Over the past two centuries the rough-hewn harbor city of Gloucester, Massachusetts has been home to an extraordinary number of creative artists and writers. This tradition continues today, and there is no better ambassador from Cape Ann to the literary world than JoeAnn Hart. Her new novel, “Float” (Ashland Creek Press), is a buoyant tale of human trials and tribulations set in the fictional town of Port Ellery, Maine. The tale’s rich bouillabaisse, which offers a new surprise with every spoonful, has been concocted using a sturdy recipe of zany characters, strange occurrences, a massive hurricane, and the best of intentions gone awry.
In keeping with the tradition of the arts in Gloucester, the book jacket features a captivating cover painting by Rocky Neck resident Karen Ristuben. With such talent on Cape Ann, why look elsewhere?
Among its many attributes, “Float” is a nifty course in creative writing that will cost you much less than enrolling in your local MFA program. Every sentence is crafted with care and polished to perfection – and the author’s goal is not to smooth away the rough edges, but to bring them into sharp, glittering relief.
In the interest of brevity I’ll reveal just one of the many devices used by the author to create her mesmerizing prose. It is this: The novel is set in a port town. The business of the hero involves fish processing. The theme of water, and of all things watery, pervades the book. The author therefore calibrates her choice of vocabulary to make sure that the chosen imagery remains front and center. At every opportunity, an action that could be described in ordinary terms is given a nautical twist.
Here are some examples. As you encounter them and many others in the course of the book, the pattern emerges:
“He was opening and shutting his mouth like a fish.”
“Like a cruise ship, Cora was not easy to turn around once she was set on a particular heading. She started throwing ballast overboard.”
“In a month?s time, the end of the day would seem to take place underwater, but for now the sun?s luster stirred up murky sediments in his brain.”
“Duncan’s financial crisis was now officially blood on the water, attracting bottom feeders and scavengers alike.”
The literary lesson here? To write a book you need to fill up the pages with words and ask people to read them; as a part of this very personal contract you owe it to your readers to offer images that reinforce and strengthen the aesthetic of the book. This approach is both subtle and masterful, and helps to carry the reader along as surely as if you were floating on a rubber raft down a fast-moving river. As the propulsive whitewater tosses you up and down, just hold on and enjoy the ride!
Thomas Hauck is a book editor, ghostwriter, and occasional book reviewer based in Gloucester, MA USA.