A sweeping saga of American idealism and disillusionment follows the lives of seven individuals as they struggle to find their place amidst the tumultuous 1960s and 70s.
A sweeping saga of American idealism and disillusionment, Richard Sharp’s exquisite Crystal Ships traces the lives of seven friends through two decades of violence, hope, and cultural change
Sharp spins an epic tale that starts back in the heady days of the Kennedy administration, when Camelot appeared as a shining beacon of hope for all Americans.
But as the years tick on, riots, assassinations, drugs, gender conflicts, and the Vietnam War come crashing into the country’s consciousness.
Through it all, seven very different individuals live out their lives against the backdrop of these monumental events, unwittingly encapsulating the spirit of the time. From a youthful striver from Boston’s Irish working class inspired by JFK, a Harvard-educated would-be poet of the drug culture, and a dedicated Vietnam War volunteer, to an abused aspiring dancer and her repressed girlfriend, a conflicted housewife-career woman and a South African exchange student following the American dream, each individual carries the burden of the times.
Excerpt
Chapter 1: Three Men Walked into a Bar
“Can’t you at least say something?” Shane Stephens handed back Gil Gardner’s draft poem without comment as the transit car pulled up to the platform.
Gil persisted as they exited the MTA station. ‘It’s an old legend for our new frontier, Can’t you see?”
“Isn’t Camelot enough?”
“No. That’s just glorification of noble failure. Mine is about the American dream. Find your own inspiration. Take a chance and struggle to reach it. Damn. Don’t you get it?” Shane said nothing.
Zero hour approached—the end of Shane’s youth, the crossroads of his life. Reading the nautical metaphor on the metro annoyed him, even if Gil meant well. He would not, could not, admit being impressed, though the symbolism was surely relevant at this new horizon of endless possibilities. A positive response to his Princeton graduate school application would transform his life. He could be something. He could make a difference. A negative response would be devastating. He had only one choice—deny the night’s importance.
Shane, his younger brother Connor, and Gil, left the MTA station near Boston’s soon-lamented Scollay Square in silence. Demolitions in preparation for a massive government complex neared completion that March 1963—the close of a difficult era that ended well and beginning of a new one agleam with opportunity. The three graduating college seniors skirted the construction to a still-standing red brick building bearing a simple red neon sign visible through the dust. “Tavern.”
Professional Reviews
ForeWord Reviews
From ForeWord Reviews:
Clarion Review (Five Out of Five Stars)
Crystal Ships is an epic story about a group of young friends living through the turmoil of the 1960s and ’70s. Coming from different social, religious, political, and economic backgrounds, the main characters try to discover who they are and their places in the world. With compelling characters, an impressively researched historical landscape, and an artfully crafted plot, the book is entertaining and educational from the first page to the last.
[The chasracters] are very different people, but all are hopeful for the future and trying to pursue their individual dreams. They are scholars and artists, entrepreneurs and idealists, but their lives are unfolding during a unique and difficult time in history. Their personal triumphs and tragedies bind them together, and they grow and change as all people do. However, each of their lives is affected by the major events of the day.
Crystal Ships is a fascinating book. [A] superb job of weaving the strands of the plot into a seamless narrative that is more about the time period than about the characters. The writing is very clean and readable, and the dialogue flows naturally.
The incorporation of historical detail makes the text come alive, with references not only to the politics and news events of the era but also to the art. Many chapters are given the title of a well-known song, and the meaning of the music reflects the content of the chapter, creating a soundtrack that enriches the plot.
The sixties and seventies were turbulent decades. The Kennedy administration, the civil rights movement, women’s liberation, Watergate, and the Vietnam War all helped to define the culture and the people who were trying to make sense of it. Through the story of seven young adults, Crystal Ships offers a vibrant and compelling look into an important time in history and provides a remarkable context for understanding the art that came out of the era.
Kirkus Review
College friends come of age in the turbulent 1960s and ’70s when they confront their private demons in Sharp’s novel.
With her vibrant personality and strong will, Lucy Funaro (an uninhibited seductress) exemplifies the drive to succeed among the initially idealistic young adults of Sharp’s (The Duke Don’t Dance, 2012) latest. She headlines the cast in a kaleidoscopic review of 1960s politics, promiscuity, rampant drug activity and assassinations. Lucy and her constant companion, Camilla Benenati, both undergraduates, banter with grad students Shane and Connor Stephens and Connor’s roommate, Gil Gardner, at a sports bar in Princeton in the summer of 1963 and bond almost immediately, setting in motion enduring friendships. The group gradually expands to include Lucy’s older brother, Ira; Ira’s girlfriend, Ava (who marries and divorces Ira); Balinda, who marries Shane; and Sarah, married to Connor. The wide-ranging novel supports intelligent characters and a complex, lucid plot. The action continually shifts among the friends in American cities, Southeast Asia, Spain and South Africa. Ira hopes to build a career in Southeast Asia, and Shane accepts an assignment there in 1969 mainly to honor Connor, an Air Force officer whose plane crashed on a reconaissance mission in 1967; what happened to Connor remains unknown until 1974, when a South Vietnamese acquaintance of Shane's locates what is left of the plane and its pilots. A brisk narrative pace holds the reader in thrall, most particularly in the several chapters that chronicle Lucy’s fate and the hopeless war in Vietnam. It’s clear that Sharp writes from personal knowledge of every locale, as well as of the war itself. In fact, the novel fascinates due to the writer’s skillful rendering of the era. The most intriguing device in Sharp’s prose is the one-line character sketch, an efficient, vivid use of language in a narrative otherwise so dense, it’s wise to take notes.
Animates the Vietnam era with sharply drawn characters and intricate storylines.
The Midwest Book Review
Richard Sharp has a singular talent as a novelist with the ability to engage his readers into a fictional world plucked from real-world headlines. The combination of deftly crafted characters immersed into a complexly woven story marks "Crystal Ships" as an extraordinarily entertaining read. Also available in a Kindle edition ($4.99), "Crystal Ships" is highly recommended for community library fiction collections.
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