Onionhead: A Novel of the Coast Guard

Synopsis

As an insolvent, lonely student at the University of Oklahoma in the days before America's entry into World War II, Al Woods was obsessed with two things: food and sex. He never seemed to have enough of the first, and never seemed to have any of the second. He had known nothing but hard times. He felt himself a member of the Doomed Generation, whose best hope was the least of several evils. Since he thought he was getting nowhere in college, Al joined the Coast Guard; it was better than being drafted, and it offered three square meals a day. Al's story is a novel of the Coast Guard--America's first seagoing outfit, with a tradition that has been neglected in fiction. It is the immensely readable, strongly compelling story of how he became a man through his life in the ships and of how he learned the difference between lust and love through his experiences with the women on shore. There were no heroics in the Coast Guard--at first. There was, for Al, a disillusioning fiasco in the New Orleans' Baronne Street, which made him wonder about all women, and with a special kind of torment, about Josephine Hill, the popular coed at the University to whom he had felt closer than to any other girl. There was routine duty on the buoy tender Skedeelia around the Great Lakes, and the pleasurable discovery that he had the makings of a first-class cook, and the lamentable discovery that in the eyes of his shipmates he had become an "onionhead." There was the growing comradeship with Red Wildoe, his superior in the galley, and with other members of the crew. And there was Stella, whom Al met in a Milwaukee water-front bar. Stella was all woman and all passion. Yet his relationship with her brought a troubling sense that he had betrayed a shipmate's friendship; and for all its sensual satisfactions, something was lacking. He thought that with Jo Hill things would have been different, but her letters told him he had lost her. Before the book is over America has entered the war, Al has seen action in the Atlantic, and learned a lot more about women. Above all he has gained maturity and character, as he proves when he meets the real test of his loyalty. Weldon Hill, a new novelist, has told his story with humor, understanding, and unblinking realism. He has a superb ear for the way people talk, and an innate grasp of how they think and feel.

Copyright:

1957

Book Details

Book Quality:

Excellent

Book Size:

378 Pages

Publisher:

DAVID McKAY COMPANY, INC.

Date of Addition:

08/27/20

Copyrighted By:

Weldon Hill

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

History, Military, Literature and Fiction

Submitted By:

Deborah Murray

Proofread By:

BookMouse

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.