William Wharton: Houseboat on the Seine

This book is a truly adventurous and sensual read. It was simply great to immerse myself in the everyday life on the Seine, and I didn’t even notice that in my head I was no longer present where my body was. The intertwining adventures kept me busy, and I didn’t even notice that I was sunburnt on the beach while curiously leafing through the fates of various family members. This novel gave me a pleasant feeling and made me want to have a houseboat myself.

In this book, we will watch as they build a two-storey houseboat from a broken-down barge, while learning about the difficulties and beauties of houseboat life. A married couple with three children, the mother a kindergarten teacher, the father a painter. The father is the protagonist and narrator. As the title suggests, the setting is no great surprise; it takes place in a tributary of the Seine, a suburb of Paris. There is tripartition, but there are none of the classic elements, such as when a drama starts at the 75th percentile of the book. Rather, each chapter has a problem to be solved by the end of the chapter. There is structuring: in the first quarter we learn about the life of a family of American descent, we tour a ship on the brink of destruction. Then, chapter by chapter, the repairs begin; and in the last quarter of the book, we get to know and finally like the world of the people on the houseboat. Are there complications? First, the boat sinks; then, it’s almost swept away in the flood. And at the end, we learn how being a boatman radically changes their lives. Things are resolved with amazing creativity and no little outside help. Perhaps that’s the beauty of it all: the teamwork. “If you don’t know how to do something, anything is possible.” I like the fact that they will do anything crazy to find a solution. It makes me smile to hear stories like this, when creativity meets determination. Like when they carry a carpet down from a third-floor apartment, but can’t bring it down the stairs, so they throw it out on the balcony instead. I recommend this book to those who are at least a little bit interested in the world of shipping, since the main plot is to renovate and then extend a houseboat. Of course, it is important that all this takes place in France. We get a big dose of the French way of life, but from an outsider’s point of view, because we are talking about an American couple. I would give the book four stars. Not five, because it is not a Nobel Prize-winning piece of writing. It is a good book, but we do not expect it to change the world. It’s just a good read. It’s adventurous, humorous in places, and perceptive. The descriptive passages are nowhere too long, yet I find myself so immersed in the daily life on the Seine that I don’t even notice. I don’t even notice that my mind is no longer where my body is. It occurs to me that I’ve probably never bought a plane ticket so cheap. I myself bought it because French culture and shipping are my calling words, then I didn’t put it down because I was completely bored by the interwoven adventures, then I didn’t even notice that I was sunburnt on the beach while curiously turning the pages, wondering about the fate of the various family members – after the big repairs. Of course I had pleasant feelings about the novel. My first thought was that I wanted a houseboat.