Katherine Anne Porter

A novel recounting the lives and actions of the passengers on a ship en route from Mexico to Germany in 1931

Ship of Fools

This “dazzling” National Book Award finalist set aboard an ocean liner in 1931 reflects the passions and prejudices that sparked World War II (San Francisco Chronicle). August 1931. An ocean liner bound for Germany sets out from the Mexican port city of Veracruz. The ship’s first-class passengers include an idealistic young American painter and her lover; a Spanish dance troupe with a sideline in larceny; an elderly German couple and their fat, seasick bulldog; and a boisterous band of Cuban medical students. As the Vera journeys across the Atlantic, the incidents and intrigues of several dozen passengers and crew members come into razor-sharp focus. The result is a richly drawn portrait of the human condition in all its complexity and a mesmerizing snapshot of a world drifting toward disaster. Written over a span of twenty years and based on the diary Katherine Anne Porter kept during a similar ocean voyage, Ship of Fools was the bestselling novel of 1962 and the inspiration for an Academy Award–winning film starring Vivien Leigh. It is a masterpiece of American literature as captivating today as when it was first published more than a half century ago. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Katherine Anne Porter, including rare photos from the University of Maryland Libraries.

A Novel

Amy Maddess

I wish something had happened in this massive book; the writing seemed to constantly suggest heading in a direction of a plot, only to scamper away as though it had only been playing. For a reader investing time, this was frustrating. Jenny and David's relationship was clearly meant to be a focal point around which the rest of the characters' stories evolved, but this did not happen seamlessly enough for anything to have a chance at being fleshed out. I found myself skimming pages (and pages) waiting to return to Jenny and David because theirs' was the only story I had found myself able to follow. Aside from distinct names, (all of which the reader is required to memorize from the list at the start or else be totally lost), there is nothing separating these characters enough to jog the reader's memory after having gone so many pages without being immersed in what they are doing. For some reason, I felt entirely obligated to finish this book - it could have been a 'sunken cost effect'; me not realizing that investing more time would not retain the time I had already lost, or it could have been the hope that a serious event would occur in the book, making sense of the emotional output required to get so deep in. I found myself hoping perhaps the ship would sink, and the point of the book would be that I had only got to know these characters each briefly before losing them. At times, when a character would experience a mental crisis, I found myself holding my breath at the threat of throwing themselves overboard, if only for a reason for this book to have been written. Unfortunately, only the small white bulldog went overboard, and he was promptly saved, without much commotion.

I just - don't understand why this book was written? I understand, and love, books that are character driven, and that serve more to give the reader a tableau of what it is like to feel the feelings of a certain person, but this was not that. I also understand, and have loved before, novels that are full of interpersonal drama that don't reach any sort of peak, or real conclusion. However, the latter is more typical of 'beach' reads, or lighter, contemporary fiction, and thus is to be expected going into it. This was set up as a Hugo-esque kind of tail, many fools on a ship with different interests, for pages and pages (and pages). The style does not match the tone which does not match the theme and the length throws everything out of whack. 

Ironically, I can see myself pondering if I really got what I was supposed to out of this book, and if I invested and paced myself in the way that I should have. I can see myself trying to re-read this many years from now when I am more of a sophisticated adult. For now, I am still a young person who prefers not to dwell in the uneventful. We'll see, I'm not saying there's zero chance that this won't be my favourite book after a re-read in twenty years, I'm just saying that for today, I'm glad it's over.

Ship of Fools

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