WRONG ANSWERS ONLY

A prospective university student searches for himself during a seaworthy gap year.

Eighteen-year-old gay Italian Australian Marco Di Mario got the highest score of any student in the state of Victoria in his Year Twelve exams and was accepted to Melbourne University to study biomedicine. But when he lands in the hospital after suffering panic attacks due to anxiety over heading off to uni, his parents force him to take a year off. Nonna Sofia, the family matriarch, arranges for him to join his estranged uncle Renzo on the Mediterranean cruise ship where he works. On board the Ocean Melody, Marco hopes to find answers about himself, his anxiety, and the reason for his uncle’s abandonment of the family decades earlier. With support from CeCe Casupang, his Filipina Australian lifelong best friend, Marco decides to break out of his comfort zone and begin solving his problems by trying to “get a few things wrong” for once in his life. This plan includes getting into a situationship with “Hot Surfer Dude” Hunter, a charming dancer from California. A cast of characters with realistic human failures propels the narrative through mostly witty dialogue. The cruise ship world is diverse in nationality, race, and sexuality, and even minor walk-on characters are described in ways that add to the story’s inclusive nature, although their identities aren’t developed in substantive ways.

An endearing examination of family, friendship, and personal growth in the wake of mental health struggles.