Customer Reviews

Captain Saturday: A Novel

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I have to admit that I picked up this book on a whim, and I was very pleasantly surprised. Although it took me several chapters to get into this book, once I settled in, it was thoroughly enjoyable.

The novel tells the story of Will Baggett, a North Carolina weatherman who has been on the job 20+ years and is loved throughout the community. When his station changes ownership, the main character is fired. The firing sets into play a stage of events that leave Will questioning the choices he has made in life and re-examining the events of his past that have led him into his choice of journalism. Will emerges from the chain of events following his firing as a better man, and it was fun to watch him grow and change during his ordeal.

The author does a great job depicting the life of a small-town TV personality and the sacrifices he is forced to make. I was cheering for Will along the way, and think you will too. As a North Carolina native, I can tell you that the author gets his geography and local flavor 100% correct. I would definitely recommend this book -- don't be discouraged by the slow start.

I purchased this book quite by accident, and the timing of my reading is also a matter of fate, yet, having read Captain Saturday from cover to cover in the last two days I will be certain to look for and read Mr. Inman's other works in the very near future.
The opening pages are quite innocuous, leading the reader down a path reminiscent of out favorite sixties' television programs - Leave It To Beaver, The Donna Reed Show, Father Knows Best. However, soon we are drawn into the story of a man searching for a self he never understood was lost. This hero's journey is unsought and unwelcome and the process towards revelation difficult and very painful. Yet, in the, end Will Baggett not only reconciles with his son and past, he also finds within the answers to the schism that has distanced his emotions and relationships for the past 35 years.
The work is significant because it addresses, successfully, many of the fears that arise in middle age when we question our own choices, our own paths, and ponder what alternatives still lay before us, to which heights we can rise, and what we are willing to sacrifice in changing what appears to be a predetermined path.
The answers lie not only in our present choices but as much so in those made in the past. As Will discovers, it is only in addressing that which we have buried by time with heightened scrutiny, that we are prepared to address the future.
Well done!

In the hands of many modern novelists (of the John cheever ilk) this novel of a middle-aged man losing his job, wife and self-respect would be a dreary depiction of life in the "soulness" of their America. But not here.

Will Baggett, formerly lead weatherman at Raleigh's channel 7 is a man who seeks out validation and human connection in malls rather than at home, Baggett is fired when a conglomerate buys out the family-run station and decides to cut costs by hiring a younger, cheaper weather personality. Within short order Will injures himself, his wife gives him the boot, he learns that his soon is failing med school and he goes to jail for possession of marijuana.

Rather than dwelling on the failure of the protagonist, Inman goes back in time to sketch Will's goofily eccentric family and in the process lets the reader figure out the man Will has become. Upon his release from jail, Will begins to remake himself and finally finds out the person he could have been.

Peopled with wonderfully quirky Southern characters and imbued with a generous loving spirit, CAPTAIN SATURDAY is an affirmation of love, family, honor and generosity. A delghtful subplot is the romance between his cousin Wingfoot and a former basketball player now country singer. Read this book for an uplifting, yet honest, portrayal of a good man.

"Yo Will, what's the weather?"

It's a phrase Will Baggett's used to hearing everywhere he goes. After all, he's the most popular weatherman in Raleigh, North Carolina.

In fact, he's the happiest man in the world. Great job. Happy marriage. Healthy as can be. His son's working hard to become a doctor. Yes indeed, life is wonderful for Will Baggett.

But all that's about to change.

Channel Seven's been bought and Baggett's fired after 25 years on the job as a result. His wife's real estate career is taking off and she's ready to put a for sale sign on their marriage. To top it all off, his son is completely disconnected from him.

Just when Will thinks things can't get worse, he gets pulled over by the police, is injured at his now-former TV station and has to be lugged through a crowd of gawkers, camera crews and police officers on a stretcher.

And that's going to be his best day for a while.

The life Will's worked so hard for has practically been torn down. Then cousin Wingfoot arrives and takes him back to his past so he can build a new future.

Will's journey begins with his childhood. Memories he's suppressed since he was a teenager come flooding back.

Ironically, what he's tried to outgrow his whole life is exactly who he decides he wants to be. Himself.

Robert Inman's created a fine cast of characters. Each one grows so much from beginning to end, you'll feel like you know them. Especially the main character. There's a little bit of Will Baggett in all of us.

"Captain Saturday" is nothing short of a fantastic novel, one that's worth read after read after read.

Will Baggett just lost his job as Raleigh's favorite television weatherman. His reaction to the termination causes a run-in with the authorities. Embarrassed by the publicity, his wife Clarice leaves him.

One moment Will is on top of the world, the next he's hit rock bottom. For 20 years, his job was his identity. Now Will Baggett must re-organize his priorities and redefine his individuality.

"Captain Saturday" chronicles Will's self-discovery journey. He spends time with his backwoods relatives, confronting a decades-old tragedy that has haunted Will since his youth.

Inman's story has several themes: identity establishment, family priorities and an emerging battle between the Old South and New South.

"Captain Saturday" is a poignant novel that draws every emotion from its readers. Characters are stubborn to the point of frustration, but Inman maintains readers' attention.

This is a unique story, though not always happy. Accept the moderate pace and you should be satisfied with "Captain Saturday".

Why isn't Mr. Inman getting more attention? This is a great read,immensely satisfying on all fronts. It is most notable, I think for its finely-drawn characters, who are people one really enjoys getting to know. It's simply impossible not to care about each of them. It's also a wonderful (and credible) story, exploring a number of basic human issues- honor, integrity,loyalty,grace,and the importance of family and our sense of place. As a number of others have pointed out, it also deftly describes the collision of "Old" and "New" South and clarifies why their integration is so difficult for those in each camp. I read 35-40 works of fiction every year; this is among the very best I have come across in at least two years. Highly recommended!!

Will Baggett, the main character, is Raleigh, NC's favorite TV weatherman. But Captain Saturday is not about weather, and it's not about TV (even though you will find insights about TV news that could only be given by someone who's been on the inside). The book is about "being real", knowing one's self, and investing oneself in what is important.

By any popular notion of what it means to be a success, Will Baggett is a great success. And Will is a good person: hardworking, loyal, honest, courteous, polite, devoted to community service. But in reality, he has lost his way and doesn't even know it. Someone once said, "Integrity is making the inside match the outside." That is Will's problem.

Captain Saturday is intense at times, funny and full of surprises. It cost me several hours of sleep since I couldn't put it down. You'll relate to Will's plight and find yourself wanting to join his quest for integrity. Absolutely loved it, except that (as a Southerner would say after a good sermon) "Bob Inman dun quit preachin' an' went to meddlin'". The book hits home.

Raleigh, North Carolina TV weatherman Will Baggett feels he owns the world as a big fish in a small pond after two decades as a local forecaster. A bit of a celebrity, Will loves his wife, is proud of his medical school son, and enjoys his work.

However, Will's idyllic life abruptly ends when an outside conglomerate buys the TV station and gives him his pink slip. As Will's professional world sinks further into the abyss, his wife's real estate business soars because she snuggles up to her boss. With time to contemplate, Will realizes that his marriage is shaky and his son detests him. Being routed on all fronts including receiving a felony conviction, Will flees to his cousin Wingate's home in order to regroup and start anew before he turns Five O.

Though Will is a meteorologist and not a mobster, the first part of CAPTAIN SUNDAY feels as if Anthony Quinn's Roc Delmonico role in The Happening is moved from Miami to Raleigh. Both characters receive the same support from their respective families and friends during a crisis. Once Will leaves for his Wingate's home, the tale becomes a soul-searching look for a new reason to live. The well-drawn characters, especially Will, his cousin, and his cousin's amazonian girlfriend, engage the audience who want the lead protagonist to succeed in whatever he desires. Though the fall into hell seems overly done, Robert Inman provides a strong character-driven tale that hooks the readers' interest through a powerful, peachy, and likable cast.

Harriet Klausner

Will Baggett, fictional TV weatherman from Raleigh, North Carolina is the toast of the town. He is the most recognized media figure in the market; widely successful, universally adored by young and old alike. Will has it all; a gorgeous wife who rakes in the big bucks as one of Raleigh's top realtors, a son in medical school. Baggett's world is compulsively tidy, taut, and orderly. The trains of his life run on time.

One day his well-ordered world comes spins wildly out of its orbit when a mega-media conglomorate buys his station and he is replaced by a younger man. For once in his life, Will is yesterday's news, and the transition is anyting but a smooth one. A waky set of circumstances takes will on a journey back home to his past and some R/R time with cousin Wingfoot Baggett. There Will learns the painful truth about his family, his childhood, and it is in this rediscovery of self where the seeds of reconciliation with his son are sown.

Before his journey is over Will will take the rap for a narcotics posessions charge and do time. He literally has to lose evertything before he begins to get it back again.

Robert Inman tells this touching story with grace and sensitivity as well as keen insight into the human condition. Falling from grace is all too common to the human condition, and this tale fits the template of loss, journey, and renewal that can be found in philosophy, religon, works of history and biography.

There is a certain positive grace that permeates this novel about a TV weatherman who is forced to face himself in a mirror he did not design. In the hands of some other Southern novelist, the character Will Baggett would probably be just another drunken, self-destructive Good Ol' Boy who ends life in a pile of rubble, with lots of angst and sordid passions uncovered along the way.

But through the craftsmanship of Robert Inman, Will Baggett becomes a real person--not a Southern hick that people in other parts of the country can snicker at--a real person whose pain and confusion and infrequent joy we can really feel.

There is just enough Southernness in this novel to please those who like to read Southern Novels; the natural mysterious subtleties of being gentry, which include the craft of tolerating those considered to be non-gentry...the nobility of trailer-park trash who turn out to be fascinating and unpredictable...the humid ambience of the Carolinas. But this is not a Southern novel: it is merely a graceful and straightforward telling of a handful of stories that need to be told. These are stories about small people with big lives."

--excerpted from an extended review of Inman's novel, appearing in the Spring 2002 issue of FIRST DRAFT MAGAZINE (writersforum.org)

--Reviewed by Jim Reed, author of DAD'S TWEED COAT: SMALL WISDOMS HIDDEN COMFORTS UNEXPECTED JOYS (jimreedbooks.com)