for April 14, 2025
In this issue:
PAGE: ⚓️ The Restless Wave, by Adm. James Stavridis
SCREEN: 🏳️🌈 A Nice Indian Boy
SCREEN: 🔪⛺️ Hell of a Summer
PAGE
📖 The Restless Wave: A Novel of the United States Navy
Type: Novel
Author: Admiral James Stavridis
Genre: Historical Fiction
Date Published: 2024
Synopsis. Scott Bradley James, son of a charter boat captain and Navy veteran in the Florida Keys, attends the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., to begin his career as a naval officer. Graduating in the class of 1941, James finds himself stationed at Pearl Harbor, only to have his ship shot out from under him on December 7. Eager for glory and revenge, we follow James through his service in the Pacific theater.
What worked. Stavridis uses a literary technique called “secret history,” where our protagonist finds himself in the pivotal events of the historical setting. I call that “Forrest Gumping.” Somehow James ends up serving under all the great players of the war in the Pacific. It allowed Stavridis to demonstrate his deep knowledge of Naval history and strategy.
What didn’t work. James’s life leading up to Pearl Harbor was given too much time in the novel. The story begins with him waking up to the sound of Japanese planes approaching Pearl Harbor. Then, we go back in time to spend half of the book following his youth and his time at the Academy before returning to the attack halfway through the book. I believe Stavridis should have condensed that backstory and incorporated other literary devices to incorporate it throughout the book.
Dialogue also was a weakness to this novel. Stavridis gives us too much exposition in his dialogue making it sound uncomfortable at times. It took me out of the drama.
![r/WarshipPorn - Fletcher class-destroyer USS Nicholas (DD-449) on trials, May 1942.[1023 × 854]](https://thephilomath.blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/2e497-45af9142-c410-4c83-b3af-f1717cc52e06_1023x854.jpeg)
Takeaways & final thoughts. I liked the book, though I think I would only recommend it to someone who is interested in nautical tales, naval history, or World War II. I assume the vast majority of writing by Stavridis has been on policy and strategy. I was able to look past the weaknesses and enjoy this book.
SCREEN
A Nice Indian Boy
Type: Film
Director: Roshan Sethi
Writers: Eric Randall, Madhuri Shekar
Starring: Karan Soni, Johathan Groff, Sunita Mani
Genre: 🏳️🌈 Romantic Comedy
Released: 2025
Synopsis. Boy meets boy. Boy loses boy. Boy gets boy. To be a little more specific—Indian-American doctor Naveen meets Jay, a white man who was adopted by Indian parents as a boy. When they get engaged, Naveen brings Jay home to meet his traditional parents who have different expectations for him. Cultural misunderstandings ensue.
What worked. It was a cute film and really tugged at my heart strings. Karan Soni (of the Deadpool franchise) played a range of funny and serious well. Jonathan Goff (Glee, Mindhunter, Hamilton) subtly showed the scars from his childhood.
What didn’t work. I felt the turnaround from “Boy loses boy” to “Boy gets boy” was a little fast. I wanted a little more strife so that their reunion felt like a stronger resolution.
Takeaways & final thoughts. I couldn’t help but think back to Mambo Italiano, another LGBT play turned into a film (a favorite of mine). Both had a strong scene where the gay son, hurt by the missteps of his parents, lashes out in anger. It is hard to see someone hurt by their parents like that, and sad to see them inflict pain back on them.
My favorite shot of the movie is when the father goes to see the exhibit of photographs by Jay, hoping to better understand the man his son has fallen in love with. As he approaches the photo of Jay with his adoptive parents, the deep red color that dominates the photo washes over Naveen’s father. I thought it was beautiful.
FILM: Hell of a Summer
Type: Film
Directors: Billy Bryk, Finn Wolfhard
Writers: Billy Bryk, Finn Wolfhard
Starring: Fred Hechinger, Finn Wolfhard, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai
Genre: Horror, Dark Comedy
Released: 2025
Synopsis. Boy meets killer. Boy loses killer. Boy gets killed. Just kidding—kind of. Jason Hochberg (Fred Hechinger) is 24-years-old, and doesn’t want to live the grown-up life. Jason, ever the outsider, returns to Camp Pineway as a counselor instead of taking an internship at his mother’s law firm. Determined to make the experience fun, he tries to rally his fellow counselors into engaging group activities. A crazed killer has other plans.
What worked. The writing paid homage to the slasher film genre well. There were many callbacks to classic films of the genre. (Who doesn’t love finding a severed head in the fridge?)
What didn’t work. The writers/directors/stars were nineteen when they wrote the screenplay. I think their youth showed in the writing. It wasn’t bad, but it lacked the depth of character that comes with more life experience and writing experience.
Takeaways & final thoughts. Even though I say their writing lacked character depth, did the original slasher films have any character depth? Nope. If you like classic slasher films, I think you’ll enjoy the movie. I’m not a fan of slasher films, myself. Give me a demonic possession any day of the week. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the homage to them.
The Philomath 
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