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    Flat Water Tuesday: A Novel
    Flat Water Tuesday: A Novel
    Flat Water Tuesday: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    Flat Water Tuesday: A Novel

    Written by Ron Irwin

    Narrated by Holter Graham

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Rob Carrey, the son of a working-class cabinet maker, arrives at the Fenton School with a scholarship to row and a chip on his shoulder. Generations of austere Fenton men have led the rowing team, known as the God Four, to countless victories—but none are as important or renowned as the annual Tuesday-afternoon race against their rival, Warwick.

    But first Rob must complete months of preparation driven by their captain, Connor Payne's vicious competitive nature. As the race nears, the stakes rise, tempers and lusts are fueled, and no one can prevent the horrible tragedy that befalls one of them.

    Fifteen years later, Rob returns home from a film shoot in Africa to end a heartbreaking relationship with his girlfriend, Carolyn. But when a phone call from one of the God Four compels him to attend the reunion at Fenton, no part of Rob's past remains sequestered for long and nothing about his future is certain.

    As much about the sport of rowing as it is a novel of finding oneself, not once, but again in mid-life; Ron Irwin's Flat Water Tuesday is a testament to the pride and passion of youth, and an ode to the journey of forgiveness.

    A stunning novel of boarding school, family secrets, deep and passionate love, and the brutal pain of sports training

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateJun 4, 2013
    ISBN9781427231802
    Flat Water Tuesday: A Novel
    Author

    Ron Irwin

    RON IRWIN was born and raised in Buffalo, New York, and attended boarding school and college in New England, where he was a member of a number of winning rowing crews.  He currently lectures in the Centre for Film and Media at the University of Cape Town, where he has taught since 1999.  Irwin holds a master's in Literary Studies and a master's in Creative Writing, and has worked as a freelance documentary filmmaker and journalist.  He is married and has three children. Flat Water Tuesday is his first novel.

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    Reviews for Flat Water Tuesday

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    • 4/5
      Flat Water Tuesday was a really captivating book for me, and ultimately held my attention throughout. The transitions between past and present were flawless, and the relationships, whether between friends or lovers were realistic and interesting. There was not a part of the book that failed to hold my attention, and no part lacked in the melodrama of real life. The characters were relatable and deep - so much so that I found myself becoming invested in even the hardest to love individuals. I cannot think of a better read for those of us who enjoy a story that is both suspenseful and close to real life, with both a focus on tragedy and redemption. Things are not always clear cut in life, as this book shows, and I would recommend it to those who enjoy a good look into the world as teens and adults see it.
    • 5/5
      Flat Water Tuesday by Ron Irwin shines! It delivers with emotional depth, making you think, and teaching you about rowing training, competitions and relationships. At first, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to read it because I have never rowed. Then I remembered watching the Olympic rowing races and being enthralled with them. Now I want to see more of them.Rob Carrey, a documentary film maker for National Geographic receives an invitation to his 15th class reunion from a Connecticut prep school with a strong devotion for crew rowing. He had only been to the school for one year and rowed for one year the God Four (because not even God could beat them). But that year had a huge effect on him and the team. There was a tragedy and his sister had also died from drowning. No one knows if that was an accident or intentional. There was an internal struggle going on within Rob. He had been a single rower and didn’t want to work with or depend upon a team. He had to learn to trust the team and learn the different requirements for crew rowing. That learning did not come easy. He and all the members of the team suffered tremendous fatigue and lost weight while preparing and racing. There is a description of one of the crew tending to Rob’s blisters on his hands that is unforgettable and will probably stave off many people from rowing.The story switches around in different points in time but it was still easy to follow. The description of the races made me want to see them on film! The characters have such depth, several of them are so sad, for different reasons. This book could be called a coming of age book but it so much more.There are passages so beautiful that they beg to be read out loud. This book is a treasure!I highly recommend Flat Water Tuesday by Ron Irwin.
    • 4/5
      I "like" prep school books and they all have a different approach. Irwin certainly knows his rowing and that was interesting to someone who doesn't really like being "on" the water!! A former doctor of mine had his rowing awards all over the walls of his office so that added to this detailed description of rowing. The story jumps back and forth and I like books that do that. I'm not sure what it rally does but tell of one man's life but Irwin is a good story teller.
    • 4/5
      Successful relationships and winning teams mimic each other. They require trust. They require empathy. They, at times, require the surrendering of the self to better the union.Flat Water Tuesday by Ron Irwin parallels relationships and teams in the telling of Rob Carrey’s teenage and adult life. The novel opens with a present-day letter sent to Rob from John Perry, one of his high school crew mates. The letter hints at events that occurred while Rob and John rowed in Fenton School’s elite rowing four. The hint, a modicum of a clue, powers the story to conclusion 353 pages later.Rob Carrey joins the Fenton team as a blue-collar scholarship kid from Nicalsetti, New York. Rob’s a sculler, a single rower; yet, the team’s coach, Channing, chose Rob because of the talent that Rob could bring to the school’s premiere rowing four, aka, the God Four. Rowing in the four means that Rob will have to trust, empathize, and surrender a bit of himself. An ant hill of an obstacle for most, but for Rob the obstacle equals climbing Mt. Everest.The God Four is actually five. Four rowers – Chris Wadsworth, John Perry, Connor Payne, and Rob, plus the coxswain Ruth Anderson. Chris features minimally in the story as John Perry’s best friend. John functions as Connor’s verbal punching bag and the boat’s heavyweight power. Connor, the boat’s stroke and team captain, plays the arrogant, rich boy and Ruth fills in as the level-headed leader directing from the boat’s stern. Chris, John, Connor, and Ruth have rowed together for years before Rob’s addition to the team. They are a tight and loyal group. Rob’s reluctance to immerse himself into the team leads to a tragedy that haunts each member of the boat well into adulthood.Irwin’s skilled character development casts Connor and Rob as villains and as heroes. Rob is the quintessential outsider to the opulent boarding school. He’s the underdog you cheer for, at first. Connor is the snarky, smug prep school boy whose extreme privilege taints his likeability. Rob and Connor compete on every minutiae, a rivalry that ferments Rob’s apathy toward Connor and eventually morphs Rob into the villain and Connor into the hero.Connor’s hero-within peeks through his cocky shell when Rob falls into an icy river. Connor endangers himself by rescuing Rob. As Rob’s recovering in the infirmary, his coach, Channing, rebukes Rob’s for his riskiness and for Rob’s dislike of Connor: “You may hate him, but he is the only person on this team with wits and courage enough to rescue you, and I am not sure how he managed to do it.” The incident begins the slow erosion of Rob as hero into Rob as villain.As an adult, intimacy still evades Rob. His long-time girlfriend and business partner, Carolyn is kicking him out of their shared New York city apartment. The death of yet another relationship in Rob’s life coupled with the truths that John’s letter arouses finally spurs Rob to examine his failure at being on a team and prods him toward fixing his relationship with Carolyn.His love for Carolyn is paramount. In some of the most romantic words I’ve ever read, Rob recalls the intensity of emotion he felt with Carolyn:“And what I wanted to whisper to her, if I had the words (if such thoughts come to a man so utterly overwhelmed), was that she could have this section of my life right now, and the rest, too, if she wanted it. It was the crazy, silent deal you make with yourself when you suddenly touch the woman who was made for you and feel that searing terror of loneliness after years of living by yourself. It happened to me in a crooked room against a body I yearn for like nothing else, need more than water, or blood or breathing.” The fact that Rob could fumble his relationship with Carolyn so badly when he loved her so deeply speaks loudly to Rob’s flaw. Who, in feeling this way for another person, would ever want to part from the person’s company?Irwin leaves no relationship type untouched. A sub-narrative about relationships between children and their parents swim through the novel. He contrasts the supportive unconditional love between Rob and his Dad against Connor’s parents’ habit of doling out small parcels of love only when Connor achieves certain goals. What’s peculiar is that Connor, whose parents are despicable, would risk his life for his friends; while Rob, whose parents are ideal, fails to merely console his friends when doing so would mean preserving a life.Child psychologists warn that when a child hits adolescence peers influence the child’s beliefs more than their parents do. Rob often describes his hometown as an atmosphere of be tough or die. Was his teen-life a contributing factor in his lack of team skills? Or is Irwin arguing that parents do hold a strong sway over a teen’s self-esteem? Is it Connor’s neediness for a family that allows him to reach out to others when they need help?Irwin confesses to editing the story to ensure optimal pacing, which he did well; yet, questions about the source of Rob’s inability to be on a team pecked at me while I read and reread the story. Was something nixed that could have explained Rob as well as the soul of intimacy better? Subtracting my unanswered curiosity about Rob’s back story, I loved the novel. Irwin’s thesis on relationships is as beautifully written as his depiction of rowing; depictions Irwin earned by rowing in high school and at university. If you’ve ever blistered your palms on an oar and even if you haven’t, Flat Water Tuesday is a page-turning must read.
    • 3/5
      I feel like I have read a hundred books similar to this. Do we really need another prep school book? There are some elements that make this book unique: the very detailed descriptions of the mechanics of training for and competing in crew; the career of the main character as an adult, which is a documentary filmmaker, adds some interesting elements; and the obstacle in the romantic relationship of the main character as an adult was one of the more gruesome elements I have read in a novel.
      Aside from these unique features, however, I mostly found that the familiar tropes of prep school fiction were present. The poor kid who is really the smartest character in the book and is only able to come to the school because of some amazing talent he has. The wealthy student who can't survive under the weight of the pressure and expectation heaped upon him by his parents. The gruff teacher who rarely says it but cares fiercely for his students. The troubled female student who struggles with becoming a woman and leaving her childhood behind. I just felt like there wasn't enough new here for me.
      It probably is important to note that I am not and have never been much of an athlete and so the long montages of training and competition for slots on the team and trying to win the big race just did not resonate for me. I think that for someone who had an experience where being on a sports team was an important part of their formative years this book may have more impact.
    • 5/5
      Rob Carrey has the chance of a lifetime when he is selected to attend Fenton, a New England boarding school, and row with a talented group of athletes. The prize at the end of the year could mean Harvard admission…and for a boy like Rob who has grown up in a working class town in upstate New York, being recognized by Harvard is huge. But Rob is ambivalent. His father, a talented carpenter and woodworker, wants Rob to row with the team, while Rob yearns to continue as a sculler – a one man show who is not dependent on others for his success. Eventually, Rob agrees to work out with the team and strives for a coveted seat in the God Four – the number one boat at Fenton. There is only one race they all care about – that with a rival boarding school called Warwick – and it is to that end that the team pushes themselves beyond what they think they can endure.Fifteen years later, Rob is working as a documentary filmmaker for National Geographic and struggling to save his floundering romantic relationship with a woman named Carolyn, when he gets a letter inviting him to attend a reunion at Fenton. But it has been a long time since his time at Fenton, a time filled with the sweat and exertion of athletes and a terrible tragedy which changed them all.The characters in Flat Water Tuesday are compelling and realistically drawn: Mr Channing, the coach with a penchant for poetry, accepts nothing but the best; John Perry and Chris Wadsworth struggle to make the team but show heart; while Connor Payne is clearly the most driven and talented rower despite his sharp edges and hints of a predator-like nature. And then there is Ruth Anderson, the first female coxswain at Fenton, a young woman whose fragile physical demeanor hides a fierce personality. The novel is narrated in the first person through the eyes of Rob as both a boy at Fenton as well as an adult dealing with loss, failed relationships and a guilt that has burdened him for fifteen years.Irwin skillfully moves back and forth in time, recreating that final year in boarding school while showing the adult Rob as he struggles to make his life work. The descriptions of rowing, the grueling workouts, and the underlying drive of competition were compelling for me. As a one time competitive runner in both high school and college, I related to the characters as they fought to beat their best times and pushed toward that one race they thought would define their lives forever. I also loved the descriptions of a New England boarding school and its surroundings, including the cold and powerful river. Irwin takes the reader directly to the scene and immerses them in it.Thematically, the novel looks at how tragedy impacts our decisions and futures. There is also an exploration of love, jealousy, commitment, loss, and forgiveness.I listened to this book (9 CDs) as I drove to and from work each day and found myself so engaged in the story I sat in the parking lot of my job for an extra few moments just to finish a chapter. The audio book is read by Holter Graham who was simply wonderful in his delivery and depiction of the characters.Readers who love literary fiction set in New England, will love this book. This is a novel which not only captures the exhilaration and glory of sport, but one which examines the often painful path towards forgiving oneself and moving forward.An evocative, compelling novel which I highly recommend.
    • 4/5
      Ron Irwin has an impressive debut about five members of a New England high school prep rowing team as they meet challenges both at school and after they graduate. All five along with their coach carry a good deal of baggage which they bring from their previous life experiences. The book also has what every sport book has and that is the "big game" scenario but what is unique is how the "big race" has a very different effect on their lives that they expected. I think the book could easily be adapted into a movie if you could find actors that could row! The only drawback for me is that these kids speak and act in a way that far more mature than their years. I had to keep reminding myself that the were supposed to be 18 and 19.
    • 4/5
      I have just added this book to books that have made a big impression on me.. Rob Carrey, from a small town and with parents who want him to do better in life than they had, accepts a scholarship to crew on the God Four, even though this means repeating his senior year of high school. Have never much thought about crewing, know very little about it, but after this book I know quite a bit. As with most sports it takes commitment and much hard work to really be good, so Rob with his three fellow teammates and for the first time in history Ruth, who is their female coxswain start training and training hard. There is much competition between Carry and the team captain Connor and in parts I swear the testosterone was flying off the pages.This book is, however, about so much more. It is about the impact tragedies can have, how in one moment a life can change, how what seems so important when young often seems trivial when we get older. This book is very intense in parts, and I love the way this author writes. I also like that he made Carry, in his later years a documentary film maker which was also one of the careers of this author. The book begins with a letter, and than goes back and forward in times, to relate the story of the God Four and the present of John Carrey. I loved it. I know there have been many books written about school, some well done, some not. This one goes of there with the winners, in my opinion of course.
    • 4/5
      The reader is introduced to Rob Carrey as an adult, living in Africa, and working as a documentary filmmaker. It's been fifteen years since he attended the Fenton School in Connecticut and his time spent there is best forgotten. Rob has buried his memories of the Fenton School until he receives a letter from a former schoolmate and crew teammate. The story then jumps to the teenage Rob and his introduction to the Fenton School.Rob had received a scholarship to row at the prestigious Fenton School. If he does well on the crew team referred to as the God Four, then he'll be able to write his ticket to any of the Ivy League schools with crew teams, especially Harvard. Regrettably, Rob is very quick-tempered and has only one thought . . . to row in a one-man scull not with a four-man team. If that isn't bad enough, he begins his career at Fenton by getting into a physical fight with the crew captain, Conner Payne. That fight begins a year-long intensive competition that may well be the destruction of Rob.Mr. Irwin slowly reveals the intricacies of training and working as a crew team member. Many of the details I didn't quite understand because of the terminology, but I was able to grasp the basics. If training to be an elite athlete isn't enough pressure for the teenagers on the "God Four" crew, they also have the pressure of having to win one race above any other against Warwick, Fenton's bitter rivals. That one race will set the rest of their lives with regards to college acceptances, school pride and family honor.The story of Rob's career as a student at Fenton provides a lot of background to help us understand his current career path and relationship failure. Rob returns to the US to bring new film footage for editing, but also to end his five year, long-distance relationship with Carolyn. The back and forth between past and present was a little startling at first, but I then realized the gradual revelation of Rob's past helped to understand the revelations of Rob's present. That one pivotal year at Fenton had an amazingly long-term impact on not only Rob but his fellow crew mates. Rob's interaction with others at Fenton is either a bit brash or standoffish and that continued through to the present. It was interesting to watch Rob's gradual self-discovery as a thirty-something year old and realization that he's been running away since he left Fenton. I enjoyed reading about the teenage Rob and his friends as much as I did about the adult Rob. There's a lot going on in Flat Water Tuesday, but it ultimately comes down to forgiveness of others and ourselves and acceptance of things past. If you enjoy reading contemporary fiction with a lot of sports talk and a hint of romance, then you'll definitely want to read Flat Water Tuesday.
    • 4/5
      When I first saw this book I characterized it as a story about a guy who rows. When I started reading it I found that it is so much more. The main character, Rob, attends a prestigious prep school for one year after his high school graduation, to make the crew team and get the chance to attend an ivy league university. Events of that year shape the lives of all who were involved. The story begins 15 years after that prep school year with a letter to Rob from one of his former teammates. I was intrigued right from the start. Rob, who is an independent documentary filmmaker working for National Geographic, is returning from South Africa to deal with the end of a long term relationship, another of several losses in his life. His story alternates seamlessly between scenes from the past and the present. All the characters in the story have issues, from the over-achiever who can never please his parents, to the girl trying to find her place in a man's world. We see how they all deal with these issues with varying degrees of success. Some are able to accept the events of their lives and move on, some are not. The author made the character's inner thoughts seem very realistic and true to life, and while some of their stories end badly, others are left with a sense of hope. He also obviously knows a lot about the sport of crew. His vivid descriptions of the team workouts as they strove to gain strength and speed literally made me feel the pain. I enjoyed this book immensely. I found it hard to put down and was always eager to get back to it when I did have to put it down.