Rating: 
Summary: The Storm of the Century
Review: Those who make a living catching fish from the ocean are always placing themselves at great risk. They often spend several weeks out in the ocean on a relatively small vessel (usually less than 100 feet in length), hoping that they will land that once- in- a- lifetime catch of fish that will improve their financial well- being. When things go as planned, the life of a fisherman can be adventurous and rewarding. But when the search for sea- dwelling creatures is interrupted by a violent storm, a fun situation can turn critical and even fatal. Such is the case of the men and women who became stranded at sea in the "storm of the century", back in October of 1991. Also referred to as the "perfect storm", this violent act of nature left many people dead without a trace. Author Sebastian Junger wrote this book about the people who were aboard these boats, with quotes from some of the survivors and speculation about what could have happened to those who never returned. The "Perfect Storm" occurred in the North Atlantic Ocean, just east of the New England states, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. This area is not normally known for producing violent storms, due to its northern latitude. This sudden turn in the weather took everyone by surprise, including those who were out at sea. They had no forewarning about the intensity of this storm, which seemed to brew up out of nowhere. Most of the captains and crew members have dealt with storms before so they knew what procedures to follow. But nothing could properly prepare them for the massive force with which they were suddenly faced. Junger spends most of this book talking about the people who manned these boats, the events leading up to when they set sail, and the storm itself. Junger is best when he is describing the actual human events during the storms and the heroic efforts of the Coast Guard and Air National Guard to rescue these sailors. Throughout the book, he gets sidetracked from his story and starts talking about statistics and facts about hurricanes, drowning, rainfall, and other data. Some of these facts are interesting and they add to the enjoyment of the book. Other things are annoying and not very useful and they get in the way of the telling of the story. Junger makes frequent mention of the "Andrea Gail"- one of the boats that was out in the water when the storm picked up speed and was lost without a trace of anything- people or vessel. It was obviously ripped apart in the storm. Junger mentions it from time to time, and he reports the few facts that are known. While the storm is taking place and afterward, when rescue attempts are being made, there is no more contact with the Andrea Gail. Junger provides some speculative guesses about what was likely taking place on the boat, in an effort to keep the reader informed about this particular fishing vessel. But there is no way to know what was really taking place after the radio communication ended suddenly on October 28, 1991. Junger writes pretty well throughout this book, and he effectively captures the terror that must have been felt by those who were caught in this violent act of nature. The book could have been better, however, if he had included more interviews and quotes from survivors not only on the boats, but also those who were affected when the storm ran ashore and damaged their coastal properties. It also could have been improved with a better ending. Junger ends the writing suddenly, with a few paragraphs about another vessel whose crew was lost in a storm. There is no conclusion or anything to wrap up the book and summarize the key events. It just ends abruptly. Finding ones' self caught in a bad storm in the middle of the open sea is frequently- occurring nightmare for some people, but it has become reality for a few. This book shows that the life of a fisherman is not all drinking, fun, and games. There are tremendous risks involved when one decides to spend several weeks at sea, and author Sebastian Junger presents a pretty good book about the perils of this lifestyle. It's a book worth reading, although it could have been better with a few improvements.
Rating: 
Summary: And the sea will tell..
Review: Well by now you've probably seen the theatrical trailer and know the story. The Andrea Gail, a boat in the North American swordfishing fleet, finds itself off of the coast of the Grand Banks when a record hurricane hit the area in October, 1991. She disappeared virtually without a trace-the only part ever recovered were the fuel drums. Junger, a first-time author, reconstructs and fleshes out the story with details of life on a fishing boat, lessons on meteorology, a brief history of commercial fishing, and accounts of others who survived the storm. He does a better job than you would think and manages to tell the story with appropriate gravity and respect without diving headfirst into pathos. I'm interested in seeing the film and not just because of that killer wave in the trailer. For a life-long inlander, some scenes and equipment descriptions were simply impossible to visualize. The part detailing an at-sea rescue involving a some tricky manuevers by a Coast Guard vessel found me at a loss-it was still exciting though so what do I know? Not as compelling a book as Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air although the latter has the advantage (? ) of a first-person narrative of events as they unfolded rather than well-informed conjecture. Still, a good read and a touching story.
Rating:
Summary: Like to learn when you read?
Review: You'll learn about the swordfishing business, meteorology, oceanography--and the science of drowning. I read the book in one sitting--a long sitting. (Perfect for a rainy day).
Yes, the author makes his own story of the happenings on the Andrea Gale but it made sense to me. The author's story rendition brought to life what must be one of the most frightening things to experience and to not live to talk about.
The only thing that bothered me is that the author was able to go to press with some glaring errors in the book--especially one page near the end where he either misnames a nuclear plant (it should be the Seabrooke plant) or mislocates the one he names (Pilgrim is in Plymouth, MA) and misspells "Scituate, MA." Also, some of his sentences don't agree in verb tense... and sometimes his pronoun uses maddeningly doesn't match the antecedent...and once the punctuation was wrong!...but you can tell I'm a nerd...
Read it! It's good for you!
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