Things That Are Funny on a Submarine But Not Really: A Novel

A deeply funny and achingly honest coming-of-age story surfacing from the pressures of Navy life and the weight of what comes after.

“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

“Quite possibly the best novel about the peacetime Navy since Darryl Ponicsan’s The Last Detail.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“The rollicking, sometimes frightening, in-the-end surprisingly moving evolution of a submariner into a mensch.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

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.

Written with Yannick Murphy’s distinctive and darkly humorous style, Things That Are Funny on a Submarine But Not Really is a headlong, entertaining dive into what it means to find one’s way in a new world.