Spartina [Hardcover]

John Casey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 17, 1989

Winner of the 1989 National Book Award

A classic tale of a man, a boat, and a storm, Spartina is the lyrical and compassionate
story of Dick Pierce, a commercial fisherman along the shores of Rhode Island's
Narragansett Bay. A kind, sensitive, family man, he is also prone to irascible outbursts
against the people he must work for, now that he can no longer make his living from the
sea.

Pierce's one great passion, a fifty-foot fishing boat called Spartina, lies unfinished in
his back yard.  Determined to get the funds he needs to buy her engine, he finds himself
taking a foolish, dangerous risk.  But his real test comes when he must weather a storm at
sea in order to keep his dream alive.  Moving and poetic, Spartina is a masterly story of
one man's ongoing struggle to find his place in the world.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Dick Pierce, fisherman and boat-builder, lives on the Rhode Island shore in a backwater world of salt marshes, alcoholic fishermen, crab boats and old homesteads disappearing under new resorts for inland tourists. A stubborn man thoughtful enough to know that the world is becoming too small for men like himself, Pierce has a mortgage, a family, a "puny income from lobstering" and a dream: to finish the half-built boat in his backyard so he can fish for red crabs out in deep water, make some real money and raise himself and his family up. He is a classic American solitary hero, and Casey knows the sloughs of the Rhode Island shore as well as any fisherman. Spartina won the National Book Award in 1989. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In his first novel since his 1978 debut with An American Romance , Casey uses a simple, unadorned narrative style to create an evocative character study. Dick Pierce is a Rhode Island fisherman who has managed to support his wife and two sons but has always found bigger and easier money just one step--a bank loan, a sponsor, a bigger boat--out of his reach. Instead, he works alone, and occasionally takes rich couples out for fishing runs, although he can barely tolerate their arrogance and dilettantish behavior. Taciturn and restless in his 40s, he grows inward, nursing grudges and regrets, until the unexpected occurs: an affair with Elsie, a bright young National Resources warden who alone has the power to draw out and challenge her lover. Gruff and relatively inexpressive, Pierce might be an impenetrable central character in the hands of a lesser writer, but Casey's skills as a portraitist are considerable; he captures just enough of Pierce's private moments and lonely fears to make him touching and believable.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 375 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1st edition (June 17, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394500989
• ISBN-13: 978-0394500980
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #482,183 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Casey was born in 1939 in Worcester, Massachusetts, and educated at Harvard College, Harvard Law School, and the University of Iowa. His previous novel, Spartina, won the 1989 National Book Award for fiction. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he is Henry Hoyns Professor in the English Department at the University of Virginia. He is literary executor of the estate of Breece D'J Pancake.

www.johndcasey.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully Written; Flawed Characters, January 20, 2005

By 

R. L. Williams (Edgerton, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spartina (Hardcover)

I've read 'Spartina' a couple of times now and thought about it as a book I might want to suggest to my book club. While doing a bit of investigation on the price of used copies members might want to purchase, I came across some of the negative reviews here at Amazon. Although I'd never written a review previously, I felt compelled to try and add my voice to those who are surprised - in my case, astonished - with these reviews.

When reading literature, it seems to me that whether we like the characters or not is irrelevant. There are plenty of examples in great literature where the characters aren't people we 'like', but there is no argument as to whether or not the books themselves are worth reading. The same is true with 'Spartina.'

Personally, I did 'like' the characters in this book. Casey's writing gives us characters we feel we know by the end of the novel and, much like knowing the flaws of our friends and family members, we know the flaws of these characters and we know the reasons behind the flaws. We understand and we sympathize at the same time we're shaking our heads at their reckless decision-making. I never stopped 'liking' them even though they made their mistakes and I doubt most readers would.

Read this book. Enjoy it for what it is: a great novel with characters beautifully crafted - warts and all - by a wonderful author.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars superb character study with understated elegance, June 22, 2005

By 

Solidago (Central NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spartina (Paperback)

It has been quite a while since I've read Spartina but I was compelled to post a short review in light of Spartina's 3.5 star average rating. The "Feminist Alert" review took me aback as I consider Spartina to be as good as contemporary fiction gets. I am a female and found this novel to be beautifully and thoughtfully written in the style of "A Thousand Acres." I will say no more as the other positive reviewers have already captured the worth of this story.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great sea story, a great character story, August 27, 2005

By 

Vic (Issaquah, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spartina (Paperback)

This is a really great story, wonderfully well-written. The character is fully developed, both his good as well as his questionable sides...and he is very real. I think a lot of men his age will find a good character-connection with this story, and the struggles faced by the main character. I did. Casey has a great talent with words and story. This novel deserved it's National Book Award.