When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man

Apr 02, 2013 Jane rated it 3 of 5 stars

This quietly compelling debut novel portrays a young man living in a small fishing community, a painful decision he must make, and his coming of age to very fine effect.

The men of Loyalty Island sailed north every winter, to spend the winter fishing. It was dangerous, but it was how the community had survived and thrived for generations. One man had founded that community, had seen the possibilities, and the fishing fleet had passed down through that family ever since. I’ve lived in a fishing co...more

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Apr 01, 2013 Andrew Jacobson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Originally posted at www.wherepenmeetspaper.com

When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man by Nick Dybek (New York: Riverhead, 2012. 320 pp)

A first time author, Nick Dybek is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where he was the recipient of a Hopwood Award for Short Fiction, and the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, where he won a Maytag Fellowship and a Michener-Copernicus Award. He has taught writing at Western Washington University and Augustana College.

Before we get to the meat of the review, let me...more Originally posted at www.wherepenmeetspaper.com

When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man by Nick Dybek (New York: Riverhead, 2012. 320 pp)

A first time author, Nick Dybek is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where he was the recipient of a Hopwood Award for Short Fiction, and the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, where he won a Maytag Fellowship and a Michener-Copernicus Award. He has taught writing at Western Washington University and Augustana College.

Before we get to the meat of the review, let me first just say this: young authors are a dime a dozen, but Nick Dybek finds a way to make that so-called “dime” count. When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man is a stunning and suspenseful novel that takes place in the Pacific Northwest.
Fifteen year old Cal is the son of Henry and Donna and lives on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Rain pummels the landscape, and is perhaps one of the only semi-constants in Cal’s life. Henry is a crabber who sails every fall up from the Olympic Peninsula up to the Berings Sea to spend the entirety of winter catching crab.

Much like the popular television series, Deadliest Catch, the ship that bears Cal’s father is the epitome of danger and uncertainty. And, with great danger comes great adventure. The complexities of life at sea can change a man, and the father that returns home after a voyage at sea is a constant symbol of adventure and wonder to the young boy. During the summers, Cal’s dad tells tall stories, generally centering around Captain Flint of Treasure Island . While Cal loves the Robert Louis Stevenson novel, he always wants to know more about the dreaded pirate. His father obliges.

“I waited under the covers as my father settled down in the blue beanbag on the floor and switched off the bedside lamp. I could smell the nightly cup of coffee on his breath. ‘Years ago,’ he began, ‘when Flint was still a good man…’” (6).

The tales of Treasure Island are fanciful to be certain. But, Cal finds Henry’s own life stories to be just as intriguing.

“It wasn’t until talk turned to where to send the boats that I could concentrate. The Inside Passage. Cape Decision. Veta Bay. Alaska. These places sounded no less fantastic, and no more real, than Skeleton Island, Atlantis, or the City of Apes. At the sound of the names, I could feel my brain stretch. I could imagine white seas and silences. Trickles of light and bolts of cold wind. Boats plowing through waves under flocks of birds, black as keyholes in the sky” (20).

Soon, Cal learns that perhaps all of life isn’t what it seems. Perhaps, all people are formerly good, all stories are tall, and the truth is always hard to find. Why? John Gaunt, the owner of the fishing village, has died. Gaunt’s son, Richard, is found missing at sea, and the other captains of the fleet are suspect, including Henry’s own father. Cal, understandably confused, finds that the world is populated by good men doing “unspeakable harm to other people” to their own gain, much like Captain Flint.

When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man is no Deadliest Catch. It’s better. Dybek’s first novel has morality, multi-dimensional characters, and complex family dynamics. I’m excited to see what this author has to offer in the future.(less)

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Mar 29, 2013 Becca Jayne rated it 4 of 5 stars

When Captain Flint Was Still A Good Man by Nick Dybek
Published by: Corsair
Available: Now in Paperback/Hardback £12.99

When Captain Flint Was Still A Good Man had a brilliant concept, and although it wasn’t my usual genre choice, I am always taken by a book that manages to still engross me in a story-world that I could learn to love. One of my favourite things about Nick Dybek’s book was the dialogue between the children, that came across so adult that it showed growth in the characters across th...more

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Jul 07, 2012 Isabelle rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: great-gift

The title of this book, and the setting on the pacific northwest were what drew me in.

Unfortunately, they were also what kept me reading and the bulk of my thoughts since completing the book has been of those two things, and, primarily the former. If not for those two, there is a good chance I would have strayed.

Now, dont get me wrong, it is a great title, and delivers on exactly what a title should - the essence of a novel in a single moment (think about "Delicacy" "Shroud" "We, the drowned"...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Caroline rated it 3 of 5 stars

I loved the concept, loved the setting, and for the most part loved the writing, but there were a few standout flaws that prevent me from giving "When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man" a higher rating. I've never been a 14-year-old boy, but the dialogue between Cal and Jamie was so jarringly adult at times that it was hard to imagine the lines being spoken by anyone under 30. Second, many of the plot points were a little too obvious. Maybe it's because Cal brings up the childhood memory allude...more

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May 06, 2012 Greenjasminetea rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-2012

I don't know what I expected when I picked out "When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man" but it definitely wasn't this literate, intense read.

Cal is 14 when it happens. When something so awful happens, that he can never go back to where he was before.

He lives on Loyalty Island. It is a fishing town that sits on harsh pennisula in Northern Washington State. The fishing is seasonal and the men who fish leave for half the year to go to Alaska to harvest king crab.

Cal's father is one of those fisher...more

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May 05, 2012 Shirley Freeman rated it 4 of 5 stars

Though the title and book description didn't attract me, I wanted to read this because a. the author grew up in Kalamazoo b. he attended the same little school as my children and c. the book got a decent review in The Economist magazine. And I really liked it! The first chapter drew me in immediately and I finished the book in a day. Of course, my husband was out of town but still... Nick Dybeck is well on his way to a career as a novelist. The story takes place in an isolated fishing community...more

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Nov 07, 2012 Anne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, adult, realistic-fiction

I saw a review for this as a well-written first novel... While it is well-written and it is a first novel, it did not really appeal to me on the whole. Cal is raised on the Olympic peninsula in Washington on an island that is not really an island. The whole town is a fishing town, living by the schedule of the sea, the tides, and the fish/crab/etc. Most of the men end up spending months away from their families as the boats and fish take them to the waters near Alaska and the canneries there. Ca...more

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May 10, 2012 Julie rated it 3 of 5 stars

So, I liked it. I guess. The end was definitely better than the beginning: before page 136, I really had to push myself to stay engaged. When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man is the story of a boy living in a northwestern fishing village, whose father spends most of every year at sea fishing off the coast of Alaska, and whose mother crumbles with each season she spends alone. The book is narrated, essentially, by the boy as a young man, who is still coming to grips with the events of one parti...more

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Mar 30, 2012 Timothy Bazzett rated it 3 of 5 stars

While first-time novelist Nick Dybek made it quite obvious that his book was meant to be a modern take on TREASURE ISLAND, for this reader it simply didn't work. Too long by at least a hundred pages, WHEN CAPTAIN FLINT WAS STILL A GOOD MAN is fatally flawed by a surplus of simply awful metaphors and similes - hands "as thick as strip steaks"; cellar walls that "smelled of sweet grease"; a radio "staticky, low, buzzing like a table saw"; a dashboard "lit in stereo-tube orange"; "each punch is a p...more

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May 11, 2012 Larry Hoffer rated it 5 of 5 stars

Loyalty Island in Washington State is ruled by the sea. Every fall, boats captained and crewed by Loyalty Islanders sail from the Olympic Peninsula up to the Bering Sea to spend the winter catching king crab. This is the industry that keeps the town and its businesses running, even as the threat of death at sea hangs over everyone. For Cal, whose father captains one of the boats, the sea and Alaska seem almost as mythical as the pirate stories his father used to tell him—but he also knows how th...more

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May 31, 2012 Dan rated it 3 of 5 stars

I wanted to like this more than I actually did. On the surface When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man has everything I like: boats, tense family situations, nostalgia, violence, etc. But, somehow, the sum wasn't equal to the parts, or, rather, it was exactly equal to the parts. Cal longs to follow in his father's footsteps and head to Alaska with the crab boats. He's a fisherman's son in a fisherman's town, after all, but his mother - an unhappy California transplant - is dead set against it, a...more

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Apr 01, 2013 Zarina rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

14 year-old Carl lives in Loyalty Island, a small fisher's village in Washington. His father, as mostly all men in town, works on the Gaunt fleet and spends more time on the water than at home with his family.

When John Gaunt passes away and his son Richard inherits the company, the town's people are suddenly reliant on a young man who seems to have no interest in keeping the family legacy going and may even sell the fleet, putting all their jobs at risk. Carl experiences first hand how far the...more

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Sep 08, 2012 Linda rated it 4 of 5 stars

I picked up this book because I enjoy local (Pacific Northwest) authors and settings. For the first few chapters, I thought it was going to be heavily influenced by the currently popular TV docudrama "Deadliest Catch" about the perils of crab fishing in Alaskan waters. But it has little to do with actual fishing other than describing the hard life and economic uncertainty of the men who leave their Washington State fishing port to spend the fall and winter on the ocean. It is a literary work in...more

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Aug 22, 2012 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Very literate and well-written, with some really great lines and very well-drawn setting, characterization, and plot. It's also very much an intense read...sort of like a thriller but with very different elements from your average thriller. I read it as often and for as long at a time as I could. Also, this is the first book in...possibly ever? that has actually caused me to gasp and cover my mouth with my hand, involuntarily. I can't tell you when that happens, it would spoil things...but wow,...more

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Apr 12, 2012 Lynne Perednia rated it 3 of 5 stars

The loss of innocence is a common theme of fiction. It's not unusual for a young man or woman, or even a middle-aged one, to look back on the year that things changed. The year they grew up. For young Cal, it is the winter he discovers what it may have been like for the good captain in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island when he decided to become a pirate. And because of what he learns and what happens, he leaves Loyalty Island in Nick Dybek's novel of innocence lost, believing he can never...more The loss of innocence is a common theme of fiction. It's not unusual for a young man or woman, or even a middle-aged one, to look back on the year that things changed. The year they grew up. For young Cal, it is the winter he discovers what it may have been like for the good captain in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island when he decided to become a pirate. And because of what he learns and what happens, he leaves Loyalty Island in Nick Dybek's novel of innocence lost, believing he can never return home because he will never regain his innocence.

Cal grows up the son of a crab fisherman, the captain of one of the ships owned by John Gaunt. Captain Henry Bollings and the other captains, including one named Brooks (Gaunt, Bolingbrooke, hmmm...) can provide for their families because of Gaunt's good stewardship of the fleet. Everyone and everything on Washington state's Loyalty Island owe their livelihoods to Gaunt. The captains are good, hard-working men whose children adore them and whose wives suffer while they are gone to the Bering Sea (just like those guys on The Deadliest Catch). Cal idolizes his father, who spends one off-season telling him bedtime stories of the good Captain Flint, before things went wrong and set up the action in Treasure Island. To Cal, his father is as honorable and brave and true ad Captain Flint. The next year, his father asks Cal if he knew the stories were just that, stories.

It's a timely question. John Gaunt dies suddenly. His wastrel son, Richard, comes back to town to fidget about what he should do with his unwanted legacy. Ultimately, he makes a public announcement that he plans to sell the fleet. Everyone will be out of a job. The town will die. Then, for the first time in Richard's life, the captains announce he has agreed to go crabbing with them. Not two days into the season, the word comes back that he has fallen overboard.

The rest of that winter, Cal is on his own. His mother, a woman from off island who loves music and doesn't quite fit in, goes back to California, expecting her second child. Cal is dumped at the Norths to share a room with Jamie, another guy his age who he knows but maybe hasn't shared much with before. There hasn't been much to share up to this point. Well, there's a lot to be shared now. To say more would be a major spoiler, but Cal discovers what he has based his world on may not be so, that honorable men may be as capable of doing evil as anyone else. That Captain Flint may be no better than Long John Silver.

Some readers may have a hard time accepting the rest of the plot. But the rest of the novel can be accepted as a big "what if" cause-and-effect chain of events that could take good people far beyond where they ever thought they would go. It's the wrestling with accepting those you admire are not perfect that matters most in this story. Cal and Richard are alike in that both admire their fathers and neither can see themselves taking over the family business. But where one is a lost soul, the other hasn't given up the search. That difference is what can mean the difference between setting your own course and being overwhelmed by trying to go against the tide.

Dybek's novel is a stronger one because he does a wonderful job of conveying the town's dependence on the successful of the fleet. He puts the reader directly in the middle of the sights, the smells and the sounds of Loyalty Island, of the dreary weather and the long days waiting for the men to return, of the tough men enduring harsh lives because they love the sea as much as they love their families, and of the empty months their sons endure waiting for them to return to tell them more tales of glory.

The historical ties to the names of the characters add an extra layer of dynasty and tradition, but do not overwhelm the story of Cal's coming of age.
(less)

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Aug 30, 2012 Beth rated it 5 of 5 stars

A boy and the sea. A moral dilemma involving fathers and sons. A fishing town in economic peril. If you believe that everything that can be written about these topics has already assumed a place in literature, you haven't read Nick Dybek's When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man.

With 14-yr.-old Cal as the pivot point in a swirling tale of both personal and mythic tention, Dybek plunges the reader into the depths for which only a tiny town set on a peninsula jutting into the Pacific Ocean could p...more

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Apr 12, 2012 Ethan rated it 4 of 5 stars

To fifteen-year-old Cal, his father is like a stranger. The family resides on Loyalty Island, a costal Washington community that relies on the Alaskan king-crabbing season to provide economic stability. Each winter, Cal and his mother are left alone while Henry braves the harsh conditions of the Bering Sea. Despite Henry's well intentions, Cal feels a disconnect with his father. His mother, who moved to the island after falling in love with Henry and becoming pregnant with Cal, spends countless...more To fifteen-year-old Cal, his father is like a stranger. The family resides on Loyalty Island, a costal Washington community that relies on the Alaskan king-crabbing season to provide economic stability. Each winter, Cal and his mother are left alone while Henry braves the harsh conditions of the Bering Sea. Despite Henry's well intentions, Cal feels a disconnect with his father. His mother, who moved to the island after falling in love with Henry and becoming pregnant with Cal, spends countless hours in the basement, listening to her large record collection and recalling her earlier years.

Now that he is older, Cal is noticing trouble in is parent's marriage. They argue about whether or not he should become a fisherman like is father. His mother unrelentingly insists that he will complete school and find a job away from the community's difficult lifestyle. Even more troubling than the disagreements, however, is the amount of time that his mother spends with local tycoon John Gaunt.

Gaunt owns the entire fleet of crabbing boats and the local cannery. When he suddenly dies, the entire business is left in the hands of his son Richard, who has never embraced the lifestyle of his father. As Richard threatens to disrupt the livelihood of the community, and Cal's mother, now pregnant and distraught with grief, flees to a friend's home in California, Cal is forced to remain with his father. When the winter crap season approaches, Cal discovers information that shows how far his father has gone to protect their way of life. What follows is a harrowing tale of a young man, forced to come to terms with his family, himself, and to decide what is the "right" thing to do.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this novel. This is author Nick Dybek's debut, but he writes with the confidence and simplicity of a natural storyteller. Each character is believably conflicted and their introspections, during a very unique situation, are subtle and genuine. Overall, the novel asks how far we would go to maintain a lifestyle and to protect the ones we love. The story takes a bit of time to find its legs (oddly appropriate for a novel about fisherman and choppy seas), but the characters are interesting enough to keep the plot moving. The discovery in the middle of the novel left me shocked, and the last half had me completely riveted. This is an extremely solid novel that expertly blends strong characters with a vivid setting, original plot, and a moral awareness that is rarely found in debut novels.(less)

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Dec 08, 2012 James Wharton rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book was entertaining and generally enjoyable however the amoral conclusion disappointed in that the reader was hoping things wouldn't turn out the way they did and the author would become a better man. It seemed to be an inconcsistency in the main character as it had been developed through the story. The conclusion was therefore unrealistic due to the relationship the main character developed with the son of the owner of the fishing fleet. It's an okay book to get a flavor of hard times ma...more

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Mar 23, 2013 Lucinda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Cleverly complex and deeply fascinating, the intoxicating intensity of this well-drawn thriller is simply stunning.

Never have I been so moved by such powerful prose and an unforgettable tale, which remains lingering within your mind for a long time afterward. Set within a close-knit fishing community on Loyalty Island, the occupants depend solely on a handful of boats and one Captain who sets sail every winter across the Ocean. With sudden and unexpected tragedy comes turmoil, as one man brave...more

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Nov 29, 2012 Jaclyn Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

http://wineandabook.com/2012/03/26/re...

This evening, the conclusion of Nick Dybek's debut novel left me on the verge of doing two things that I seldom do:
1) missing my subway stop
2) crying in public

I say "on the verge of" because, though teary-eyed, I was narrowly able to squeeze out of the closing doors. Damn you, Dybek!

Point being: When Captain Flint Was Still A Good Man was THAT captivating a read. Especially the last half. Straphangers, you have been warned.

Dybek's story follows fifteen-yea...more http://wineandabook.com/2012/03/26/re...

This evening, the conclusion of Nick Dybek's debut novel left me on the verge of doing two things that I seldom do:
1) missing my subway stop
2) crying in public

I say "on the verge of" because, though teary-eyed, I was narrowly able to squeeze out of the closing doors. Damn you, Dybek!

Point being: When Captain Flint Was Still A Good Man was THAT captivating a read. Especially the last half. Straphangers, you have been warned.

Dybek's story follows fifteen-year-old Cal during a pivotal time in his life in Loyalty Island, a seaside community that owes their livelihood to the winter king crabbing season in Alaska and the Gaunt family. When John Gaunt, the patriarch whose very lineage is the core of town mythology, passes away, the fate of the town is left in the hands of Richard, his prodigal son. What Richard decides to do with the crabbing fleet will have huge ramifications, and what happens next begs the question: how far would you go to protect and preserve your way of life?

In what could have been merely a typical boy-becomes-man/coming-of-age story, Dybek manages to uniquely and originally tackle some pretty major themes/issues: loyalty; honor; moral relativism (sidebar: the majority of the book metaphorically lives in a moral "gray area" and literally takes place in one of the grayest areas of the country. Pretty damn perfect); the fact that, to some extent, we all end up becoming our parents (sometimes the best of them, sometimes the worst) despite our youthful Sisyphean efforts; sacrifice; self-determination..

Dybek's strength is the story, and in the deliberate, minimalistic voice which he expertly wields to tell it. (By minimalistic, I mean that I was pleased that there wasn't any noticeable excess, that stuff that some debut/newer authors tend to pack into their work to make it seem more "writer-ly". The telling fit the tale). And the characters Dybek creates are as complex and dynamic as his prose is deliberate and tight. He's created multiple scenes that have stuck with me throughout my reading of the book. One occurs fairly early on, a scene where Cal's mother (to call her a music-lover would be an understatement) asks Cal to pick a record for them to listen to as they cook and dance to celebrate the finding of Cal's father's boat, which had briefly lost radio contact with the outside world. Cal selects Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time** (because he liked the title). I *wish* I could put an excerpt here, but I have the uncorrected proof and am thus not supposed to quote from it. Womp womp (says the sad trumpet). Regardless, super powerful image (the dichotomy of Cal and his mother celebratory dancing and the haunting musical selection) , and one of many, in this precise, incredibly tight narrative.

Mini-spoiler: if you're expecting a feel-good, warm-and-fuzzy ending, this is not the novel for you (hence my hasty, leaky-eyed narrow escape from the N train this evening). From page 290 on, even though I KNEW in my gut what was about to happen, the last 14 pages were CRUSHING and left me feeling so incredibly conflicted. Well done.

Rubric rating: 7.5. Impressive debut. I'm excited to see what the future holds for Dybek.

**n.b. Messiaen wrote this piece while interned in a German prison camp in 1940. Super haunting. Personally, my kitchen dancing usually involves 80s new wave or Otis Redding a la Ducky in Pretty in Pink, but to each his own. You can listen to Quartet for the End of Time for free here, courtesy of the Luna Nova Ensemble.(less)

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May 05, 2012 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: giveaway-wins, paperback

I received an Advanced Review Copy (ARC) of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

This is a story told by 14-year-old Cal, who lives with his parents in the fishing community of Loyalty Island, Washington. I'm a sucker for a good coming-of-age story and I was not disappointed by this one. I finally stayed up late last night to finish it, eager to find out how it ends.

It's a poignant and rather sad story about a difficult life and difficult decisions. Cal's father is away on the fishing boat for half...more I received an Advanced Review Copy (ARC) of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

This is a story told by 14-year-old Cal, who lives with his parents in the fishing community of Loyalty Island, Washington. I'm a sucker for a good coming-of-age story and I was not disappointed by this one. I finally stayed up late last night to finish it, eager to find out how it ends.

It's a poignant and rather sad story about a difficult life and difficult decisions. Cal's father is away on the fishing boat for half the year and his mother retreats to her music room to listen to her vast collection of records, leaving Cal largely on his own. When his father returns home at the end of the season, he returns to a family that has carried on without him, to a son who is at the age where children grow and change quickly. Every year, Cal and his father must become reacquainted. Cal's mother goes into the music room in the basement and closes the door, closing out her family and shutting off communication. Cal lies on the floor above, ear pressed to the heating vent, listening to his mother's music. Even though his mother doesn't leave the house, she is as absent as his father.

The people of Loyalty Island depend on the fishing season for their livelihood, and the fleet is owned by John Gaunt. His sudden death throws them all into uncertainty. John's son, Richard, is an unknown factor. All anyone knows of him is that he's never been out with the fleet and that he only occasionally shows up in Loyalty Island. They know they don't like him. The uncertainty makes them afraid. His lack of direction makes them afraid. When he announces he's selling the fleet, it sets off an awful chain of events.

When everything they know is threatened, what extreme measures are people capable of carrying out? Could you believe your father capable of murder? We get to know Richard as Cal gets to know him and in many ways, Richard's story is Cal's story, only more advanced. I expected Cal to relate to Richard, which made his final decision more surprising and puzzling.

Although Richard has spent very little of his adult life in Loyalty Island, his impact on the people of this small community is tremendous, and his impact on the life of Cal is indelible, changing his life forever.

I liked the way this story was told. Was it overly prosaic? Probably, but for me the style of the writing seemed to fit the setting and the story being told. There were, in my opinion, a lot of unanswered questions. There is apparently a relationship between John Gaunt and Cal's mother, but it's never clarified, nor is it ever explained why the relationship is important to the story. There is an acknowledgment by Cal, in his storytelling, that there is an elephant in the room; like every figurative elephant in the room, everyone ignores its presence. These people are not champions of communication or talking about how they feel. As a result, the questions remain unanswered because in order to answer them, Cal's mother and father would actually have to talk to him, as he is the story teller. Even so, I was lost in the storytelling and finally couldn't put it down, even though it was late and I was nodding off to sleep - I thought about putting it down and finishing it in the morning, but I couldn't.

At a price of $12.99 for the Kindle edition, I never would've read this book if I hadn't received it in a giveaway. I enjoyed reading the book, but can't recommend it at the current pricing. It's currently available only in the e-book version and hardback, which is priced at $17.43. If you want to read this book, I suggest waiting until some used print copies are available at a lower price, or request that your local library get it.(less)

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Dec 02, 2012 Jillian added it

Shelves: fiction, first-reads, did-not-finish, washington

{ I won this as a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. }

DNF. I'm about 2/3 through, but I just can't force myself to read any more because I don't care about the characters. There's a serious situation going on right now involving most of the major characters where I know I should be thinking, "Wow, what's going to happen to these people??" But instead I'm thinking, "Ugh... I guess I should probably try to read a little more of this." I just don't feel connected to the characters. I have no interest...more

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May 02, 2013 Misha rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: boy-protagonist, coming_of_age, dark, death, debut, doorway-character, doorway-language, doorway-setting, father-son, great-ending, northwest, read-2013, small-town

Wow. What a debut. And what a twist ending. Beautifully written but understated. Narrated by Cal in the 80s in a fictional Washington town, Loyalty Island, where most of the men go away to crab in Alaska every year. When John Gaunt, the owner of the boating business, dies and his college-bred son inherits, Cal learns that his father and the men of Loyalty will do anything to keep their livelihood. A powerful and unexpectedly dark coming-of-age novel with a clear-eyed yet wistful young narrator.

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Jul 13, 2012 Joe rated it 2 of 5 stars

The novel has an intriguing premise and it is well written. Having said that, it falters in several ways. Too many unlikely events occur to make this plot a believable one. The author creates interesting characters and places them in a world of desperation and sadness. As the story unfolds it drags and grows heavier page by page. While the last part of the book makes a last gasp reprieve, it remains unfulfilled and unrealistic.

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Jul 11, 2012 Bradley rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, books-i-should-own, summer-reading2012

This book was a jaw dropper. I could hardly put it down. It's set in Washington State, in a town practically owned by one man. But this man dies and his heir is anything but welcome in the community. It asks the hard questions. How far would you go to preserve your way of life? What would you do if you discovered something that you weren't supposed to discover? I loved it, one of the better books of 2012.

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Oct 10, 2012 Lauren rated it 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars but strong for a debut novel. Although a bit overt with the title, the plot paced well and kept me engaged. The character development was uneven - some seemed overworked while others (primarily the parents) were treated weakly. However, the prose was clear and consistent and I look forward to seeing how Dybek develops - he definitely has promise from this novel.

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May 22, 2012 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012

This starts out as one of those rather dull, moody Iowa Writers' Workshop products with a lot of ridiculous poetic description. (Like, "she dyed her hair the color of hot iron." What? What is that? Fuck you.) Then almost precisely at the halfway point, the plot and the meditations on good and evil really kick in. I can't recommend it, but it really turned itself around and became worthwhile.

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Mar 11, 2013 David Chase rated it 4 of 5 stars

Interesting story about life in the northwest, the men who go to sea to catch the fish, and the fragile economy they live in. Told from through the eyes and mind of a teenage boy, a lot is left unsaid, simply because he's not yet part of it, but it's an enjoyable story. Not sure about the plausibility of the end, but the story along the way was interesting and fun.

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Jul 13, 2012 Caitlin Griffin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: the-ones-i-was-sad-to-finish

This was just stunning. At the end I actually let out a deep sign of appreciation. The dialogue between jamie and cal was so teenage boy authentic. Richard was multidimensional, crazy one second, wise the next, pitiable always. I can't wait for my mom to read this so I can talk about it with someone.

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12379545-when-captain-flint-was-still-a-good-man?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348790220l/12379545.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12379545-when-captain-flint-was-still-a-good-man?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man by Nick Dybek[/url]

When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man

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