Water Music is the first novel by an author who has a Ph.D. in English, and the book reads like Boyle is trying to purge himself of all the excess literary knowledge he acquired in graduate school. The novel has a cathartic effect on any reader who shares Boyle's academic credentials, and the book serves as an apology for anyone who does not. Boyle's irreverence does not lapse into cynicism because he manages to outwit many of the famous authors he lampoons. As he writes, Boyle must be reminiscing about trading barbs with his professors during oral exams.

1. Does Boyle successfully integrate the musical motif, suggested by the novel's title and by Ned Rise's clarinet playing, into the plot; or does the music appear to be just an appendage to the novel?

2. Does the Apologia at the beginning of the novel, in which Boyle admits...