SHIP'S COMPANY

by Lonnie Coleman ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 1955

Some scattered episodes involving the officers and seamen aboard the U.S.S. Nellie Crockes during the war are for the most part out of the line of direct fire and scale the conflict down to personal issues and incidents. Likable Mason, the division officer, finally yields to the whining insistence of Turner and the bullying pressure of the men and gives Turner the transfer he is seeking. Ensign Leo Brickell, an ordinary young man of limited emotional experience, is for the first time exposed to extraordinary fear during the invasion. Patronizing 1st Lieutenant Lindsay is powerless when a Negro seaman is baited to the point where he takes his life. The brash bonhomie of Montgomery veils his homosexuality and a night spent in a call house in Algiers only weakens the defenses of the young man he has chosen. Alex Walsh, on a Frisco leave, finds that his girl has changed her sex. Riordan, with the armistice, is sentenced rather than reprieved, etc. etc. These and others provide occasional insights into the pattern of lives deflected by the circumstance of war, but human weakness is the determinant of their destiny. Limited (even more so for conservatives).

Pub Date: June 21, 1955

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1955

Categories: FICTION