The Starboard Sea - Too Little of Too Much

The Starboard Sea, by Amber Dermont, is a story told in the first person by Jason Prosper, a very well-to-do young man. Jason has been thrown out of his classy prep school and now attends another school for those preppies previously discarded from other prep schools. Of course, Jason’s father’s money helps get him in. Jason has no interest in his father’s money nor his father, for that matter. He befriends a young woman who has other serious problems. The novel talks about parties, about bullying and cruelty, and about the rich and spoiled rotten. The story tries to deal with issues such as being gay, bullying, suicide, and what’s behind a lot of this - the parents of these spoiled young people. I feel the story tries to touch on too many of these social issues and doesn’t really handle any one of them adequately. I also know there are folks like this out there, but the majority of the “rich and famous” young preppies do not fall into the stereotypes set up as the mainstream in this book. I have to say that Ms. Dermont tried but she may have done a much better job dealing with only one issue in this book. She’s a good writer but has to save some of the issues for another book. If you’re interested in a quick book to read, this is for you, but don’t look for much substance here.