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One book. One obsession. Richie Kohler and John Chatterton are the two men intent on discovering the identity of a sunken submarine off the coast of New Jersey in 'Shadow Divers' by Robert Kurson, whose dynamic portrait of the divers' quest was the first nonfiction book chosen as the Reading Across Rhode Island 2006 selection. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
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The book Rhode Island can't put down
Military history and deep sea diving may not seem like the kind of reading topics to recommend to the knitting club. But Robert Kurson's master storytelling in 'Shadow Divers' is enchanting readers across Rhode Island this year.
BY DAN KEARNEY
In December of 1944, a German submarine (U-boat) was in the waters off the coast of New York hunting for American merchant ships to sink with its torpedoes. The situation was desperate: The war had long since turned against Germany and any U-boat leaving German waters in those final months could realistically expect to never come back. This submarine proved to be no exception. Tragedy and terror, familiar foes of U-boat sailors, sunk the submarine in New Jersey waters. There it would lie undetected for more than 40 years, one of the last great mysteries of the century's greatest war.
Just this year at her book club, Cheryl McCray of Middletown reluctantly picked up Robert Kurson's "Shadow Divers," the story of this mysterious U-boat and the two men who stopped at nothing to uncover its identity. Nonfiction about World War II and a couple of divers? Not exactly topics at the top of her list.
She couldn't put "Shadow Divers" down.
"The book read like a novel," she said, professing admiration for the main characters and the author's handling of the German sailors. "I recommended it to friends and co-workers. And my knitting club."
Comments like these undoubtedly bring a smile to Mattie Gustafson's face. As president of the Rhode Island Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Library of Congress, Gustafson cherishes the spread of literacy. In conjunction with the Providence Public Library, the center sponsors Reading Across Rhode Island (RARI), a "one book" project mimicked in other states. This year's book is "Shadow Divers."
RARI debuted in 2003 and until now has featured fiction exclusively. Last year's selection, "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini, was "incredibly popular," Gustafson says. So why the switch to nonfiction?
"We said, 'Let's not try to duplicate last year's success,'" Gustafson said. The decision appears to be paying off. "Shadow Divers" was unavailable at every library in the state in early April when most had a waiting list at least seven or eight people deep.
It helps, says Suman Shah, that "Shadow Divers" reads like high drama. Shah leads the Barnes & Noble book club in Middletown. Admitting she "had no clue about diving" before picking the book up, Shah found Kurson's tale fascinating.
"It opened up a whole different world," she told me, laughing at the thought of her expectations going in. "I just thought, 'Is this going to be cut and dry?'"
Far from a fact-heavy historical work, "Shadow Divers" is a tale of perseverance and determination on a very human level. While it is the story of the sunken U-boat off New Jersey, it is equally the chronicles of John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, the men responsible for learning the submarine's true identity. As Chatterton and Kohler tell it now, this wasn't exactly what they envisioned when Robert Kurson approached them.
"We thought the book was going to be about the men, the history, and the times," Chatterton wrote me in an e-mail. Eventually, though, Kurson "sat us down and told us the story was more about us."
Or as Kohler put it: "You weren't supposed to read about our ex-wives." Then, tipping his hat to Kurson's story telling prowess, he added, "If I wrote this book, we wouldn't be talking."
An affable New Yorker of German descent who has been diving since childhood, Kohler admits that while "there are things in that book that I didn't want people to know," there is something about "Shadow Divers" that people from all walks of life can connect with. To illustrate this point, he told me about a talk he gave on his experiences with the U-boat. When he opened the floor to questions and comments, one member of the audience expressed admiration for the book's anti-war sentiment, while another found the message to be one of patriotism.
Dave Clancy, a wreck diver and creator of the Web site wreckhunter.net, found that "the book does a great job of describing the wreck divers' philosophy" of fearlessness and dedication, but added that he thought Kurson "makes John and Richie appear more like superheroes than they really are."
Kohler bristled at this notion. "Kurson got it right," he said.
Chatterton agreed, writing that Kurson was "a real pain in the ass to work with because of his commitment to the truth." The author spent 15 months with the divers, exhaustively researching their work, backgrounds, and German U-boats, even going so far as to attempt a certification in scuba diving despite the fact that he can't swim.
"He felt like he couldn't write the book unless he saw the wreck," Kohler said.
Somehow it only seems fitting. "Shadow Divers" is the story of the unwavering devotion to duty by the German submariners and the equally powerful personal and professional commitment of Chatterton and Kohler, and it makes sense when the divers related the tales of Kurson's own devotion.
Author Robert Kurson and divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler will be at Barrington Books, 184 County Road in the Barrington Shopping Center Friday, May 5, from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. They will then give a public talk at 2 p.m. at East Providence High School, 2000 Pawtucket Ave., East Providence.
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