Customer Reviews

Joe Speedboat

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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Fourteen year old Frankie Hermans is just coming out of a coma of 200 days, during this time a new boy arrived in the small Dutch town of Lomark, Frankie's home. Coinciding with Joe's arrival are several bomb explosions in the town, the two are not unrelated, and Joe's abilities go beyond creating a bang, he proves capable of building his own airplane from scratch, and finds a good use for a redundant bulldozer, he is truly a creative mechanic and a free spirit.

Frankie's recovery leaves him with severe physical limitations, but he and Joe soon strike up a friendship, along with Christof and Engel, and later the beautiful and desirable P.J. While Frankie is restricted in mobility and speech, he has the use of his right arm, which develops remarkable strength; under Joe's guidance he successfully enters the world or arm wrestling.

The account is related by an older Frankie as he looks back at his teenage years. The friendship he describes with Joe is one of unselfishness and care, Joe unquestioningly will do whatever is needed for Frankie, and even their rivalry for P.J.'s affections does not interfere with their friendship. Joe Speedboat is an unusual, beautiful and touching story of friendship and growing up in a small provincial town.

It's hard to find good books for teenagers. My kid finds "teen fiction" fatuous and I don't blame him. So I was pleased to find this grown-up book highly recommended for "young adults" on a British website.

I gave it to my kid for Christmas. He hasn't read it yet, but I read it myself. I recommend it highly for adults. The narrator is unsentimental and very real, the story is engrossing, and the book provides a window on a world that few of us experience.

Parents: If you are thinking of buying it for a kid, you should be aware that there are a few explicit sex scenes towards the end. They are not gratuitous, I think, but they are graphic and certainly not suitable for a 14-year-old. Too bad. Otherwise it would be a fine alternative to "teen fiction".

Despite glowing reviews in "Publishers Week" and other English-language publications, this novel never caught fire in terms of sales as a translated work. Perhaps it is too Dutch or the translation has not caught the mood. In the Netherlands it was a hit and has been reprinted 43 times so far.

What appealed to NL readers was the story, its venue and its two heroes, immobile Frankie and hyperactive Joe. It is about teenagers and young adults doing incredible things in pursuit of passion. Frankie was overrun by a tractor while contemplating his place in the universe, lying on his back in a meadow. He became a quadriplegic, unable to speak or do much else, except finishing high school thanks to the full control of his mind and right hand and arm. On a day when his family dumps him in an abandoned building during their visit to a fair, he meets Joe Speedboat, a newcomer in the small town, who refuses to live with his given name and revolutionizes Frankie's life. He soon outs himself as an explosions expert.

A lifelong friendship begins, full of challenges: A new dentist from South Africa settles. The daughter is delectable, her mother rumored to sunbathe naked in the walled back garden. A small team of sex-starved teenagers led by Joe, incl. Frankie, strive to see this, and successfully build a light airplane with the help of school books and specialized manuals, powered by the engine of a Subaru car.

Later, Joe Speedboat introduces Frankie into the world of professional arm wrestling to finance his participation in the annual Paris-Dakar race. Not with a car, motorbike or truck, but with a shovel ("next best vehicle to cross sand dunes after the camel"). The book contains plenty of philosophy and deserves international attention and readership.

Warm book full of delayed world class jokes and twist and turns covering hundreds of pages. Frankie is never, ever portrayed as a pitiful creature. Highly recommended