You Are Free by Matthew Montague
My review on Amazon.com:
Sea Story – Not for Everyone (which leaves more for me)
It’s obvious from the vastly different ratings here that this book isn’t for everyone. That may be because some readers were unwilling to give the second-person narrative style a chance. It is slightly unconventional, but is set in the present tense and is very fast-paced.
This is an account of a sailor on a modern surface ship with all the accompanying technical terms, acronyms, oxymorons and obscenities. However, the author added linked footnotes to help with those (except the obscenities, alas).
The tone is irreverent, the structure is very short chapters, and the story is very simple. Having been in the Navy myself, I could relate to much of the content. The descriptions were well-done and I found myself remembering things from long ago.
Overall, I found the characters interesting and life-like, except the protagonist. I wanted “you” to feel more emotion and I wanted to care more about “you.” That would have made the story more meaningful all around.
© Jan McClintock of We Need More Shelves