Navigating the Darwin Straits [Paperback]

Edith Forbes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 3, 2001

Navigating the Darwin Straits reintroduces some of the characters from Edith Forbes’s Alma Rose, most notably Jordy McNeil. Growing up in a small western town with a lesbian mom presents challenges Jordy would rather avoid. As soon as he can, he makes an escape, landing in the San Francisco Bay Area where he joins Ultimall, an Internet startup company. As his fortunes rise and fall with Ultimall, he finds himself with a fat bank account but an increasing sense of emptiness and unease. His search for meaning takes him to Seattle, but tragedy sends him into self-imposed exile. Forced to confront his disillusionment, Jordy eventually finds a way to re-enter the world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

If the theory of natural selection holds true, it never went down as easily as it does in this novel, an account of a young man's struggle to make a meaningful life for himself. Meet Jordy McNeil, the repeatedly demoralized but always persistent protagonist of Forbes's (Alma Rose) newest offering. As if adolescence weren't hard enough, Jordy is undersized, a computer nerd and the son of an openly lesbian mother. Fed up with Oregon and a love gone wrong, Jordy's mom decides to move back to her small Western hometown of Kilgore, introducing Jordy to his religious grandparents and redneck uncle. Jordy falls hard for a beautiful classmate, Reba--only to discover when she announces she is gay that her interest in him is as a confidant. Jordy survives high school and takes a job as a computer programmer in a small California company, existing mostly on hope and unrequited love. When the company is bought out, he becomes an overnight tycoon at age 20, with more money than he can spend and no one to share it with. Giving up his cubicle, Jordy begins a voyage of discovery, searching out the seamy side of Mexico, the gang-ridden streets of Seattle and isolation in upstate Maine. Filled with uncanny insight and surprising depth, Forbes's witty, succinctly told tale will delight readers. Jordy is an eminently likable protagonist, and it's a pleasure to accompany him on his journey. (Mar. 15)Forecast: Forbes has previously scored with queer lit and sci-fi. This time she should find an enthusiastic audience among open-minded members of the dot-com generation who are looking for a spiritual and philosophical jolt.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Engaging from the get-go, this book maps the journeys of Jordy McNeil, a short computer geek relocated at age 14 to a "one-computer town," where he lives with his lesbian mom and her new lover, dodges redneck fists, and learns resilience. He falls for Reba, and after she comes out, he acts as her boyfriend until graduation, when she flees town. Hurt and listless, Jordy heads for California, where he works for an old friend of his mother's who's starting a software company on a shoestring. Paid mainly in shares, Jordy finds himself rich at age 20. Still, his life seems hollow. After time in a hilarious send-up of a New Age retreat and in Latin America, Jordy finds what seems to be his purpose: volunteering as the head of Cyberplace, a walk-in computer lab for Seattle's disenfranchised youth. He particularly cherishes his burgeoning friendship with Spider, a 17-year-old gang member who is shot while talking on the street with Jordy. Devastated and feeling responsible, Jordy banishes himself to Maine. Months later, his "stepmother" Pat finds him near physical and emotional collapse and nurses him back to health. Though much happens and locations shift constantly, Forbes's book never feels rushed. Nor does Jordy's "quest for enlightenment" come off as naive. His self-examinations-wonderfully detailed in a series of e-mails to Pat-make the young man a sympathetic character.-Emily Lloyd, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 282 pages
• Publisher: Seal Press (March 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580050492
• ISBN-13: 978-1580050494
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,131,433 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The joys of being human, May 29, 2001

By 

"blissengine" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Navigating the Darwin Straits (Paperback)

Jordy McNeil moves with his mom back to the small town where she grew up. He's always been picked upon, due to his small size and his habits, but when the kids find out his mom's a lesbian, then his troubles get worse for a while. Jordy learns to adapt to each situation throughout his life, which is part of his charm. After high school, he works for a while in Silicon Valley, where he makes a ton of money, and when those empty feelings overwhelm him, Jordy travels to Latin America on a quest for renewal. From there he goes to Seattle, where he falls victim to a drive-by shooting. He flees across the country to Maine, trying to wake up to life again, and it's only through the interactions with his mother's partner Pat that he succeeds in grabbing a hold of life again. Forbes's novel is connected to her earlier novel, "Alma Rose", but this can be read without reading the previous. Her writing is lively and skilful. This is a beautiful story about finding one's place in the world and in one's family, and about living every experience fully. "Navigating the Darwin Straits" is a perfect example of a book that's an utter joy to read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A rare gem., May 4, 2001

By 

Rowan Mullen (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Navigating the Darwin Straits (Paperback)

This book is one of those novels that are meant to be shared among your dearest friends. It is about circumstance and the intricate connection of coincidents that shape our existance, from the moment we crawled from the sea to who you love in this lifetime.

Jordy McNeil is the intelligent, slight-statured and geeky son of an open lesbian in a small farm community. This makes him vulerable indeed to the insults and beatings beloved by so many ignorant bullies everywhere, but he is able to distance himself enough to understand not only his tormentors' mindsets, but to even gain the grudging respect. His life is far from perfect, but he slips through, strengthened by his mother's pragmaticism balanced by her life partner's calm serenity and acceptance. Through all his adventures is a sense of profound responsibility; the need to make a difference somehow, to break free from the norm and yet feel like a part of something bigger than himself.

It's impossible to relate the events of Jordy's life without falling prey to sappy feel-good phrases. This books is so much more than that. Just when you know what's going to happen, a new twist comes about. Ms. Forbes manages to flesh out very real characters; Jordy is infinitely likeable without being boring and becomes more complex with age and experience. His life is a quest for meaning and relevance, and his story journeys through the bone-white recesses of Silicone Valley at an enterprising Internet startup company, to the quiet ghost-infested ruins of South American pyramids, to the drenched inner-city streets of Seattle, and beyond.

Jordy is cursed, like a few of us, with the need to constantly confirm his meaning and purpose in the universe. Fortunately, while he is introspective, he never comes off as whiney. That's why he is so tragic, this mild boy who turns into a man who feels empty even though he does so much. The title on a whole is satisfying, and the last few chapters so interesting you won't want to put the book down. I won't even try to sum up what happens - just enjoy the twists!

I adored this book and will be sure to check out _Alma Rose_, the book preceding this one, which begins the tale of Jordy's future step-mother. This is one talented author, indeed.

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good, April 13, 2004

By 

Daniel Holland (Arroyo Grande, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Navigating the Darwin Straits (Paperback)

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It started off really great, with some incredibly funny parts about Jordy growing being the runt of the class and dealing with his Mom being a Lesbian and Grandma being a holy roller. There's an awesome line about the Grandma looking at you as if she's calculating the number of BTU's you'd generate burning in hell. I was howling with laughter in these sections.

But then it goes into Silicon Valley computer stuff, and Forbes just doesn't nail the computer culture very well. Having lived it and also reading folks like Douglas Coupland who nailed it, I thought this portion of the book was irritating and boring.

But it was worth it to read on about Jordy's other adventures and reunion with family. Forbe's strength is her subtlety in dealing with the intricacies of relationships and the associated emotions, and this book overcame other difficulties to be worth it in the end. Sometimes when Forbes tries to capture technical details or summarize real-world events it reads a bit like "young adult" fiction, but I think this book was worth the effort.

It's probably been 10 years, but I remember Alma Rose being a stronger overall book.