The Boat Runner by Devin Murphy - ADULT

The Boat Runner by Devin Murphy, 368 pages.  Harper Perennial, 2017.  $16.  

Content: Language: R (31 swears; 3 “f”); Mature Content: R; Violence: R.  

BUYING ADVISORY: ADULT - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE  

Jacob Koopman is a Dutch boy in his teens when World War II breaks out in Europe.  Jacob adores his family (especially his brother Edwin) and friends in his Dutch town of Delfzijl where his father runs the lightbulb factory.  Jacob also loves helping his Uncle Martin on his fishing boat.  As the war starts to encroach on Jacob’s world his family and friends are drawn into the battle between right and wrong.  

This story is compelling, and I found the Dutch perspective interesting and unique.  I have never contemplated what it must have felt like to lose family and friends from the supposedly friendly fire of the Allies.   This book has a teen character but is an adult novel with upsetting and gruesome violence and frequent graphic sexual references.  

Reviewer, C. Peterson.