Deep Water Blues

March 25, 2019
This underwhelming novel from Waitzkin (Searching for Bobby Fisher) whisks the reader off to the idyllic island of Rum Cay in the Bahamas. There, Bobby Little has turned his marina into a paradise where wealthy sport fishermen come to taste his version of the good life. One of those visitors is Fred Waitzkin himself, who observes the escalating conflict between Bobby and Eddie, a newcomer to Rum Cay, who has his own ideas for how the island should be run. Bobby is something of a local legend, a former skateboard champ, surfer, and undercover DEA agent. But he seems to be no match for Eddie, who becomes his partner, with a sneaky eye toward taking over the marina for himself. As the two square off against one another, the entire island hangs in the balance. The author fills his plot with prototypically colorful characters—including Biggy, a local man looking for love, and Mike, who lives in a rotting sailboat where he has spent the past 12 years working on a novel. Unfortunately, this story, which can be read as a parable for the dangers of capitalism, never fully engages the reader’s imagination.