Time and Tide: A Novel of World War II (The Thomas Fleming Library)
Time and Tide: A Novel of World War II (The Thomas Fleming Library) book cover

Time and Tide: A Novel of World War II (The Thomas Fleming Library)

by
Price
$9.99
Publisher
New Word City, Inc.
Publication Date

Description

From Publishers Weekly Fleming's astonishing gift for portraying the gut realities of war experience in a vast, historically accurate context, clearly evidenced in his bestselling The Officers' Wives, shines forth in this battleship of a novel about the Pacific conflict of WW II, a conflict largely forgotten and (so Fleming's research convinces us) partially covered up. The main focus is on the fictitious USS Jefferson City (modeled on a real-life counterpart), which sailed away from the battle of Savo Island, the biggest defeat in U.S. naval history, and is now fighting to redeem its honor under a man who is the dismissed captain's best friend. Captain McKay probes the mystery of his friend's disgrace while simultaneously seeking to free his ship of its "bad joss" in searing naval confrontations and to overcome his disillusion with the Navy and with a wife who seems the embodiment of its system. There are several eye-openers: the mediocrity of the American admirals at Guadalcanal, and in the earlier phase of the war generally; ordinary sailors' anger at FDR and the politicians for pitting them against the Japanese with inadequate ships and planes; onboard homosexuality, and the Navy's short way with it; the wildness of liberty in Australia; the demoralizing effects of the kamikaze attacks; and the Navy's resentment of the atomic bomb for depriving it of its victory. The numerous memorable characters include a stalwart boatswain, a bullying, homosexual boatswain's mate, a cowardly executive officer, a chaplain whose platitudes are scorched away in the fire of experience, McKay himself and the two women in his life. The story is high drama, grim in detail, prevailingly bitter in tone, about men forced by the hell of war to fight for their honor, their lives and, in selected instances, their souls. It's also a very close look at the U.S. Navy as it is and was. Major ad/promo; Military Book Club selection; Literary Guild alternate. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Library Journal Having left the Battle of Savo Island under suspicious circumstances in 1942, the USS Jefferson City is a ship haunted by bad joss. Arthur McKay is sent to relieve the cruiser's captain, Win Kemble, also his Annapolis roommate and best friend. Accused of cowardice under fire, the men of the JC fight a constant battle to prove their valor to themselves and the rest of the Navy. They see action from Guadalcanal to Okinawa, losing all sense of time or season as they wage an interminable war. With a myriad of characters, this is a maritime Upstairs, Downstairs, detailing the personal lives, loves, and conflicts of those aboard. The reader experiences first-hand life on an American warship. A well-researched and moving historical novel. Literary Guild featured alternate; Military Book Club main selection. Maria A. Perez-Stable, Western Michigan Univ. Libs., KalamazooCopyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Features & Highlights

  • Time and Tide begins with the Navy cruiser, Jefferson City, looming out of the dawn, fleeing a night of terror and death, the bodies of crewmen floating in water-filled compartments below decks. She has deserted her sister ships at the Battle of Savo Island - the worst naval defeat in U.S. history.New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming personalizes the war in the Pacific in this compelling novel of intrigue, love, and honor set aboard the fictional USS Jefferson City. From the night battles off Guadalcanal to the kamikaze-ridden skies of Okinawa, Time and Tide contrasts the horrors of war with the passions of love in this epic tale of Americans on the cutting edge of history.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(206)
★★★★
25%
(172)
★★★
15%
(103)
★★
7%
(48)
★
23%
(159)

Most Helpful Reviews

✓ Verified Purchase

Failure of command, dereliction of duty and falsified history

The author played fast and loose with history to advance his thesis of a country and Navy that did not deserve victory. While well written, it portrayed an artificially damning narrative of the United States and the U.S. Navy in World War II. I found it unconvincing in its portrayal of disloyal officers putting personal issues above their duty to their men and ship. This is an example of revisionist storytelling. I believe the author was trying to hide an anti- American bias behind a portrayal of the nitty gritty "real" story.

On another note, this is proof of the demise of proof reading. There were so many errors of punctuation that nearly every page contained at least one and many pages contained several. This product should not have cost even one cent. Even free, this would have cost too much.
15 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

A struggle to finish this one.

Oy. While I'm sure there were venal, petty, cowardly, self-serving officers and seamen in the US Navy during World War II, hard to believe that so many, from Adm. Ernest King down to what seemed like a majority of the line officers and petty officers on a cruiser in the Pacific, could possibly be as bad as portrayed in this novel. Hard to believe also that so many women would be as conniving, political and back-biting as many of the female characters portrayed in this novel. Most people are a mix of good and bad traits and characteristics - but too many of Thomas Fleming's characters have little to no redeeming values. Despite all that, the plot line of this novel - of an officer trying to stay true to the lifelong friend who he relieved of command, while simultaneously trying to lead the ship's crew to become an effective fighting force amid incompetence and political infighting in the Navy, is a good one. Unfortunately, the story is marred by too many bad characters, unrealistic dialogue, and some of the worst copy editing/proofreading I've ever seen in any book, print or electronic. Nearly every page is dogged by random punctuation (I lost count of how many periods appeared in the middle of sentences), garbled words, misplaced italics, etc. The quality of copy editing and proofreading in general has been trending downward, especially in Kindle books, but this one is the worst I've seen yet. I had to struggle to finish it.
11 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

A Good Novel of Naval History

As an avid amateur military historian, I have probably read everything ever published about the battles off the Solomon Islands as well as the other Pacific naval battles right down to the last. As a writer, I look at things a bit differently than others and, recognizing that, try not to be too critical. Writing a novel like "Time and Tide" is a major undertaking and the author is to be congratulated for his work. Having said that, however, I think it reasonable to point out some problems with it.

First, although it is an historically based novel, it should as a whole be considered an action-adventure. As such, I think the author forgot a major rule. Do not include anything that does not drive the story forward. Mr. Fleming dwells on too many personalities that mean little to the basic story and delays the important stuff - the battles. The many exchanges of letters between husbands and wives, the unrealistic banter where people are casually talking about seriously classified material, and internecine plots among high ranking naval officers all rang a bit bizarre to me. I found myself ignoring the letters that seemed to go on and on and skipping to the next round of military action. During the war in the Pacific, it was not unusual for letters to be delayed by months in getting to the parties. How likely is it that these letters could be a driving force in the actions actually taking place?

Finally, I note that the book contained numerous typographical errors that should have been caught by a copy editor. That is a problem for some. Not so much for me, except that it is appropriate to note them. All in all, I think this book rates at least a 3 star rating. I would have given it 4 stars were it not for those typos. Authors need to know how important detail is, and further, we need more stories of World War II before the knowledge is lost.
8 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Profane

Might be a good story but the language was so profane that I elected not to finish it. I realize it i typical of the language of the military but I don't have to read it.
6 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

If this is all he has, I'm not a fan.

Thomas obviously has a grudge against the Navy. Yes, this is a work of fiction, but the Navy he speaks of is one I don't recognize, and neither do any of my other Navy vet friends. He does a halfway decent job of fictionalizing some of the major naval encounters of WWII, but he does so in a way that puts the US Navy in a bad light. If you have high blood pressure and like the Navy, I would highly recommend NOT, repeat NOT, reading this.
6 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Good book. Terrible copy

The story is intriguing, the characters are real and the author shows every sign of knowing the place and time.
My complaint is the slipshod editing. There are periods inserted in front of. Words that are capitalized and, commas are, occasionally thrown in, in a seemingly random fashion.
So instead of a very good story the reader is constantly reminded he's reading a book that was apparently subjected to a very poor editing program.
The effect is similar to watching a movie with poor acting.
I think when you pay this much for a book it should be done professionally.
It would get a five star from me if it had.
4 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

An excellent WWII historical novel

One of my favorite reads by one of my favorite authors. It is a historically accurate book with the fictitious cruiser, Jefferson City, playing taking the part of many different historically accurate cruisers in the Pacific Campaign in WWII. The book is spiced with stories of the various crewmembers from the Captain, the Officers and the various crewmen who contribute to the historical tale.
To anyone who enjoys WWII historical fiction I would highly recommend this book.
4 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Good story-needs editing

Time & Tide is an interesting WWII story. Not sure that the amount of homosexual behavior described in the book among crew was as blatant as is outlined. The prejudice against gay people was so intense in the 1940's that most married and attempted to hide their preferred life style. Even on a boat the size of a cruiser there are few hiding places. I believe the hatred against the Japanese was so intense that many service personnel subordinated their Navy frustrations with an anger toward the Japanese military. That does not appear in the story until the Kamikaze attacks.

In chapter six, it is a repeat of an earlier chapter and the editors need to reformat the layout.
4 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Good book marred by uncounted errors in editing.

Ebook has two identical Part 6 sections, no part 5. Marred by periods and commas scattered randomly throughout. No breaks when scenes or point of view changes occur. A shame that such good writing is marred by such careless editing.
3 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Accurate, but Who Cares?

Thomas Fleming has done his homework as regards the naval battles and leaders of the Pacific war. The battles really happened. Its leaders—Nimitz, Kelly Turner and others—appear in nicely rendered cameos. Nevertheless, the overall narrative feels labored because there's no central theme or conflict being resolved. It's a pastiche of individual stories that never add up to anything bigger. The epic account of the US Navy World War II is turned into a soap opera, and that's a shame. After this, one turns in relief to James Fahey's journalistic account aboard the USS Montpelier in his Pacific War Diary. Now that was a story!
3 people found this helpful

Related Books