Set
aboard a ship carrying troops home from India at the end of World War II,
Edward Lueders’ autobiographical novel opens with the dramatic events that
ensue when the call goes out, ‘Man overboard!’ As the vessel drifts, engines
stopped, in search of the lost man, the story begins to delve deeper into the
paradox at the center of our lives, as irreducible isolation is juxtaposed
with inevitable coexistence. The ship becomes a complex metaphor for the thousands of men aboard and, by
extension, for all of us who exist both as individuals and as parts of the
human community. These motifs are developed through the interplay of three
men aboard ship, Staff Sgt. LeRoy Warner, Sgt. Mark Reiter, and Sgt. Stanley
Norman, who entertain troops as a jazz trio. These GI musicians improvise
through solo sections in which each reflects hauntingly on his past and
dreams of his future. As they search for meaning beyond subjectivism, beyond
suffering and randomness, their music is about the possibilities for harmony. Although miscues, counterbeats, and dissonance apparently mock our efforts
to break out of ourselves, sometimes, however fleetingly, everything falls
into place. Then the prose of our lives turns unexpectedly to poetry and we
experience an exhilarating unity.