excitement mid-way through but all in all I struggled to the end. ( )

Every Boat Turns South is an extended poem, and in this case that's not a good thing. Finishing this book was seriously difficult for me, mostly because of the writer's style. I was reminded of the The New Yorker's feature, 'Block That Metaphor' (or simile). On just the first three pages, we see the following awkward constructions.

1) 'A low grade fever wanders my body like a torched and rolling penny.' 2) 'The wind off the Atlantic tells me I smell worse than day-old fish bait.' 3) 'At fifty-five, he's thin and strong as the edge-nailed cedar he used to build his boats.' 4) '...it's as if I've returned to a home fled during the last hurricane that never came, but the owners have not yet straggled back.'

The third paragraph of the first chapter reads like this: 'I park my trash bags and stare at their front door. My wrist bones search for any handhold. My body trembles from the taut indecision of what to do next. I lean forward and touch my forehead to the door thinking the termite wood will tell me what to do. It doesn't.'

I repeat these excerpts not to mock White, but because it's the only way to convey the writing style. Although the story is good enough, my verdict is that Mr. White should go back to working on his poetry. Sorry. ( )

This book was strange to me... I am not a sailor or a boater and a lot of this book was written in that lingo. Lots of little sailor sayings and slang. It is still understandable, but I think it lost a lot of its charm since I didn't "get it". Still an ok story. I don't think I would recommend this book, though. ( )

I shared this book with my father since he also made a boat delivery from Ft. Lauderdale to Tortola a few years ago. We had trouble getting through the first 50 or so pages - but some of the author's descriptions of what happened at certain ports of call were right on. They can be dangerous. I think it helped to have a personal connection to the experience in order to relate to the book. ( )

In Every Boat Turns South a wayward son returns home to make a last-ditch connection with a dying father, as Matt Younger struggles to tell his pathetic, lonely story and have it make some sense. Hale Younger, two years older than Matt, was destined for the Olympics with his athletic ability and The Naval Academy, with his over-the-top academic skills. Years have past since Matt's brother, Hale, the fair-haired golden boy, died while with Matt on a boat...a boat that was used in connection with a drug-smuggling operation. Only Matt knew of Hale's dark side, or so he thought. Matt believes that everyone thinks he let Hale die out in the deep, inky ocean. After the tragedy, Matt's life spins out of control and takes a turn for the worst while attempting to deliver a boat to St. Thomas. He, too, is caught up in the drug trade. While on this watery journey, he meets many friends and foes, loses years of life to incarceration, and sinks deeper into despair. When he finally returns home, his only wish is to tell his terminally ill father the unvarnished truth, the whole tragic story and make amends. In spite of all his troubles, he "gives thanks for all unspeakable sorrows of his life"...the death of a brother, a father, and a son.

Every Boat Turns South is part puzzle and part family dynamics, mixed with the demons that follow one young man through his mentally-torturous journey. Even though much of the story revolves around sailing lingo that a non-boating enthusiast would know nothing about, the human side to the story touches the soul and makes a long-lasting connection.

Thanks to Librarything and The Permanent Press for this ARC. ( )

Every Boat Turns South started as an interesting story but I slowly lost interest and found it a chore to finish. I did enjoy the authors descriptive writing style and I am willing to give this author another chance. ( )

J.P. White's use of language is so vivid I could almost smell the sea in his various ports-of-call. Interspersed with stories about the narrator's brother and family, the author turned an incredibel tale into something believable, although there were still moments when I just couldn't stretch credibility enough. The neat package at the end did not seem to fit the rest of the book. ( )

Every Boat Turns South (Permanent Press) is the story of two brothers: Hale the shining star with all the promise a parent could hope for and Matt his younger brother who lives in his shadow. One night, ignoring his intuition, Matt follows his brother on a trip even though he feels a sense of foreboding. The die is cast, and the fate of Hale is sealed when the clandestine plan suddenly backfires.

Unable to cope with the memory of his brother and the circumstances of his death, Matt takes off. He accepts a job delivering a boat to St. Thomas. Three years later, Matt arrives on his parents’ doorstep, looking like “something the raccoons forgot to eat.” He carries with him more baggage than the two plastic bags in tow with a readiness to unload his guilt. His father Skip is a skeleton of his former self. He is dying as a result of congestive heart failure. He has tenaciously held on, though, unable to give up the ship.

There is little doubt that his mom loathes rather than loves Matt, for he has come home to tell Skip what really happened to Hale that night. He has returned to tell Skip about his adventurous trek of escape and survival.

This may appear to some as a simple story of an adventurous drifter, running from a lot of guilt and memories over his brother’s disappearance. It is, however, complex, an intricate composition of themes that twist around each other as you follow the undulating currents. The book is written in alternating narratives: one is Matt talking to his father, and the other is Matt’s journal or captain’s log. The characters never appear to be who they are, adding more mystery and intrigue: “ And sometimes I have seen what men have thought they saw.”

White’s compass rose takes you on a meandering voyage that will keep you guessing until the last sail south. The poetic lyrical motion of White’s writing is spiritually uplifting with a lilting cadence. Reading is an effortless indulgence as his prose embraces the reader. With the skill of an artisan in Venice, his imagery is precise beauty on paper, intended to captivate the audience.

Highly recommended. ( )

Fortune has sent me several excellent reads from Permanent Press, including Klein’s The History of Now and Brookhouse’s Silence, so something which did not appeal to me was inevitable.

This quick read of mishaps on a voyage from Florida to St. Thomas will most definitely appeal to salty, lusty sailors, but the boat jargon soared over my head.

More trouble, however, came in the form of the narrator’s voice. I had a difficult time visualizing him based the words that came out of his mouth. I guess a character, who thinks the same way he or she talks, is the ultimate villain here.

Another problem involved what I call “over the top” prose. It seemed as if White was struggling to put together colorful, original metaphors, but most of the time they didn’t work for me. When describing Jesse, a prospective cook and deck hand, the narrator describes her feet as having “a full fleet of fire-engine toenails” (19).

Lastly, the story of the mysterious death/disappearance of an older brother, for which the younger brother bears the guilt and approbation of his parents, is an old story becoming more worn out by the day. I didn’t really care about these characters.

If you like gritty, salty tales of the bounding main, the ports with cheap rum, loose women, and shady deals, then you might like Every Boat Turns South. Me, I’ll take the next flight out. 3 stars.

--Jim, 5/29/09 ( )

I received an advance copy of this yet-to-be-published book from the Early Reviewers program. It's the tale of 30-year-old Matt Younger, who has returned to his parents' home in Florida after an adventure in the Caribbean, just in time to tell his dying father his story.

The main tale, of Matt's harrowing adventures at sea and in the Turks and Caicos and the Dominican Republic, was intriguing. Some of the plot twists caught me by surprise. The secondary family-trouble tale, with his father's slow death as background, was not so interesting, but became important as it tied to the main tale by the end with an interesting twist.

I had two problems with this book. First-time author J. P. White writes lovely prose; his background as a poet is evident with his copious use of similes and metaphors. I've been sailing and to the Caribbean, and his writing made me feel I was there again. At times, however, there is too much description, and it draws attention from the plot.

I also had difficulty with both narrative lines being told in first person present tense. I think it would have been easier to make the shifts between the plot threads if the sailing adventure story had been told in past tense, as befits telling a tale to one's dying father. Using past tense for the main story might also have allowed Matt to do a little more reflecting on his actions and develop his character a little more.

Every Boat Turns South is a good - but not great - first novel, enough to make me interested in reading a future work by J. P. White. ( )

Every Boat Turns South by Jay White details a 30 year old boat captain's return home from an ill fated journey. White eloquently paints a family torn apart by selfishness, greed and un-forgiveness. The story is filled with references to the sea, boat terminology, and matter of fact descriptions of an old man dying.

Matt arrives home burdened by the truth about his brother's death and many poor choices that lead him into dangerous situations. As his story unfolds in the form of a confession to his father, Skip, who is dying a slow and painful death, we begin to understand the family dynamic. Dysfunctional does not begin to describe the pain and un-forgiveness that still lingers from lives poorly lived. Drug running, bad relationships, alcohol and drug abuse and betrayal are unearthed as Matt's story unfolds.

I felt the slow and deliberate pacing and reflective writing about the past was academically well done, but it left me emotionally cold. It could be due to the unsympathetic and weak characters. ( )

Early Reviewer Copy - It's clear from the writing that JP White is a poet; the writing is compelling and flows well, creating a very readable book. This is the story of Matt Younger, a young sailor drawn to sailing open waters because that's what he knows, but also in running from the tragedy and blame of his family. After a series of bad decisions and perfect traps, Matt returns home to tell his story to a dying father, his Skipper. It's a good story, but somehow doesn't quite hit the mark. Even though written in the first person, the main character seems remote; the lyrical writing seems to get in the way of the moment of the adventure. It does manage to mix a wrong-side-of-the-law nautical adventure story with an emotional family drama - although somewhat unevenly at times. A good first novel with a network of intricacies between characters, but not quite a "must read". ( )

I've got mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, the story is a quick and engaging read for the most part, and has an interesting story set on the sea and in the caribbean, beautifully described. On the other, I had a difficult time getting into it because I found the writing distracting (and detracting). The most well-written passages were by far the sections dealing with action or with being at sea, which is admirable. The problem came in the slower sections, which were arguably more important to the story.

So, writing-wise: When it comes down to it, simply, you can tell that White is more experienced with writing poetry than fiction. That's not necessarily a bad thing in itself, but this book needed a little bit more time spent on basic language, particularly in the beginning seventy pages or so(though admittedly, it may just feel that way because I eventually got more involved in the story). I should say that the issues I'm talking about probably wouldn't bother a lot of readers. For one thing, I'm talking about too many adverbs, and too many "he said/she said" additions. Especially in a one-on-one conversation (which is almost always the case in this book), there's no need to constantly say "he said quietly" or "she yelled". The language and the plot can do much of that without the author needing to bother. The emotion can be conveyed in the language used, not by consistently reminding the reader of body posture (head hanging) or tone of voice. Also, there are far too many similes and metaphors. When one would suffice and add to the description, White sometimes uses three or four. He has some beautiful language in this book which might very well bring me back to it, BUT, he's letting himself go overboard at times in a style of description that isn't really supported by the rest of his style or called for. My hope is that in his next book, there'll be about a third the amount of descriptive comparisons found in this book.

As I said, I found the writing distracting at many points, but the book overall was a good read. My one complaint? The end. I've often come across books where the author makes a character reach a major turning point, but readers aren't given enough material to see Why the character is facing or making that change. Here, the problem is the opposite. We see numerous major events in the narrator's life that would (almost necessarily) cause any person to change, and yet the narrator here doesn't. In the end, I was left wondering, how have we not seen any change in this character during the whole of the book? Minor ones? Perhaps--but not the ones that the plot would suggest. That's my only story-based complaint though--simply, I think a little bit more should have gone into character development by the end of the novel.

In general, I'd suggest this if you're not overly picky about small writing technique issues, and enjoy a good story. It's also a pleasure if you're like me and enjoy the setting of florida and/or the caribbean. I think this would be a great book to teach in an introductory fiction writing class, and would stronly recommend it for that purpose. It's also a great example of a fairly mainstream story that incorporates occasional beautiful and poetic language that blends into the story and background. There could be less of it, but regardless, it's good to see since so often mainstream literature just doesn't carry those sentences that make you stop, reread, stop, reread, and really just enjoy for their cleverness or beauty.

As you can see: mixed feelings. I'll go back to it though, and definately look up his poetry. Whether or not I read his next novel will probably depend on whether the subject or plot interests me. ( )

J. P. White's Every Boat Turns South is a good first try at a novel. The story draws the reader in and takes them on a sailing trip and shows a side of the Caribbean islands that no casual cruise-ship traveler could ever imagine. At the same time the narrator is telling this story, he is also wanting to reveal himself to his dying father. White's book could definitely use some more editing. The switch between the simultaneous stories needs to be clearer and there is too much description about the sailing lifestyle (Mr. White, don't try to be Hemingway) and not enough about sailing itself for those of us who aren't sailors. Despite this, the story still grabs a hold of the reader and demands their attention. A good first effort! ( )

"Every Boat Turns South" is an ambitious first novel from author J.P.White. Told in first person narrative, it is the story of a young man, Matt, a 30 year old who has a passion for boats. His father "the Skipper" owned, repaired boats and had a boatyard. Matt expressed an interest in boats from an early age and as he grows older he chooses to focus only on boating and being on the water.

Whether he is out at sea or on land he is a troubled individual having experienced the death of his older brother who his entire family worshipped in a drug-related accident when they were together. His parents blame him for not "saving" his brother who they idolized and who was a champion swimmer and A student. His brother was the outstanding achiever in the family expected to do great things and Matt always came in second. After his brother's death he cannot cope with his parents attitude toward him and the guilt he feels and he leaves home.He takes an offer to deliver a ship for a man to the island of St. Thomas and gets waylaid by a storm in the Dominican Republic. On this island, he gets involved in drug smuggling with criminals. He meets a woman who stirs his passion and gets into even more trouble with the "big island boss", who is also a drug lord.
The plot is not terribly original, but the tale is told in an interesting way that holds the readers attention. Matt tells you his story at the same time as he tells his dying father where he has been for the past 3 years. So you get to know this young man when he comes home to say goodbye to his dying father, "the Skipper" and learn about the family dynamics and what happened to him while delivering this ship to the Carribean.

If I were to critique the White's style I would say the author uses way too many metaphors and describes in too much detail the young man's surroundings. I found myself distracted by this overuse of description and at times anxious for the plot to move forward at a faster pace. The character of the young man, Matt, is well-developed but the other characters lend themselves to stereotyping.

If you are someone who enjoys boating and likes a decent suspense novel, give "Every Boat Turns South" a read. You won't be disappointed. However, in all honesty, I would be shocked if it made the bestseller list. ( )