John Casey (1) (1939–2025)

Rhode Islander Dick Pierce suffers from a throat-strangling envy of the rich people who flock to his touristy seaside town of Narragansett every summer. His mistress calls it "class-rage." Money, or the lack of it, makes Dick an ornery man. Most of the time he is able to control his disdain for the wealthy nonsense, but every once in awhile his temper will flare. It is difficult for him, as a year-rounder, to make a back-breaking living as a commercial fisherman while watching his neighbors show more folic in the house his family used to own. With a wife and two sons to support Dick knows he needs to captain his own vessel to bring in a better profit. He can't make ends meet crewing for someone else. His saving grace is a 50-foot boat he calls Spartina he has been slowly building in the back yard. Now all he needs is an engine. Desperation to put Spartina in the water leads Dick down a dangerous path of foolish choices and regrettable actions. Drugs, adultery, theft. Nothing is off limits when a man is driven.
Confessional: I couldn't decide if I liked the main character. show less

Almost certainly it would be better to have come to this after having read some of John Casey’s novels or short stories. He is probably a sensitive novelist. I suspect he is a good teacher as well, affable and constructive. But he isn’t a great essayist. And so this collection, though at times affable and constructive and sensitive to the real challenges that face writers, is not particularly helpful. In fact, where it succeeds best is when Casey moves away from the instructive essay and show more reflects upon his own life as a reader and as a writer. The essay “Childhood Reading” is delightful. It is filled with Casey’s early enthusiasm, his confusion with certain novels, and his pleasure in sharing a much-loved book with a close friend. He describes himself as a natural reader as opposed to a writer. But perhaps that is true for all writers. I also like the content (but not the form) of the final essay on mentors. Casey was lucky enough to have found a worthy mentor early in his career and wise enough to realize that mentoring is not just about instruction. If you are lucky, your mentor will point out something you’ve never seen before. Not unlike a friend.

I wish I could offer a stronger recommendation for this book. It isn’t pointless to read. Just not essential. show less

Casey's prose is lush and meaning-full, and his characters are so real as to feel as if he's only transcribing a world seen directly in front of him, except in that the interior thoughts are so true that he'd need to be a mind-reader, as well. As with Spartina, this book brings to life a whole cast of characters whose interconnected lives are as humorous as they are heartbreaking, and there's a certain romance brought to the depiction of the natural world here, especially.

Perhaps there were show more a few too many similar names and characters to keep track of, and perhaps it ended with less closure than I'd have liked, but all told, I really enjoyed this.

Recommended for readers of general/literary fiction, but you should start by reading Casey's Spartina. show less

If you are expecting Compass Rose to be the further adventures of Dick Pierce then you will be disappointed. What Compass Rose does, however, is take up the story from a whole other viewpoint, following the women in Dick Pierce's life. That is the beauty of this sequel - you hear the voices that were part of Dick's story have their own story, stories just as compelling and demanding to be heard. Spartina is about ambition and the recklessness that often comes with ambition. Compass Rose is show more about the daily business of living, whether ambition is alive or not. Casey is a marvelous writer. show less