Ron Irwin's Blog: Flat Water Tuesday, A Novel

Thanks, GoodReads People! 1000 ratings and 196 reviews! Whew!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Natalie Dormer Joins Michael Douglas, Jai Courtney And Brenton Thwaites In ‘God Four’- Cannes
by Ali Jaafar
May 13, 2016 11:46pm

http://deadline.com/2016/05/natalie-d...

EXCLUSIVE– Games of Thrones‘ Natalie Dormer has joined the cast of Todd Komarnicki’s God Four, opposite Jai Courtney (Suicide Squad), Michael Douglas and Brenton Thwaites (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales). Protagonist Pictures is handling international sales on the project, which follows a documentary filmmaker (Courtney) the eve of his 10-year school reunion, who discovers one of his championship rowing crew has just committed suicide. The discovery compels him to look back at his final year at college, a time of rivalry, romance and dangerous secrets.

Komarnicki, who wrote Clint Eastwood’s Sully and produced Will Ferrell’s Elf, wrote and will direct the project, which starts shooting next month. Jason Speer (The Family Fang), Lars Winther (Captain America: Civil War), Peter Winther (The Patriot) and Hadeel Reda (16 Blocks) produce.

My novel is about rowing…this was sent in to me by a reader.

Book Review: Flat Water Tuesday
by Amanda Milad, row2k.com
posted on November 4, 2014

Every competitive rower knows that there is always one race in the season that looms far larger than any other. 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.

At 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. The dual race, held every spring on a Tuesday, guarantees the oarsmen admission to Harvard, per a gentleman's agreement between the coaches. Winning is everything and more, and the Fenton School hasn't won in five years.

As the book gets underway, high school sculler Rob Carrey from Niccalsetti NY is recruited for a post-graduate year at Fenton. 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.

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.

Carrey 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. 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 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 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. 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.

Though the opening letter references a tragic incident that occurred during his year at Fenton, Carrey's daily life, both in his youth and as an adult, are so filled with melancholy, that the reader keeps wondering if there really is a moment in his life worse than the last. His young love with Ruth, and long-term relationship with Carolyn are both filled with a sort of hollowness; Carrey, in his personal life as in his rowing life, is a bit of a lone wolf.

The book concludes in the spring Warwick race and with the reunion. Carrey's deepest vulnerabilities are revealed as he reconnects with Fenton for the first time since he has graduated, and he attempts to move on from his relationship with Carolyn, a woman worlds away from his rowing days.

The book offers another look into boarding school as a coming of age story, and as such is reminiscent of A Separate Peace, with a rowing element. While this is a story that can be appreciated by rowers and non-rowers alike, the imagery will suck in the former – the burning sensation throughout the shoulders and back in a timed bench pull test, the mind games and lung burn of an erg test, the cold and grueling first races of the spring in March, even the descriptions of cauterizing a blister – draw the reader into the mind of Rob Carrey as he faces the most physically and mentally challenging time of his young life. Irwin was a rower himself in high school and college; his understanding of the sport is readily apparent in his writing through these detailed descriptions.

In the scope of books about rowing, Flat Water Tuesday stands out as a readable, absorbing novel that accurately depicts the mind of a competitive rower. It's a book that many will be able to relate to, the themes are universal: the hard work of relationships, adapting, learning. The race is only a few minutes in the larger realm of things – Flat Water Tuesday is a reminder that what happens around that big race is what molds us.

Had a wonderful interview with Buffalo Spree magazine about the connection my novel has with Buffalo, NY. http://www.ronirwin.com/images/interv...

Hello all! The are four more days to enter the GoodReads giveaway for my novel, Flat Water Tuesday! This comes out in paperback format on Tuesday, May 6. Ten copies are being given away to folks in the USA. Give it a shot!

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

Very happy to report that Flat Water Tuesday is Target's Club Pick for May. I signed 5000 copies to go into stores across the country. The Target edition includes a new cover, a letter from me to Target guests, a new interview, a personal essay and pictures of the places that inspired the novel. I am thrilled. Find out more here:

http://www.target.com/p/flat-water-tu...

Very proud to report that the new paperback version of my novel  Flat Water Tuesday will come out in the USA on May 6. It now has a lovely new cover!

Very happy to report that Flat Water Tuesday is coming out in paperback May 6. It now has a wonderful new cover.

http://www.amazon.com/Flat-Water-Tues...

The Chicago Tribune on the Flat Water Tuesday Audiobook: "Actor Holter Graham, who narrates this book, has a knack for these young-men-on-the-brink stories, and he was spot-on for Richard Ford's 'Canada,' and Chad Harbach's 'The Art of Fielding.' His performance is just as satisfying in 'Flat Water Tuesday,' and he is particularly good in the competition sequences, giving Irwin's best prose the voice it deserves."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/feature...