Customer Reviews

Calm at Sunset, Calm at Dawn: A Novel

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After Archangel, The Forger and Night Over Day Over Night I liked Watkins but felt each book somehow just missed. This one did not. Simply one of the best books I have ever read.

Watkins writes with a grueling sensitivity that is unparalleled. He writes realistically of the hard, dirty, unrelentingly difficult life of a fisherman with a sensitive hand but without maudlin sympathy. Watkins' succinct writing style adds to the tone. You get to know his main character without really understanding him. Indeed, it is clear he does not understand himself. It would be unfair for the reader to do so.

A book of dreams clashing with reality - a place we have all been, especially when youth is meeting adulthood. This is a book you truly will not be able to put down.

Paul Watkins is the best fiction writer alive. Like his other books, "Calm at Sunset" showcases his ability to create true to life characters with a journalist's eye for detail and economy of words. As always, at the heart of his story is a moral core that is absent from most modern fiction. Mr. Watkins writes the kind of book you want to own, to read and re-read, and to pass on to your children.

Where to begin...? Perhaps I should just say that last summer when I asked my now-fiance for her hand in marriage on the beach below the Southeast Lighthouse on the beach under Mohegan bluffs, little did I know that James Pfeiffer's grandfather washed up at that very spot! Or that his grandfather is now buried on--or has since been eroded from--the cliff above.

The tale must be true, for Watkins gives it as true a rendering as an in-lander such as myself could ever comprehend. Pfeif might find it ironic that I--admittedly much closer to a Gatsby boy than he'd care to be associated with, or than I'd like to admit--would consider his sea saga indelibly inked in my mind, and my soul.

Though it was just a momentary setting in the book, I can now say that I have visited Block Island and its waters *twice*--once physically as a tourist, and once metaphysically via Calm at Sunset...--from taking the ferry, to riding out to the bluffs by bike, to smelling the salty air.

Strange the way things work out, both in life and in literature. I hadn't known where this story was set, only that it was written by Watkins. But having read _Archangel_ and _In the Blue Light of African Dreams_, that was sufficient. Next Watkins masterpiece! (And let's hope they keep coming!)

Paul Watkins relies on his working experiences on a trawler along the Rhode Island coast in order to recreate the world of fishermen. James Pfeiffer is the protagonist. For me, he is an unforgettable character. Against his parents' wishes, James, an innocent young man begins his apprenticeship. Within a short time he encounters the harsh realities of the sea and human nature. I have returned to this novel over the years. I continue to gain insight into personalities and motives. I can no longer look at a beautiful painting of the ocean and believe it to be a place of tranquillity. The writing is intricately detailed. It is visual and immediate. The reader can practically feel the motion of the waves, and see the dazzle of the sunlight on the water. This novel became a Hallmark Hall of Fame film and was televised in 1996. Calm At Sunset Calm At Dawn is one of Watkins' best.

The beginging of the book had a slow, mediocore rhythm to it, but that quickly passed into the making of a great novel. It taught a great moral and showed Watkins' great work and capability.

Watkins wrote his first novel at the age of 23; it was nominated for the Booker Prize. High praise, that. Calm at Sunset, Calm at Dawn lives up to comparisons with Hemingway and London in both the author's method of research and in the telling of the tale. I saw Watkins read from the book in Boston, and the typical young author mythos - erring towards the darkness, along with an air of high seriousness - was refreshingly absent. For readers looking for an honest and simple telling of youth in search of identity - less the usual jaded and miserable outlook - Calm at Sunset, Calm at Dawn is a keeper.

Paul Watkins is slowly becoming my favorite author.Calm At Sunset , Calm At Dawn is the third Watkins novel I've read and it is as good a read as the previous two were. It doesn't seem to matter what the topic , Watkins writing has that special quality that lets me feel like I'm living the life that he describes in his books. Calm At Sunset , Calm At Dawn is the story of James Pfeiffer , a young man who decides he wants to work as a fisherman on a scallop trawler despite his parents wishes that he not follow in his fathers footsteps , a boat owner and fisherman himself. The descriptions , the dialogue and the charachters we meet are so true and accurate that I feel I'm James Pfeiffer telling the story. Calm At Sunset , Calm At Dawn is a great sea story and a coming of age story. Paul Watkins' impecable storytelling and his incredible attention to detail is what makes him an outstanding novelist.

I thoroughly enjoyed this poignant and earthy novel of contemporary sea life - a modern day classic that wrestles with the angst of adolescence, chronicles the siren call of the sea - it's seductive rhythms, drama and dangers, and addresses the coming-of-age transition of young adulthood with its inherent and conflicting forces of rejection and acceptance. At the heart of the writer's understated style lies a belief in the humanity of man, in the quiet strength and unspoken virtue within, that lends a certain dignity to his characters. Recommended to all who enjoyed the book THE PERFECT STORM.

Paul Watkins is an extraordinarily gifted writer. And he is so easy to read. This is a rare combination. He takes you there. And you can easily identify with his characters. The experiences of James Pfeiffer have become my own. Isn't that why we read?

Where to begin...? Perhaps I should just say that last summer when I asked my now-fiance for her hand in marriage on the beach below the Southeast Lighthouse on the beach under Mohegan bluffs, little did I know that James Pfeiffer's grandfather washed up at that very spot! Or that his grandfather is now buried on--or has since been eroded from--the cliff above.

The tale must be true, for Watkins gives it as true a rendering as an in-lander such as myself could ever comprehend. Pfeif might find it ironic that I--admittedly much closer to a Gatsby boy than he'd care to be associated with, or than I'd like to admit--would consider his sea saga indelibly inked in my mind, and my soul.

Though it was just a momentary setting in the book, I can now say that I have visited Block Island and its waters *twice*--once physically as a tourist, and once metaphysically via Calm at Sunset...--from taking the ferry, to riding out to the bluffs by bike, to smelling the salty air.

Strange the way things work out, both in life and in literature. I hadn't known where this story was set, only that it was written by Watkins. But having read _Archangel_ and _In the Blue Light of African Dreams_, that was sufficient. Next Watkins masterpiece! (And let's hope they keep coming!)