Offshore (Drama)

By Penelope Fitzgerald

Publisher: Caroll & Graff Publishers, Inc. (1989)

Softcover, 141 pages

    “Dignity demanded that the dealer should hand the tiles back with a pitying smile. But he could not resist holding the bird up to his desk lamp, so that the light ran across the surface and seemed to flow over the edges in crimson flame. And now Martha and he were untied in a strange fellow feeling. Which nether of them had expected, and which they had to shake off with difficulty.”

          It’s a humorous book, but of the dry British wit variety, which may not be everyone’s cup of tea. It is essentially about a group of people who are trying to live on houseboats on the riverbanks near Chelsea. It is almost a Dickensian world where the characters must face a personal crisis and their lives are changed forevermore.

Author Penelope Fitzgerald

    The beginning is somewhat jumbled, the author doesn’t seem to know which character to begin with, so she jumps into the region, as Hawthorne did in The Scarlett Letter. This book, despite its short length, does take its time getting to the point and introducing its protagonists. It is almost postmodern in its execution (at least initially) and does have that flatness or lack of emotion most of the writers in that genre reflect. As such, most of the characters don’t have much personality and even less in the way of character growth. Many of the boats described in this story have more personality than most of the characters.

    There are snippets of well done parts here and there which demonstrate the talents of the author, unfortunately she did not follow through in the same vein throughout. This is a pity because I believe this truly could have been a great book rather than a mediocre one. I sold my copy the day I finished it, I have no desire to ever read it again.

           For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.