Customer Reviews

Tunnell's Boys

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

 

 

I thought Tony Junker's book was pretty wonderful. He writes about sailing and ships with far more technical mastery than I could fully understand...O'Brien didn't seem to go quite as deeply into the details, except of course in the battles and chases. Junker's characters are certainly as vivid as you could ask for, and highly believable. I can't swear that I understood the motives at all points. The extremely interesting theme for me was the sometimes ambiguous Quaker discussion that dominates the book. It certainly lays down the question that is universal: what do you do when evil seems necessary to do good, and when the two seem to trade places?

I could not put this book down until I had finished it and then felt sad that there was no more to read. This novel is well written with clever flashbacks clearly bringing the past together with the present narrative. Set in the time of the Spanish American War, around Philidelphia, the characters and trends of the times come to life under Tony Junker's skilled pen. The Quaker tenet of nonviolence is a main thread in this book as one of the main characters struggles with nonviolence ('the third way') versus using force to achieve percieved justice. Very poignant given our current involvment in wars created by our own government.

Looking for an historical novel for your favorite history buff for the holidays? Try Tony Junker's Tunnell's Boys. Junker weaves a story around the Delaware River and its pilots during the late 1800's. The pilots were a skilled lot who needed to know every nook and cranny of the river and be able to pilot any type of boat up to Philadelphia or back out to sea. The book reads as a compelling story, while at the same tine chronicling the period of the Spanish-American War. The war becomes a sub-plot with the characters divided in opinion on its justification. The pros and cons mirror today's discussion of the Iraq War, giving the book a contemporary edge. Junker's characters represent a mix of the social classes, including well-to-do Quakers. All remain complex individuals whose very complexity drives the plot. As in life, the outcome remains hard to predict, making this a most readable book.

Margo Tassi

Written about apprentices to pilots of the Delaware River from about 1885 to about 1895, the book presented an excellent portayal of the art and science of piloting in those days to this retired Delaware River pilot.

The competitive and deeply conflicted relationship of two young men who begin their apprenticeships together as river captains on the Delaware River in the late 1800's is the centerpiece of this fascinating novel. One represents the conventional and conformist values of the day, the other very high-minded Quaker ideals which are not easily realized and often provoke scorn. Both individuals have a great deal to learn about life, and their adventures, often through stormy seas, create a rich context for depicting the final days of the nearly forgotten era of great commerical sailing vessels. The book pulls in the reader and keeps one turning the pages.

Beautifully written and engrossing tale of "men in ships", in this case the pilot boat trade out of Philadelphia in the 1890's.

The principal characters are two young men you will come to care about as they grow in skill, courage and moral ambiguity. The class context, the war fever and the religious background (Quaker Philadelphia) brings the decade alive and makes this novel far more than just a seafaring yarn.

Junker has history, maritime piloting, Quakerism, protagonists are well developed, physical and metaphysical adventures...lots to ponder and the pages turn quickly. Bought several copies for gifts.

Having a keen interest in the subject matter this book purportedly covers, that of piloting on the Delaware Bay and River, I was very disappointed to find the discussion of piloting is only a sidebar to the book's main theme. If I was interested in reading about Quakers and their objection to war, or the love triangle that ensues, I would have rated this book much higher. Although fiction, I was expecting this book to cover in much greater detail what it took to become a pilot at the turn of the century and would have found this highly interesting. To the contrary, the reader is left with little more knowledge of this area at the end of the book as he was at the beginning. This is a prime example of the saying, 'You can't tell a book by its cover'.