Review of Bathtub Admirals

Jeff's book alternately cracked me up with scenes that I keep replaying over and over and continue to get the giggles(see the red phone scene) and nearly broke my heart. There is so much of the loss of the Feminine on so many levels, beginning with the military itself:the art of war is the effective opposite of the art of creation. I really see this loss of the Feminine as a major thematic element that defines the "subtext", that is to say the underlying psychological running monologue that actors use to fuel the dynamics of their performance so that it rings true and moves the audience. Jack Hogan is a man who loves Woman and loyalty and truth and right action. He is trapped in a floating world that values none of these: Bizarro World. Up is down and rank is rank--it stinks. Much like Homer's Odyssey also weaves the Feminine into the narrative in a critical fashion, Bathtub Admirals bleeds pain from the losses of Mother, Mate, Friend, Colleague, Lover. Not to mention the loss of the Mother who says "You boys stop that fighting right this minute!" and enforces it. These Bathtub Admirals are Boys Gone Wild. The loss of the Feminine on the personal level is mirrored by the loss and destruction of it on the Global level. I am haunted by the scenes of the girl on the roof--naked bait. It speaks loudly to me of the resurgence of the cultural disdain, nay, hatred of the Feminine. One only need look at the news to see ample proof if its epidemic spread into the so-called Western "advanced" world (see France's judicial ruling affirming the legality that a marriage could be annulled by a Muslim male because his new wife could not offer "proof " of her virginity in their marriage bed). Conservative American writers warn in threatening tones that girls are getting too uppity and are taking the appropriate spotlight off our male children, depriving them and putting them at risk. Hogwash. Jeff expertly elicits the pain and pathos which results as this essential force in nature is extinguished by its opposite--the equally necessary penetrating, aggressive, force of domination. I believe that Bathtub Admirals will have legs for generations as a succinct description of a World Out Of Whack for having swung too far in the direction of the Eternal Masculine. Will we ever see Balance in our lifetimes? Probably not. In the meantime, all we can do is laugh at the absurdities, the ridiculous posturing and playacting. And laugh really hard. It is the only sane response to such insanity and pain. Thank God for satire and satirists, else we'd all go mad.