Time and Tide - Softcover

Thomas Fleming

4.06

356 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0330301977 ISBN 13: 9780330301978

Publisher: Pan Books, 1989

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Captain Art McKay and the crew of the U.S.S. Jefferson City fight to reclaim their honor after the disasterous Battle of Sovo Island

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From Publishers Weekly:

Fleming's astonishing gift for portraying the gut realities of war experience in a vast, historically accurate context, clearly evidenced in his bestselling The Officers' Wives, shines forth in this battleship of a novel about the Pacific conflict of WW II, a conflict largely forgotten and (so Fleming's research convinces us) partially covered up. The main focus is on the fictitious USS Jefferson City (modeled on a real-life counterpart), which sailed away from the battle of Savo Island, the biggest defeat in U.S. naval history, and is now fighting to redeem its honor under a man who is the dismissed captain's best friend. Captain McKay probes the mystery of his friend's disgrace while simultaneously seeking to free his ship of its "bad joss" in searing naval confrontations and to overcome his disillusion with the Navy and with a wife who seems the embodiment of its system. There are several eye-openers: the mediocrity of the American admirals at Guadalcanal, and in the earlier phase of the war generally; ordinary sailors' anger at FDR and the politicians for pitting them against the Japanese with inadequate ships and planes; onboard homosexuality, and the Navy's short way with it; the wildness of liberty in Australia; the demoralizing effects of the kamikaze attacks; and the Navy's resentment of the atomic bomb for depriving it of its victory. The numerous memorable characters include a stalwart boatswain, a bullying, homosexual boatswain's mate, a cowardly executive officer, a chaplain whose platitudes are scorched away in the fire of experience, McKay himself and the two women in his life. The story is high drama, grim in detail, prevailingly bitter in tone, about men forced by the hell of war to fight for their honor, their lives and, in selected instances, their souls. It's also a very close look at the U.S. Navy as it is and was. Major ad/promo; Military Book Club selection; Literary Guild alternate.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

Having left the Battle of Savo Island under suspicious circumstances in 1942, the USS Jefferson City is a ship haunted by bad joss. Arthur McKay is sent to relieve the cruiser's captain, Win Kemble, also his Annapolis roommate and best friend. Accused of cowardice under fire, the men of the JC fight a constant battle to prove their valor to themselves and the rest of the Navy. They see action from Guadalcanal to Okinawa, losing all sense of time or season as they wage an interminable war. With a myriad of characters, this is a maritime Upstairs, Downstairs, detailing the personal lives, loves, and conflicts of those aboard. The reader experiences first-hand life on an American warship. A well-researched and moving historical novel. Literary Guild featured alternate; Military Book Club main selection. Maria A. Perez-Stable, Western Michigan Univ. Libs., Kalamazoo
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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