The Starboard Sea

Written by Amber Dermont

Narrated by Alexander Cendese

"A rich, quietly artful novel that is bound for deep water, with questions of beauty, power and spiritual navigation as its main concerns. The title refers not to the right side of a boat but to the right course through life, and the immense difficulty of finding and following it."—Janet Maslin, The New York Times

A powerful first novel about life and death, friendship and love, as one young man must navigate the depths of his emotions.

JASON PROSPER grew up in the elite world of Manhattan penthouses, Maine summer estates, old-boy prep schools, and exclusive sailing clubs. A smart, athletic teenager, Jason maintains a healthy, humorous disdain for the trappings of affluence, preferring to spend afternoons sailing with Cal, his best friend and boarding-school roommate. When Cal commits suicide during their junior year at Kensington Prep, Jason is devastated by the loss and transfers to Bellingham Academy. There, he meets Aidan, a fellow student with her own troubled past. They embark on a tender, awkward, deeply emotional relationship.
When a major hurricane hits the New England coast, the destruction it causes brings with it another upheaval in Jason's life, forcing him to make sense of a terrible secret that has been buried by the boys he considers his friends.

Set against the backdrop of the 1987 stock market collapse, The Starboard Sea is an examination of the abuses of class privilege, the mutability of sexual desire, the thrill and risk of competitive sailing, and the adult cost of teenage recklessness. It is a powerful and provocative novel about a young man finding his moral center, trying to forgive himself, and accepting the gift of love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Feb 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9781455877393

Amber Dermont

Amber Dermont received her MFA in fiction from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her short stories have appeared in numerous literary magazines and anthologies, including Dave Eggers’s Best American Nonrequired Reading 2005, Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope: All-Story, and Jane Smiley’s Best New American Voices 2006. A graduate of Vassar College, she received her Ph.D. in creative writing and literature from the University of Houston. She currently serves as an associate professor of English and creative writing at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia.

Reviews for The Starboard Sea

[lincolnpan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved this book so much. Like almost any book based at boarding schools but this one is realistic yet subtle with a great lead protagonist.

[melissarochelle_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I came close to reading 30% of this book and then I just got bored (I read those 80+ pages over one week -- that's slow progress for me). While I am interested in the backstory of both Jason and Aiden -- what happened to them to bring both to Bellingham? -- there wasn't enough to KEEP me interested. First, I don't care about sailing or the wind. I'm sure sailing and the wind symbolizes SOMETHING, but there are other books I want to read more. And sure I could keep slogging my way through the book, but instead I'll just read the reviews with spoilers and move onto to a book that holds my attention for more than one page at a time. Sure it may not seem fair to rate it when I didn't finish it, but here's the thing: I gave it enough to know that it wasn't my cup of tea. It's an OK read, but I didn't like it enough to keep going: thus 2 stars.I'm actually quite disappointed that I didn't like it more. The cover, the description, it made me think of A Separate Peace, but ASP kept my attention and this one simply did not. :(

[amandanan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4.5 stars. Half a star for the assholes getting away with what happened. Also disappointed that Jason and Cal never had a chance to speak their true feelings. Having briefly dated a guy who has a sailboat, I has no trouble getting the gist of all the sailing talk. However, it did convince more than ever that I will never be more than a pretty face with a drink in hand on any sailboat.

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Several years ago I read Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum. I was impressed by his windswept tale of a trip of more than 46,000 miles over three years at the age of fifty, a solo circumnavigation. I mention this because that book is one of several that plays a supporting role in a first novel by Amber Dermont, a coming of age tale The Starboard Sea. Perhaps the teenager in this story will develop some of the maturity and courage that Joshua Slocum demonstrated. This is only the start for him, a jumping-off point for what is yet to be. The story begins in 1987, when 18-year-old Jason Prosper begins a final year at Bellingham, a third-rate private school for well-off delinquents. Confused about his sexuality, he's alternately self-absorbed and self-aware. He does not seem to fit in with most of his peers during his periods of introspection which are some of the best parts of the novel. The author is successful in slowly developing Jason's background through these moments and the flashbacks to his life at his previous school with his best friend Cal. Dermont is a confident stylist, musical and alliterative. Jason has an older brother, a forerunner for avaricious bankers who discusses "turning their Renoir into an ATM", which is disconcerting because it sounds like something a wealthy philistine might conceivably say. Though Jason is not without faults he appears favorable in comparison. In addition to the coming of age theme there is an overlay of criticism of the privileged life of the boys and girls at the school. because the starboard sea of the title is "the right sea, the true sea … the best path in life". Dermont's strongest writing describes sailing but when Prosper competes in a championship, she sensibly resists a dramatic sporting climax. Instead, the skewed sense of loyalty that his unhappy parents instill in him suggests that, although Prosper is committed to breaking the cycle of inherited misery, he will never entirely escape the small world of the entitled. The economic news of the late eighties is ever present in the background.Prosper confronts prejudice and corruption, befriending Bellingham's lone black student and investigating the fate of an enigmatic girl, Aidan, who was on the verge of becoming the friend that might replace his best friend Cal from his previous school. There is a certain amount of tragedy in Jason's life that must also be experienced before he can come to terms with his personal destiny. The idea that "sailing is the art of asking questions" reflects the novel's unresolved conundrums: fathers, present and absent, are a source of angst, so are we better off with or without them? And do Dermont's upper-class grotesques live with too little or too much shame? Along with the image of the ocean, the night sky becomes an indicator with stars as symbolic guides for life. The ocean is also the potential source for answers because the starboard sea of the title is "the right sea, the true sea … the best path in life". Dermont's best writing describes sailing but when Prosper competes in a championship, she sensibly resists a dramatic sporting climax. It is this writing that elevates the novel to the class with those like John Knowles' A Separate Peace that capture both the magic and the angst of developing the foundation for a life that is yet to be.

[cygnoir_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an interesting juxtaposition to The Secret History, which I finished reading just before I started The Starboard Sea. Both novels are concerned with issues of identity, shame, guilt, and violence both overt and subtle. Both are also examinations of how one devises his/her moral compass -- or sextant, in this case -- but whereas the former is obvious and tense, the latter unfolds so subtly. Dermont's voice, sparsely elegant and lush without being overwrought, suits the subject matter and plot perfectly. I enjoyed how moments from scenes that already happened would find their way into later narrative, as opposed to a straight, chronological-only style of storytelling. What a debut! I look forward to future Dermont stories.

[denzilpugh · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Everyone has a story. Browse through the Memoir section of your local independent bookstore, and you'll find hundreds of them. They'll give you a slant, a spin, an angle of each person's life, the way they would have you see it. Ask their friends, their business associates, and they'll give you a totally different story. You could even sit down with the person in question and listen to their life story, and you'll almost have a picture of the entire life, from the high-crashing waves to the calm eddies that hide along the shore. But always hidden deep within the cores of our being are the pearls of our lives, which we clamp shut, hold fast, and no amount of muscle will let anyone see it. They are secrets, desires, the very foundations by which we see the rest of the world. Every once in a while, a person will come along and dive deep down into our souls, and we will let them in. We will tell them our stories, showing our pearls and the sand from which they came. The Starboard Sea by Amber Dermont is just such a novel. It becomes a porthole into the inner lives of the characters, especially the main one, Jason Prosper, who, little by little, tell us all his story. Each character is fully developed, fleshed out, with words that are worth reading completely, not skimming over as part of "something every author has to do." The writing is lyrical, soothing, much like the seaside town that Amber Dermont is writing about. The frequent forays into yachting, racing with the upper class New England town boys that seem to have no problems or cares in the world are done exquisitely, giving the reader an opportunity to experience the thrill of riding on the open ocean without the boring details that, ironically as he tried to do the same, Melville used in Moby Dick. I think that if Dermont had written a book about the White Whale, I would have read enthralled from Ishmael to Ahab and through the Romantic landscape of the seas. Most of all, I enjoyed the intimate contact between Jason and Aiden, and with Cal through his memories, and with Chester and the rest. I do wish that we could have seen more of Jason showing Aiden the Pearls in his life, or the other times he let people into his inner "oyster," for lack of a better word. But we have to be content with the side glances of these, as we should never see these ourselves, (one of the distinct advantages of writing in the 1st person) since Jason is telling the story himself. I've read many debut novels recently, as an employee of Borders, and I have always been impressed with the potential in each of these authors to become better, to write truly great literature. I look forward to reading the follow up to Ford's The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, but I realized, as I finished this novel, that Dermont is closest to achieving those masterpieces. I look forward to those as well. I only wish that she had taught the Creative Writing course I took in my small university in Georgia, as I would have learned much. I thank you, Dr. Dermont, for giving a window into how you write, how the stories are meant to be told, and only hope that more people will witness the sea the way you have written it.Short Review: If Dermont had written Moby Dick, I would have relished every word. The foray into the world of New England boarding schools, with all the heartbreak and ecstasy, is done wonderfully. Jason Prosper navigates his way through love, death, and all the swirling eddies in between in this amazing debut novel. I hope it finds it's way to the top of all the bookstores' "Staff Picks" displays. I know it would mine.

[kraaivrouw · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was attracted to this book by its plot description, but unsure what to expect since it's a debut novel - those don't always live up to the promise of their synopses and hype. I needn't have worried. The Starboard Sea is a beautifully written elegy to the late eighties, to being hyper-rich, to boarding school, to love, loss, and adolescence.Jason Prosper, our narrator, has been kicked out of his previous boarding school for initally undisclosed reasons and ends up at the boarding school of last resort - Bellingham - the place you go when there's nowhere else to go other than prison or drug rehab. Trying to deal with the death of his best friend and sailing partner, Cal, while navigating the rocky shoals of boarding school is a challenge. The Starboard Sea tells the story of his senior year - what happened, what might've happened, the prices that were paid.Ms. Dermont has written an assured and honest book about how much adolescence sucks - no matter where you are. Anchored in loss, Jason's journey is one the reader wants to follow. The book is brutally honest. Adolescents can be maudlin and Jason is, too. His voice is captured elegantly and neatly integrated into his environment of privilege and bullying and deep friendships plus love. There is a lot of violence running underneath the surface and through it all there is Jason - trying to cope, trying to figure out who he is, trying to get through 'til the end.Although I did not attend a New England boarding school, I did leave high school a year early. I was miserable and wasting my time. My best friend killed himself in a car accident the summer before junior year and I couldn't take it. I headed for college based on my SAT scores and hung on for dear life - not always making it. Ms. Dermont captures what that all feels like in a way I haven't read before. The voice, the emotions, the confusion, the moments of clarity and all the bitter despair radiate throughout the novel.One of the best things I've read all year - you must read this book.

[foodairbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book, but I didn't love it. It was still better than most books. Maybe I expected too much of it. I was hoping for something like The Secret History. This book lacked suspense and the thrill of payoff. I don't think that's what the author was going for. It could have been suspenseful, & that's what I wanted. This is not the author's fault at all. I was annoyed she was writing a book about a boy's coming of age. We're choked with books about boys. I'm all for appropriating the male voice—the rich white male voice, in this book. But we don't have nearly as many books about girls' coming of age. Girls sail, too. What was good: It was really beautifully written, and it captured the totally fluid gender and sexuality one tends to have in high school. It was not mean-spirited. I enjoyed this book. I don't buy many new books, and I feel like I got my money's worth with this one. I'll check out the author's next book.

[suetu_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

So, this is how the other half lives…I pick up novels for all sorts of different reasons. In this case, I thought, “Students in school in the mid-80’s? I was in school then.” That was enough; who isn’t nostalgic about their teen years? I assumed I’d have an instant short-hand, a recognition of the time and place. Nothing could have been further from the truth. The characters in Amber Dermont’s debut novel, The Starboard Sea, aren’t in high school; they’re at an exclusive New England prep school. Bellingham’s a boarding school for the sons and daughters of the rich who have struck out everywhere else. The novel opens as protagonist Jason Prosper arrives at school for the first time. He will spend his senior year there. He’s a subdued young man, having suffered a tragedy at his last school. The bare fact of his roommate and best friend’s death is revealed early on, but it takes the entire novel for the full truth to come out.At Bellingham, Jason reconnects with friends and acquaintances from past schools, and with some difficulty makes new friends, notably a quiet girl named Aidan. The novel details the events of his senior year, his search for identity, and his coming of age. Dermont isn’t striking out into fresh new territory here, but her writing is subtle and strong. I have to admit that I had a surprisingly difficult time getting into the story initially. There were so many characters, all these school boys with their nicknames. How to keep apart “Race” and “Taze”? Eventually I did pin most of them down, but there was a sameness to these sons of privilege. Jason and a few other characters (Aidan, Chester) were well characterized and sympathetic, but there weren’t too many truly likable characters in the book. These people engage in every kind of bad deed.A shocking event occurs halfway through the novel, and things pick up from that point on. By then, the characters and their world have been well-established. (It bears absolutely no resemblance to my experience of that time.) Finally there was some plot to grab hold of. It carried me through the end of the novel, which I found to be stronger than the beginning. At its heart, this is a quiet character study and a novel about loss which, let’s face it, is something of a bummer. While I found The Starboard Sea a reasonably enjoyable read, I’m afraid I can’t join the chorus singing this debut’s praises. It was fine, but nothing I’d go out of my way to recommend.

[baystatera · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Starboard Sea by Amber Dermont could become A Separate Peace for a new generation. Highly recommended!

[ken1952 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Life in an American prep school circa 1987 is seen through the eyes of senior Jason as he tries to come to grips with the death of two close friends. Strong novel, rich in characters. How sad and lost are these chidren of rich folks.

[melaniehope · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What I liked the most about this book was the setting at a New England boarding school for wealthy, privileged teenagers. Just reading about the advantages these students had due to wealth and their family name was pretty fascinating reading. However, we soon learn that no amount of money can protect you from dangers. Set in the 1980's, this is the story of Jason Prosper. He transfers to Bellingham Academy after the suicide of his close friend and sailing partner, Cal. Blaming himself for his death, Jason is unable to forgive himself or move forward. Despite being unsure about his sexuality, Jason begins a relationship with Aiden, a mysterious and troubled girl who also attends Bellingham. With her he slowly begins to deal with Cal's death.However, Jason soon faces another tragedy which pretty much leaves him questioning everything he knows. Meanwhile he is surrounded by irresponsible, often mean spirited students who have never really had limits. This added mix of "no consequences" due to the power of class privilege makes for one great read. I really enjoyed this book, this is a gifted writer. It all felt very authentic and look forward to more from this author.