As the seasons progress, Carrey builds relationships with his teammates and coach, including brutal competitiveness with his main opponent Payne as well as budding romantic feelings toward Anderson. The flow of the seasons is natural for the rower reading the novel: fall workouts (Fenton doesn’t race in the fall), winter erg and weight tests, and spring training and racing, the ultimate fitness test.
The book is broken into five sections: a letter written to Carrey by John Perry in present day a prologue and three seasons of training – Fall, Winter, and Spring. The men (and woman) are ruled by enigmatic coach Charles Channing a former Harvard oarsman of few words, but the words he does chose are often harsh and critical of Carrey, who is headstrong and resistant to rowing in the four, both as a sculler and as an outsider of this boarding school world. The novel interweaves Carrey's time in his year at Fenton with his adult life, where he is working a documentary filmmaker and ending a turbulent relationship with his longtime partner, Carolyn, just days before his 15th reunion at Fenton.Ĭarrey joins Fenton four-years Connor Payne, John Perry, Chris Wadsworth coxswain Ruth Anderson, the first woman on the team, in their quest to make the God Four and race Warwick. Unbeknownst to the dedicated sculler, he is brought in not to row the single, but to fill a seat in the "God Four" - the boat that races Warwick. Winning is everything and more, and the Fenton School hasn't won in five years.Īs the book gets underway, high school sculler Rob Carrey from Niccalsetti NY is recruited for a post-graduate year at Fenton. The dual race, held every spring on a Tuesday, guarantees the oarsmen admission to Harvard, per a gentleman's agreement between the coaches.
Whether it is the season-ending championships, a big invitational regatta, a sole final home race, or an almost irrationally important dual with a rival team, there is inevitably one competition where the win is sweeter than any other, and the loss more brutal, even devastating.Īt Fenton School, the fictional prep school that is at the center of Flat Water Tuesday, a new novel by Ron Irwin, that race is against Warwick. Every competitive rower knows that there is always one race in the season that looms far larger than any other.
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