"Fortunately I had the sense of mind to drop to the floor. A few minutes later the shooting stopped. I was not too sure whether I was scared, shocked or fearless."
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Passions of a Youth by Bill O'Sullivan Trafford Publishing
book review by John E. Roper
When asked, most young people state that despite any specific dreams or future career plans they may aspire to that one of their primary goals in life is to find the right person, settle down, and have a family. However, while some find the individual they are looking for early on in the search, for others there may be a long succession of potential partners that for one reason or another never make the cut. For Bill, the narrator of O'Sullivan's book about a sailor and his many amorous escapades, the hunt is a long one.
Bill McCann, the disgruntled son of Irish parents living in India, manages through his bad behavior to finally get his father's approval to join the British Navy. However, military life is not all that young Bill imagined, and he chafes under the rigid discipline and structure of his new environment. Fortunately for him, he is smart enough not to run afoul of the officers over him as some others who are more unruly. In fact, despite how hard the life of a sailor can be, Bill seems to grow up as a person in the Navy. In romantic relationships, though, he lives up to the old saying of having "a girl in every port" and sometimes more than one. As his travels take him from India into other parts of the world, the reader begins to wonder if Bill will ever find his perfect partner.
Although the book has a strong sexual theme, the scenes are not graphic. Filled with some intriguing glimpses into India's history and naval culture around the time of the nation's fight for independence, O'Sullivan's book is overall an entertaining, coming-of-age tale.