Rob Slocum

In the Sky: a Fantasia About Rowing Rob Slocum

Imagine Dead Poets' Society, but with an eight-man crew instead of an English class, and a coach instead of a teacher. In place of Whitman, the coach draws on Plato's Allegory of the Cave. As Topher Bordeau wrote in Rowing News, IN THE SKY is "...reminiscent of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance?an intermittent discourse on religion and spirituality wrapped around a journey. Through the perspective of walk-on Bozzy, Slocum weaves ideas?both fundamental and tangential to rowing?through a promising crew?s pursuit of excellence." IN THE SKY is meant for a general audience. It is about rowing in the sense that MOBY DICK is about whaling. The short, smoothly written story is nearly a poem itself. The characterizations are concise yet vivid, with primary billing going to the narrator, the coach, and the crew's female coxswain. Its themes of human striving, and what it is to be a warrior, are treated in an entirely upbeat and occasionally very funny way.