#576 The Wine Dark Sea- Robert Stone
Steadman’s Island off the New England Coast is a small village community. It is being overwhelmed by the presence of the Secretary of Defense and a high governmnet conference descending on them all. Eric is freelance journalist, wanderer, alcoholic, trouble-finder. He is on assignment for a former nudie-magazine to cover the reaction by the locals.
He stumbles his way into staying with his ex-girlfriend’s sister and brother in-law, Annie and Taylor. This doesn’t go well. To start with, the island was literally and figuratively covered in a dense fog cover. “It was liberating, the complete obscurity. Past, gone, present solitary, future fading out.”
Taylor, it turns out, is a rabid anti-authoritarian, misanthrope recovering alcoholic with a chip on his shoulder and doesn’t appreciate Eric’s crashing at his house. His anger is exasperated by Eric’s Nihilistic banter and his drunken Tomfoolery. Avoiding a fight, he leaves in the morning to get interviews for his story. As crazy as those two are, the Secretary is even more bat-shit nuts. Eric gets tackled by security, Taylor—a ferry worker—gets thrown overboard by the Secretary himself and all the local and federal law enforcement are taking sides. Everybody gets their story.
There is a big anger theme running through this one. The buffoonish characters are fun to follow.
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