In the Wake of the Boatman is a study of family dynamics and sexuality. The narrative concentrates on the life of Puttnum Douglas Steward, born during the middle of World War Two, and immediately considered better off dead than alive by his father. And so begins Puttnum's life. Spanning the next thirty three years, his is an existence of deep sorrow and humorous irony. A befuddled adolescent, Puttnum is a good, hardworking student, but an angry young man. In his junior year of high school, he is arrested for joy riding, an event which galvanizes his father's poor opinion of him. Nevertheless, two years later he is accepted into the University of Virginia on an ROTC scholarship. Cloistered away at school, he begins to detect something different about himself, culminating in a brief, unnerving fling with his annoying cadet commander. After college, in the weeks prior to officer's training school, he dons a dress and pantyhose for the first time, initiating a struggle to accept this unexpected and entirely unwanted facet of his personality. Initially horrified, Puttnum asks to see action in Vietnam, where he is determined to suppress his urge or terminate all problems. Instead, he returns to the states three years later, wounded and decorated and no less confused. Through fate or irony, he immediately becomes an American mole within a Russian spy ring. This event ultimately catapults him into the nation's conscience, where the media and the Army depict him as the prototypical American man. A flustered icon with a bizarre secret, Puttnum becomes the armed forces' token hero, its soul luminary in the Vietnam era. Racked by guilt and his father's death, his problems begin to boil, and he flees his life and celebrity in a final attempt to come to terms with himself. There are many characters throughout the book, all of whom make an impact, of some sort, on Puttnum's. His beautiful sister Mary, a psychologist, understands others better than she understands herself. Her husband, Chester (Survival) Darwin, is the archetypal Hemingway male and the logical person to secede her father as the dominant man in her life. He is the type to swallow tacks to illustrate his hardened nature. His mother, Helen, is a woman of extreme beauty and a weakness for the bottle. Well meaning but misguided, she is an alcoholic with an aristocratic lineage. More than anything, she desires to recapture her family's lost nobility, a state which she believes existed, momentarily, in the early years of her marriage. Puttnum's father, Carl, is a man confounded by the masculine stereotypes of his time. An annoying knee injury, suffered in childhood, keeps him from service during World War Two. A series of scarred ligaments and muscles cramps one of his legs whenever he experiences high pressure situations. Humiliated by the implications, Carl projects his anxieties onto his male child, and worries, throughout the years, that his boy will never stack up. As he gets older, however, he begins to perceive, in moments of introspection, that his behavior is the cause of their alienation.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Fuqua is a true master of character. In his hands, Putt is every bit as compelling as he is complex a cipher to all, including himself, but so grippingly real it's difficult to put the book away and let him go. But that's no surprise. With a writer as brilliant as Fuqua, the only surprise is that so many readers have yet to discover him." -- Harrison Demchick, Award-Winning Screen Adapter Of Fuqua's The Reappearance Of Sam Webber "Book's Back Cover"
About the Author
Jonathon Scott Fuqua has written the highly praised and Alex Award-winning novel, The Reappearance of Sam Webber, as well as the critically acclaimed and recently published book, Gone and Back Again. He is also the author of three much lauded, award-winning young adult novels, King of the Pygmies, DARBY, and The Willoughby Spit Wonder. For teenagers and adults, he penned a "groundbreaking" graphic novel, In the Shadow of Edgar Allan Poe. All of his published books are available nationally and internationally.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
his is a deep psychological character study,
This review is from: In the Wake of the Boatman (Hardcover)
In November 1942, Helen Steward gives birth to her second child, Puttnum. His father Carl is in a dark mood with the events of WWII and his bad knee keeping him out of the service; something a man's man like him cannot accept. He thinks his son would be better off dead and considers saving Puttnum from life's disappointments by breaking his neck.That paternal attitude stays with Putt as he does well at his high school studies, but is filled with anger; his arrest affirms his father's opinion that his only male offspring is a loser. The teen obtains an ROTC scholarship to attend the University of Virginia where he has an interlude with his cadet commander, which leaves Putt struggling with his identity. Graduating from college, Putt puts on women's attire; he feels guilt, fear and euphoria. To prove he is a man's man, he volunteers for Viet Nam where he becomes a decorated hero. Back home, he is recruited to infiltrate a stateside Russian espionage ring, afterward the media and the military make him an American hero forcing him to hide even deeper his desire to wear women's clothing. Whereas his father and brother-in-law (another man's man) agree Putt is a loser, his older sister thinks otherwise though she knows something disturbs him turning him angrier and colder. This is a deep psychological character study in which the relationship between father and son is based on what a man is. Carl feels his son is a wimp in spite of his service record and spy endeavors; though that is a psychological defense mechanism as his offspring accomplishes what he wanted to do. Putt is a fascinating character as he struggles with his unholy desire to wear women's clothing by acting cold. IN THE WAKE OF THE BOATMAN is an intriguing psychological drama that looks deep inside the tormented soul of a man whose solo reason for living is trying to win his father's affection despite decades of failure to achieve his objective. Harriet Klausner
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book, thoughtful writing, could hardly put it down.,
By
This review is from: In the Wake of the Boatman (Hardcover)
This story takes the reader through the emotionally & physically tattered life of Puttnum (Putt) from infancy to nearly middle age. While he bears many emotional scars due to his impossible relationship with his Father and the deep envy of his sister, he also achieves a good deal of glory and success even though he feels unable to acknowledge it.I really enjoyed this story. The main character is likable and the reader will feel compelled to sympathize with his various plights. Just when you feel as though Putt has become too callous and cold to understand, a deeper side of him emerges. The author introduces his embarrassing yet undeniable passion and we also meet someone for whom he has great passion and love. Both of these loves are gripping plot twists in the book, and for the first time, as a reader, I sense that Putt truly feels "alive." The book is a combination of highs and lows that will thrill, entertain, and perplex the reader - yet it is in no way predictable. I highly recommend this book.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A struggle for self,
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This review is from: In the Wake of the Boatman (Hardcover)
This is a wonderful novel, fraught with symbolism and deep psychological overtones, as the main protagonist grapples with his demons in a frustrating attempt to determine who he really is. Extolling the value of forgiveness, or how the lack thereof keeps one stuck, this is a tale of a young man from a dysfunctional family, who struggles valiantly to pardon his inept but very human father and forgive himself for the real and imagined embarrassments and shameful thoughts that are merely a part of the human condition. Because of his own internal self-judgments and sense of what he thinks he should be doing, thinking and feeling, the young man in question has great difficulty in accepting himself for what he views are his own hideous imperfections.It is quite sad to note that the major part of this man's guilt and shame stems from the societal prejudice and internalized transphobic feelings that exist and are directed against such individuals, particularly males, who have so little outlet to express their feminine side. Over the years, I've learned that we remain trapped in the mire of what we cannot communicate. This story is an example of such a stuck and incapacitated fellow, a man who is wallowing in his hidden secrets, creating a fictitious and disingenuous self in an attempt to become a person who is acceptable by society's standards. In so doing, it is impossible for him to see his own heroism and value is a human being as he internalizes his own shameful feelings. The end result is that he manifests severe adjustment difficulties, sabotages his loving relationships, engages in potentially self-destructive behavior and displays secret, guilt-ridden fetishistic transvestism. In fact, the intensity of the guilt and shame this man experiences is so great he cannot tell anyone, not even his best friend, about the gender dysphoric feelings that are slowly destroying him. He cannot exist in a successful intimate relationship because he is too ashamed of his inner voices. Instead, he contemplates suicide and often escapes into his own fantasy world, where he can become the woman of his dreams, free of the pressures he has created for himself. His only hope is that one day his true self will emerge and he will turn his life around. In the end, I think the author has pointed him in that direction.
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