Obviously Kvothe is a story teller and obviously both he and the author are using fantasy archetypes. However I think what I like about the story isn't the hero as usual its about the hero UNusual this extremely powerful and famous man in recluse most likely over his whore with a heart of gold girlfriend. It seems that much of the magic in these books requires state of mind so by the end of the book you'll see exactly how his state of mind has changed and the effect on him and why we're not dealing with the BIG EVIL THREAT. I think in this series character development is the story, so yes we're hearing about the things that may only seem important to him.

But also lets put the shipwreck in context, it an important reminder of what's really going on. Kvothe is telling a historian his story, he elects to skip something every one knows, he feels is accurate enough and one he doesn't care about. It was weird as a reader because we think he's telling the story to us but hes's not. These two books are a character telling a story to antoher character. Two books in we haven't actually gotten to Rothfuss' story yet. The story Kvothe is telling to the historian is not the story of the BIG EVIL THREAT its about how he went from greatness to impotence. Rothfuss' story will be about how he goes from impotence back to greatness.

I personally think its very likely Kvothe's story will be cut short and we will be tossed head first into Rothfuss' BIG EVIL THREAT without back story and we'll have to resort to regular old pertinent memories.