Rating: 
Summary: laughter among the lobsters
Review: Our discussion on Linda Greenlaw's second memoir-type book, was full of laughs. This is in contrast to her first, very serious effort about the death defying Hungry Ocean and being captain of a swordfish boat. Returning home to live on an island of only 70 year-round residents, with 30 being related to Linda, would require humor. She provides daily events which entertain and reveal true Maine island characters. Lobstering is not easy either, but her family and island friends make the long, cold winter an intimate affair. Who wants to attend those community meetings, anyway? Same problem in crowded cities on shore...I am looking forward to Greenlaw's third book, fiction next, I believe?
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Summary: Another from the lady who survived The Perfect Storm
Review: Remember Linda Greenlaw? The captain of the boat that DIDN'T go down in The Perfect Storm? Here she is again, and she's written a beauty of a book, very different from The Hungry Ocean, her previous book about that nasty storm. Greenlaw has given up swordfishing and lives on a teensy island off Maine's coast where she's a lobster-woman. Only 47 souls live full-time on this island, and she figures she's someway related to more than half of them. This book is a collection of essays, many of which are stand-alone pieces, full of Down East eccentric characters that enrich her life, the island, and the world itself just by the largess of their existence.
I recently participated on a panel with Greenlaw at SF's Books by the Bay and found her to be as open, engaging, self-confident, and funny in person as she is on the printed page.
Read it.
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Summary: Homarus Americanus, The BUG,
Review: THE BUG, this Book Is so well written thaty It puts you In this small towns Life style as well as Kepps you Reading and Not wanting to Put It down.Being a Diver as well as Diving for the BUG In California and Looking at the East Cast BUG, Under watr they are something to see and tsete Even better when you catch them Your self But with this Book and the Trans istion form Cod to bugs as they Cycle Is very Intresting and the Long Lineing Is a world Of Its Own and Is one that take a Serious Fiserman Or Woman .. A Must read for any one that has lived On the Ocean and Loves to be Under It as well as On top fishing.
A true 5 STAR book to me.
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Summary: Book about People NOT Lobsters or Fishing
Review: The folks who are giving this a bad review were expecting a book about Lobster Fishing, I think, and were horrified to find that this is a book about people, relationships, and various daily chores, rumminations, and adventures. It's not a blockbuster adventure novel, but a simple ode to the working men and women who happen to live, love, work, and die on this small island. Maybe the author should change the title to NOT The Lobster Chronicles? Some folks picked on the author's grammar and writing style. I had no problem with it? I think the folks who tripped over her grammar just didn't like the story she was telling, and that became an outlet for their disdain. Maybe it could have used some better editing, but I didn't notice. I was simply carried along by the narrative.
Rating: 
Summary: Fishing for Lobster
Review: The story, as the title suggests, is a lobster fisherman's life on a small island off Maine. He is fishing for lobster and shows it as hard, dirty, backbreaking work, but families like this have been doing it for generations. As she tells the story of one year's catch, she also shows a dying lifestyle and the efforts of the locals to preserve a fragile way of life. There is some crude language scattered throughout. Not bad.
Rating:
Summary: A Chronicle of Life
Review: There are certain elements in life that define us as human beings; the basic wants, needs and emotions that place us all within the Community of Man. And beyond the story she tells so well here, that is precisely what author Linda Greenlaw conveys in "The Lobster Chronicles," an exploration of the human condition that is rich with humor, poignancy, and above all, a joy for life and living. Long before you reach the last page you'll think of her as an old friend who has generously taken you into her confidence, and it makes you realize that a lobster fisherman in Maine isn't so different from a farmer in Kansas or a postal worker in Oregon, all doing what has to be done everyday to live, thrive and survive. After seventeen years at sea as a swordfish boat captain, Greenlaw returned home to Isle Au Haut, a small island seven miles off the coast of Maine in Penobscot Bay, the "Lobster capitol of the world," where she proceeded to outfit and launch a lobster boat, the "Mattie Belle," to begin a new career as a lobster fisherman. This story is an account of the fourth season of her endeavors at seeking out the often elusive crustaceans of the title, but it is more than that; much more. Simply put, it's a book about "life." And the pages between the covers are filled with insights and anecdotes that are both captivating and endearing, as Greenlaw puts her heart on her sleeve and openly shares her inner most thoughts and emotions, all of which paint a stunning portrait of what it's like to live on a small island with a year round population of seventy (thirty of whom are her relatives). With her thoroughly engaging style and way with words, you become more than just a "reader" of her book; you're a guest in Linda's home, where she introduces you to her parents, as well as the colorful, eclectic group who make up the year round and seasonal population of the island. Folks like the invasive Rita and her ex-husband, Frank; Suzanne, the quintessential bike chick known as the "Alabama Slammer," endowed with a rather unique peccadillo; the sternman she dubs "Stern-Fabio," and with good reason; and George and Tommy of "Island Boys Repair Service-- If we can't fix it, it ain't broke," guys with a penchant for making easy tasks hard and for leaving hard tasks unfinished. At her best, Greenlaw's prose have a rhythm and flow that are nothing less than poetic, and certain chapters call to mind Ray Bradbury's "Green Town" stories, especially the one entitled "The Foghorn," which taken within a context of it's own is a transporting short story written with a Bradburyesque flair that is entirely mesmerizing. She follows this with a brief chapter, "The Little Lobsterman," which evokes James Joyce's "Dubliners." Not bad company for a lobster fisherman from Maine to be keeping. By the epilogue, it's clear that what Linda Greenlaw wants and expects from life is what we all hope for and pursue in our own ways: Love, security and happiness, for herself as well as those she holds dear to her heart. And we should thank her for sharing her thoughts and desires with us in "The Lobster Chronicles," because as we read, it gives us a chance to pause and reflect upon what is truly important in our own lives, too. In it's own way, this book is every bit as profound as Dostoevsky at his best.
Rating: 
Summary: Very enjoyable
Review: There aren't very many women who operate commercial lobstering operations and even fewer who can make the enterprise seem fascinating to landlubbers like myself but Linda Greenlaw is definitely one of them. This is not the kind of book that would appeal to everybody but if you like maritime-themed true adverture stories, then I think you'll enjoy this. Definitely not as exciting a tale as The Perfect Storm but what is? I really enjoyed this book.
Rating:
Summary: Immensely interesting
Review: This book is an interesting chronicle of a life about which I previously knew nothing. Five years ago, Linda Greenlaw gave up her 17-year career as a swordboat captain and returned home to her tiny island off the coast of Maine to fish for lobsters. Quite a change from her previous life on the high seas! She now "captains" a small boat with her only crew member being her father, a far cry from the excitement of swordfish fishing. Greenlaw's unadorned, reportorial descriptions of the trials, tribulations, and sometimes- joys of the life she has chosen made for good reading. She gives us the technical and nautical details in ways that seem almost uncomplicated. I had no idea what lobster fishing involved and think she presented it in a great way. Her love of and respect for the ocean is apparent throughout the book. I especially liked the vignettes of some of the islanders. Most entertaining. The book is really a lovely commentary on life, rather than a "how to" book on lobster fishing.
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Summary: NOT UP TO SNUFF
Review: THIS BOOK WAS OKAY BU NOT AS GOOD AS HER FIRST BOOK I CONTINUED TO READ THIS BOOK HOPING IT WOULD GO ON MORE ABOUT FISHING FOR LOBSTER
Rating:
Summary: loved it!
Review: this book was wonderful! i am a fellow mainer (though of the "other maine" species), and loved every page of the book. though i have only lived a few years of my life on the coast of maine (the rest being in aroostook county), i felt totally at home while reading it (now from my nyc apartment). linda's sense of humor was wonderful, and her accounts of the islanders rang true to me as i think of many of my "county" friends and family. i felt that although fishing was nicely displayed, linda's ability to tell a great story out of her experiences is what makes this great. will read the first book as soon as i can, and hope for more in the future.
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