Rating: 
Summary: A great book; not for everybody
Review: My reason for a 3 star rating lies primarily with knowing that this book will not please everyone. Some will love it, while others will loathe it. I feel that this mainly lies with expectation.Some reviewers refer to this book as a novel, while one reviewer even referred to it as a travel-log. I would prefer to include it in the category of a journal, as the basic premise is to present the reader with an idea of what a full season of lobster fishing would be like and then throw in some good stories, which are related but nonetheless could stand on their own. If you keep this in mind and don't expect a plot or deep storyline, then you will find this book enjoyable, at the very least. Although the chronicle of one fishing season is the structure of the book, the main interests in the story are the observations of many of the island residents, what it feels like to live on a very small island with limited resources, and some of the history that the author finds interesting. I walked away knowing a little about the lobster fishing trade, enough about the island that I want to visit, and the feeling that I had been told a few really good stories. So, I would say it is a successful book that some would really like, but only if you enjoy this journal style of writing. I became interested in the book when I watched Linda Greenlaw giving an interview on television. Some have commented on the choppy prose and poor grammer. I did not notice this, as the book was written in the same manner that Linda speaks. All through the book, I could hear her voice telling story after story, which to my way of thinking is the goal of many styles of writing.
Rating: 
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: Empty Traps
Review: 'The Lobster Chronicles' describes Linda Greenlaw's frustrating lobster season off a Maine island. As Linda pulls up empty traps, the reader feels there is also something missing in the text. The book does a nice job depicting life on a Maine island, where the author excels at painting the natural and physical features of the isle. You sniff the saltwater, pines and barnacles. Some of the island characters are wonderful in their stoic nature with an occasional streak of zaniness. Linda gives us a very textbook lesson in lobstering. We learn about these delicious giant insects, how they are captured and how they are replenished. What Ms. Greenlaw does not provide is an honest depiction of herself. Why would an enormously successful sword fishing captain and best-selling author, settle on a tiny island? Why is her bank account so tight, when we know her earnings on the first book were very good? Perhaps she lost all the money. Tell us about it? Maybe a love or tragedy sent her home? We want to know? 'The Lobster Chronicles' is a good travel log. Like the missing lobsters, the book is empty when it comes honest self perspective.
Rating: 
Summary: a rush to print?
Review: Linda Greenlaw's "Lobster Chronicles" is selling briskly and appearing on best seller lists. Her first book, "The Hungry Ocean", also sold extremely well, no doubt capitalizing on the success of the book and movie, "The Perfect Storm", in which her character was featured, and on the highly promoted tv showing of the film. Greenlaw is her own person, and feminists will no doubt applaud her, in spite of her baldfaced admission that she yearns for children, a house of her own, and some of the traditional gender roles feminists spurn. Her path has been an unusual one, and her plainstyled writing is expressive enough to make us understand that it has been a satisfying life. Sadly, her book is less than a satisfying read as her straightforward writing often fails to capture color and interest.
Throughout, the reader can sense that she is attempting her best to portray eccentric Islanders, to convey her own varying emotional states, to write of her father's love and her mother's bright courage. Perhaps this book was rushed to print? Maybe better editing would have put some zest into it.
Rating: 
Summary: Stephen King is not the only writer from Maine
Review: If you have a hankering to live on a very tiny island off the Maine Coast and earn your living as a lobsterman, then this is the book for you. Linda Greenlaw gives the sense of such a life in this read. All right, unlike fellow Maineite Stephen King, you won't find chilling horror and oppressive suspense. But, you will find funny, gentle, and insightful tales of people who live on this island...stories about Linda's neighbors which often have no bearing on the main plots, like the chapter on Dorothea Dodge. Linda could just has well have left this chapter out of the book, but I am grateful she included it so we could get to meet the postmistress of Isle Au Haut. It's a slice of life in a book filled with enough slices to make a giant loaf of bread. And, unlike Stephen King, the book's main story lines don't come to a neat conclusion at the end of 235 pages. But life doesn't come to a neat conclusion either. And that is what this book is about: Life. Author Greenlaw has the pace, the tone, the solitude, the frustration just right. I hope the issues that could mean the end of her island world eventually get resolved. I hope that her mother surmounts her challenge. I hope Linda doesn't stop at two books. One nit-picking point which, I believe, points out the lack of editorship quality prevalent in the book world today. Here we have a notable publisher, Hyperion, but no one there had the knowledge to point out to Linda that it was Samson, not Goliath, that lost his strength when he lost his hair (editor: see page 206). How that could get by any editor/proofreader is beyond me. Hopefully, they will catch it before further printings.
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: A simple story for a simple life
Review: Linda's first book changed my entire perception of "fresh" fish and life at sea as a fisherman. Her second book is a refreshingly simple account of life on a small island: things just don't happen quickly but life is very real and immediate. It's a quick read and mildly entertaining (Rita is quite the character but everyone's reaction to her is a great study in human behavior.)
Rating: 
Summary: Capitalizing on Disaster
Review: I have not read Greenlaw's other book, The Hungry Ocean, but I assume its popularity was due to the enormous success of The Perfect Storm, by Sebastian Junger. The subsequent publicity that the gruesome episode garnered did not hurt either. In this book, Greenlaw attempts to follow up on that success by telling a tale of living on a small island as a lobsterman. The problems start immediately. It does not take long for Greenlaw to display her lack of writing ability. The grammar is so poor that, at times, the book is unreadable. To wit: "Mist caused tendrils curled so tight that I had been questioned about permanents.", "I measured, cut, spliced, and replaced carefully as my father brushed bright orange paint over last year's coat, buoy after buoy.", "When I had finally crept out from under the stern, I had straightened my back and looked up at the sun that I'd been shaded from for the nearly three hours it had taken me to complete the nastiest job in preparation fot this year's lobster season." After all this I had had had had about enough. I had had gotten to page eleven.
Even with improved grammar the story is not compelling enough to keep your interest. Her relationship with her father as first mate is heartwarming but boring. Greenlaw seems to be capitalizing on her celebrity and gender. After all, there are not many female swordfish boat captains.
My advice is to pass on this awful novel and if you are truly interested in a follow-up to The Perfect Storm, read Moby Dick. At least Herman Melville could write a coherent sentence.
Rating:
Summary: Weak Story and Writing
Review: I read this book upon a glowing written review. The first couple of chapters are engaging because it's interesting to learn a little about lobster fishing and small town life. The problem is that Greenlaw does not make it 231 pages of interesting. I found myself speed reading and skimming the last half of the book. Some of her prose is overly simplistic, she uses short sentences in lieu of not carrying out her thoughts---or maybe there is no thought there. She distracts the reader when she says her sister called her first book and this one a long personal ad. After she said this, I really felt like it was. Then, when she gets nasty and snappish with her dad, she made it clear that she really wasn't interested in finding a nice guy---that made her very unlikeable to me. (not the man part but being a jerk generally) Disliking her made it more difficult to finish the book. My recommendation would be to borrow the book from someone else who mistakenly bought it---in hardcover no less! Otherwise, read the Perfect Storm again if you want an excellent book on fishing and adventure.
Rating:
Summary: A big disappointment
Review: I enjoyed The Hungry Ocean and was intrigued by the articles I'd read about Greenlaw's newest book. This book was really boring and choppy though, and I confess that I was reduced to skimming the last half. If you want to read about Maine and the people who live there, read anything by Ruth Moore, notably The Weir. It is, however, out of print, but perhaps you can find a copy through your favorite online bookseller...
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