One of my top ten novels of all time. ( )

For starters, I'm an absolute sucker for stories about men who go down to the sea in ships. Whether it's history or fiction, I've read every book on the subject that I could get my hands on. That said, it is with a heavy heart that I have come to the conclusion that this book was a big disappointment. The story itself was fine. It's about a small ship involved in a war with Iran that also has a run-in with ISIS pirates. If the author had limited his writing to that story, I'd have given it at least 4 stars.

Unfortunately, that isn't what he did. The author clearly is of the opinion that all Democrats and people under fifty are idiots and let these opinions bleed onto almost every page of the book. The story begins with the protagonist, distinguished Navy Captain Stephen Rensselaer offering his honest opinions to a president who is clearly more stupid than any actual president has ever been (if that is even possible), and ends up with his career in ruins, assigned to a ship much smaller than his rank would ordinarily entitle him to. Despite carrying out his mission in an exemplary manner, this president orders that he be charged with a long list of serious charges, including mutiny and desertion in wartime. Even now, when we have seen a former president threaten the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff with execution if he gets reelected, I found this whole chain of events to be extremely improbable.

What offends me almost as much as the inanity of this scenario is the fact that nobody other than the main character appeared to know anything of history, literature, or culture. No Marine I have ever served with would not know about the Battle of Khe Sanh, but in this book, they didn't. When Captain Rensselaer called one of his crewmen Horatio, no one recognized that he was quoting Hamlet and they all thought he was getting senile. This attitude was reinforced when he played Mozart on the ship's address system. In short, Helprin's attitude towards most Americans was such that I was surprised that he didn't have Rensselaer shouting for them to get off his lawn.

I find this sad because Helprin has written several other books which are highly regarded and, had I not been so disappointed with this on, I would have liked to have read them. I find that very unlikely now. ( )

Really good story and enjoyable book. It was a little flowery. Still. Good book. ( )

Engaging thriller. Lots of action and good information about naval warfare. The romance was a little too cliche. ( )

Delightful book with endearing characters. A love story, a war story, but mainly a story of character. A naval officer finds himself defending the importance of coastal cruisers and for hours trouble has a promotion withheld and given one to captain. Faced with insurmountable challenges he still triumphs. The story telling is magical. ( )