Sea Room is a coming-of-age story set in Maine during World War II. The author provides exquisite detail as he tells of young Jordi Dupuy’s French Canadian heritage, lobstering, 1940s farm life, and the real terrors and dilemmas of any war. The art of boat building, the hauling of lobster pots, and the day-to-day existence of the families who wait for news of their soldier-son-husband-father takes on real depth and a multitude of hues as Gautreau paints with specific and appropriate colors to his subject matter.
It is obvious that this author did his research as the specifics decorate the context he places them in this shining debut. The natural beauty of the Maine Coast and the powerful sea itself remains with the reader long after the book concludes, and underscores the powerful coming-of-age theme as well as the question Job asked in the bible, “Why me?” as Jordi and his family deal with natural disaster, pivotal life-altering decisions, searing tragedy, and their understandings of each other.
The mystery that unfolds at the end of the book is logically set up and explained, occurring as the author’s deft insertion of the salient facts revealed it. This book was difficult to put down especially when tragedy loomed ahead like a buoy tossed on a hurricane-driven wave. The author gives his characters depth and multiple facets, placing them in situations that reverberate and make the reader care deeply for their welfare. The plotting becomes a little tedious in the middle of the book but is saved by the letters from Gil as they become more personal.
This is a well-crafted book that instructs us in the details of building a sailboat, echoes the bewilderment and wonder of a teenage boy, and glistens with moments of true beauty. A novel works when the metaphor that anchors it resonates after you put it down. In the future, it will be hard to not ask myself about my own sea room each time I’m thrust into an enigmatic personal moral choice.
Mr. Gautreau is a resident of Wakefield, Massachusetts.
Leane M. Ellis, May 4, 2002.
Lucius Beebe Memorial Library
- lme.