Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Submersed:
Weirder than you can possibly expect.
Quick synopsis:
A look at amateur submarine culture and the murder of journalist Kim Wall.
Fact for Non-History People:
It is impossible to go 20,000 leagues under the sea because that’s twice the circumference of Earth.
Fact for History Nerds:
Kim Wall spoke 8 languages by the time she turned 27.
My Take on Submersed:
Weird comes in many types. For instance, history nerd weird means you may have a podcast that you talk about too much and people avoid being cornered by you at a party. Allegedly. I think (hope) this is a quirky type of weird where people don’t actively avoid me or feel uncomfortable. There is another type of weird where people do avoid you because you make their skin crawl and they worry you may start talking about Hitler. Does that previous sentence sound strangely specific? Well, welcome to the world of amateur submarines! Apparently!
Matthew Gavin Frank dives into (see what I did there?) the world of amateur submariners and the murder of journalist Kim Wall in Submersed. I want to make it clear upfront that Frank is not writing a traditional true crime book with a few asides into amateur submarines. It would be more accurate to say the Kim Wall murder by bad person Peter Madsen in his personal submarine is one story of many in this book. If you go looking for a long narrative on the crime and the trial, then you will be disappointed. If you are looking for a meditation on a very specific subset of humans, then oh boy is there a lot here.
Frank does have a somewhat peculiar writing style. Besides authoring non-fiction, he also writes poetry, lyrical essays, and does food and travel writing. The positive side of his style is that it does sound very lyrical and his descriptions of things are specific and tangible. However, I do think he goes overboard at times. I found myself more than once hoping he would get back to the story and stop telling me about the colors of things, for instance. It doesn’t ruin the book, but it is noticeable.
Another aspect of the story I struggle with is Frank’s exploration of the amateur submarine community. On the one hand, I felt like I got a real deep look at the people that populate this insular clique. Frank is clearly trying to understand the fascination of going underwater (he himself is not a fan) and the characters he describes are colorful. They are also quite misogynistic with a few Nazis sprinkled in for good measure. Where I struggle with this part of the story line is that Frank never seems to find a goodhearted submariner. Yes, there is one character where he at least seems neutral, but for a book on a very specific subgroup I wanted to understand their reasons for this hobby. Frank tries to investigate this aspect but keeps it at arm’s length almost as if he doesn’t want to get pulled in himself. Which, when there are a bunch of racists around, is probably a good idea, ultimately. However, I could see someone calling his treatment of an entire community as hostile because he doesn’t adequately document (or couldn’t find) the positive side.
That said, even with my minor reservations, I was never tempted to put the book down. This exploration was definitely worth the read, and as long as you know what you are getting into, will keep you riveted.
(This book was provided as an advance copy by Pantheon Books.)
Verdict:
Mesmerizing and unexpected. Buy it here!
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