When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man

February 13, 2012
Make no mistake, Dybek’s title is a shout-out to Treasure Island—and with good reason, since this debut combines the spirit of 19th-century boys’ adventure stories with a more stationary coming-of-age yarn. Nowhere could be more stationary than Loyalty Island, a crab-fishing village located on the border between Canada and the U.S., and home to young Cal, incorrigibly imaginative son of one of the perpetually absent fathers who sail off on perilous journeys, leaving their sons to grow up in the oppressive shadow of fishing magnate John Gaunt and learn of the outside world from movies and records. When Gaunt dies, a cold war divides the generations between tradition and a love of pop culture relics. A murder conspiracy and family secrets float to the surface, but Dybek’s grasp on his material is too shaky for the intrigue to have much effect. Cal’s world never quite comes to life, perhaps because most of the action occurs offshore, leaving readers with an endless list of samurai movies and Dylan songs in lieu of plot and a satisfying dénouement. Though there are hints of precocious brilliance, too often the novel reads as pastiche. Agent: Julie Barer, Barer Literary.