Chuck Dugan Is AWOL: A Novel - With Maps

By Eric Chase Anderson

Book Overview

On the day of his eighteenth birthday, midshipman cadet Chuck Dugan receives a startling letter, including a treasure map drawn by his late father and news that his mother is about to marry a rogue and scoundrel known as "the Admiral." When the Admiral warns Chuck away from his mother, and the Admiral's sons attack the young cadet, Chuck leaps into action, going AWOL from duty to stop the wedding and find the treasure. So begins this delightful illustrated novel and the thrilling adventures of Chuck Duganheroic, resourceful, a great swimmer, and master of disguise. In each cliffhanging chapter, Chuck must grapple with a new set of dangers, from sunken ships and buccaneers to survival on open water and a final race to the treasure ahead of the Admiral and his boys. Illuminated throughout with detailed maps of places, people, and things Chuck encounters along the way, and written with an electric sense of derring-do and whimsy, Eric Chase Anderson creates a totally original and captivating hero, and a swashbuckling adventure story for all ages.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811839206
• ISBN13: 9780811839204
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: Chronicle Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 1.0" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

So FUN!

This book was an unexpected find. I cannot wait to read it with a ten year old and give it to some grown-ups as well! I love the visuals that go with the story. Priceless!

Quirky, charming, and reminds me of the childhood I thought I had

I'm a sucker for books with maps, pullouts, and all sorts of ephemera. This particular book is a book of maps, drawn in a very precise, almost quirky style. The drawings are very simple, yet it's possible to be immersed in them for days. Annotations on the maps tend to draw grins: coffee stain, size 14.5 boots, missing wheel. It's no secret that Eric Chase Anderson is the brother of director Wes Anderson. And if you're wondering if they share the same quirky style - yes, they do. For example, the story itself is about Chuck Dugan - "who has seen snakebite, fear, and a man shot in the knee." The story is a throwback to detective and adventure novels most of us have read as children. Over-the-top action, plots, usurpers. It's enough to make anyone smile wistfully in memory of reading those books. Sudden details jump out of nowhere, without any sort of build-up to them. Instead of making it into a weak story, this slightly scattered form of writing, however, only adds to the charm. But even if this form of writing isn't your style, the maps will be.

Cut from the same cloth

Eric Anderson is obviously cut from the same cloth as his brother Wes. I understand that this novel with maps is wholly his creation. I still feel that for any fan of Wes's films this book is a must have. The two have such similar sensibilities that I can easily imagine each one building off what the other has done. Wes's films, especially the well composed static shots found in all 4 films, seem to be directly pulled from Eric's illustrations. Eric's art is in The Royal Tenenbaums and his fun color palette seems to have permeated his brother's films to some degree. As someone who has a brother I know that as alike as brothers can be we can still be very different. Eric and Wes seem to be alike at least where their creative sensibilities are concerned. I am very curious about their childhood. What was it like growing up in their home? Was the father absent? Was the mother re-married? Was creativity encouraged? Were they rich, or well to do? The thing that appeals to me the most about the Anderson brothers is that they create works where the adult world is slightly skewed towards a child's perspective. It's like what we all imagined what it would be like to be an adult as a child. Of course real adulthood is nothing of the sort. Real adulthood is hard and lacks that secret agent pep that we all imagined it would have when we longingly wished to stay up late, or wondered what work was like for our fathers. Charlie Brown, The Catcher in the Rye, James Bond, Johnny Quest, and Jacques Cousteau all play some part in the works, either directly or indirectly. There are many more, like Kramer VS Kramer, Woody Allen, Devo, Classical music, indoor home made tents under blankets all seem to play some part in the works of these artists. After seeing Life Aquatic I felt for sure that it was an adventure film the way a child would make it. Sure enough Anderson and Baumbach say pretty much just that at one point in the commentary or documentaries. There is also a dark side to their work, a part that shows there is trouble waiting at the end of this imaginary childlike tunnel we all go through into adulthood. Suicide, drugs, sex, divorce, money, and death all loom menacingly here and there, peppered throughout. I think it shows in the fact that Wes's next film is based on the Rohl Dahl book "The Fantastic Mr. Fox", a very violent childhood book that I only recently first read to my son. It is wrought with all sorts of danger, destruction, guns, violence, and the like. This book seems right in line with the childish flirtation with danger that is central to their works. The Novel Chuck Dugan is AWOL is right in line with all the afore mentioned and although wholly an Eric Anderson creation, it could easily be mistaken to have been created by his brother Wes. To me the two are almost indistinguishable, except for the fact that Wes seems to want to create large works for the masses, and Eric seems more content to create on a smaller scale for a more intimate audi

Entertaining

E.C. Anderson has written the novel that every 13 year old boy WISHES he could write. This book was a pleasure to read - whimsical, quirky, action-packed, perfect. I have been enjoying E.C. Anderson's illustrations ever since the Criterion Collection edition of "Rushmore" was released on DVD. His drawings have an innocent charm about them, they really enhance this book. Practically every other page has a nice little diagram carefully illustrating pieces of the story. My only complaint is that the book is a little light, I would have liked another 100 or 200 pages. Overall this is a fun read and definately worth picking up. I look forward to many more adventures from Chuck Dugan...as well as E.C. Anderson

"Chuck Dugan" Is A Beautifully Perfect Book

Is it the the story, written with such care, or the illustrations, very obviously rendered with love, that make "Chuck Dugan Is AWOL" the book that will keep you awake at night thinking about time travel, wishing that you could send it back to your thirteen year-old self? It's just the thing you've always loved about reading: a hero (who seems like someone you could actually BE if you tried hard enough), a mystery, a life of adventure, stalwart friends, wonderfully sinister villains, maps of secret passages, outlandish devices and inventions... Details clever enough to catapult any story to instant classic are a dime a dozen in the pages of "Chuck". The illustrations will consume hours of your time as you study every detail. Some things to consider: "The Thorns", "Fraunces", a fatal observatory fire, a "Deputy Assistant Junior Naval Investigator", a birthday telegram from President Eisenhower, and (my favorite) "U-boat X". This book is dense enough, deep enough, that you'll lose yourself in it for days. It's one of those stories that you just don't want to finish, because you don't want to leave the place where it takes you while you're reading. Buy it for the young reader in your family, or buy it for the young reader in yourself.