STERN MEN

A “stern man” is the second man on a lobster boat, who hauls and baits traps while the captain drives. Ruth Thomas, the endearing young heroine, unfolds the story of her love-hate relationship with Fort Niles Island, Maine, and the rival adjacent island of Courne Haven. A delightful ethnography of lobstering culture, the novel gently probes all that is sweetly compassionate and, conversely, alarmingly competitive and hostile in this austere and isolated world. Ruth's sophistication lends her an outsider's perspective. Narrator Allyson Ryan misses the mark in her attempts at the characters' Maine accents. But these jarring moments of dialogue are softened by her grasp of the narrative. Still, the author's use of humor and irony could have been expressed with more nuance. (Yes, a listener can hear a smile or a stifled laugh.) A.W. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2008]