Things That Are Funny on a Submarine but Not Really
A deeply funny and achingly honest coming-of-age story surfacing from the pressures of
Navy life and the weight of what comes after.
A nuclear submarine exists due to the laws of physics and for the laws of man. A
submariner survives surrounded by high-yield steel, humor, and heartbreak.
Things That Are Funny on a Submarine But Not Really is about David, nicknamed “Dead
Man,” and his shipmates. Stationed in Guam, they sail the depths of the oceans,
swapping jokes and stories while strengthening bonds continually tested by the rigors
of submarine life. But when one shipmate is revealed as a Chinese spy, and another
takes his own life, Dead Man is burdened by guilt.
Searching for a change, Dead Man leaves the Navy to start fresh as a college student,
but his past refuses to let go. The ghosts of former shipmates—both dead and
alive—continue to haunt him, and unwilling to stay mired in his memories, Dead Man
searches for meaning in a life that feels increasingly foreign.
Reviews
“A raunchy, darkly funny, unusual coming-of-age novel set largely underneath the waters of the Pacific Ocean.”
— (★) Starred Kirkus Reviews
“Quite possibly the best novel about the peacetime Navy since Darryl Ponicsan’s The Last Detail.”
— (★) Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Murphy, a fiction writer of vibrant imagination, wit, and nuance, returns after a long hiatus with a bravura first-person performance in the voice of a kind and curious submarine radioman. . . a soulful and charismatic protagonist in an uncanny, transfixing, and revelatory bildungsroman.”
— (★) Booklist, starred review
“Imagine Catch-22 aboard a fast attack nuclear submarine and you've got Yannick Murphy's hilarious and heartbreaking novel.”
— Mark Richard, author of Fish Boy and The Ice at the Bottom of the World