Rating: 
Summary: Oh what a good read
Review: Ms. Greenlaw is a wonderful writer and can turn a phrase as well as anyone. This is one of those books that you are sorry when you have finished it. I hope she keeps writing. If she does I will keep reading. That Colby College education was not wasted.
Rating: 
Summary: A great real-life companion volume to "The Wooden Nickel"
Review: Having just read William Carpenter's excellent novel "The Wooden Nickel," about the tragicomic life of a Maine lobsterman, Greenlaw's book was irresistable. While anyone who has already read The Wooden Nickel will find much of the same territory covered here (much more politely), this review is really intended to tell readers of this book to HURRY UP AND BUY YOURSELF A COPY OF THE WOODEN NICKEL. I wish that I would have read The Lobster Chronicles first, and then jumped right into The Wooden Nickel. Great reading.
Rating:
Summary: Finestkind!
Review: In her second book, Linda Greenlaw has returned from the sea (17 years as a longline swordfishing captain, the subject of The Hungry Ocean) and returned to her roots on The Isle Au Haut, one of the islands 47 year round residents. Her "fishing" is now done from a 35' lobster boat; her Dad is her sternman and her Mother is becoming her best friend. As she uses them, her stories about lobstering are metaphors about life and she interweaves stories of how one "fishes" for the wily crustaceans with stories of the many crusty characters that share her "High Island." She has an ear for conversations and an interesting way of telling the little stories that make life on a rock something that some hold near and dear. I believe the stories will reach people who do not live Down East, whether we be fortunate enough to live in one of the highest taxed states in the nation with the best views or not, for in the end they are all about the human condition. Undoubtedly, her older sister still consdiers her literary efforts to be a book long personals ad, as there is plenty in The Lobster Chronicles about trying to find a husband as well. Hopefully, the subject of actually landing one will be
the topic for a third book. This is very entertaining and worthwhile writing by an author who is only improving as she continues to find her way.
Rating: 
Summary: The Lobster Chronicles is lost at sea
Review: Linda Greenlaw had a bad year lobstering and a worse year writing. Maybe next year back as a fisherman, Linda. This is a sophomoric effort and reeks of "I need the money".
Rating:
Summary: Remarkable Person
Review: Firstly, I use the word person for the author does not like to be labeled with some feminine or neuter version of fisherman, and secondly because anyone who has a list of accomplishments that Linda Greenlaw has is remarkable, period. She excelled as an athlete, a student, eventually completing her studies at Colby College, and then becoming the captain of a swordboat, a captain that equaled her male peers, and by many who would know, exceeded them all. Her 17-year career as a fisherman had all the hardships that anyone choosing the life would encounter, compounded by the fact she was a woman. Trouble actually started the day she told her mother that she was off to the sea after she had earned her diploma. Her mother proceeded to take out her anger on the contents of the kitchen cabinets, and very little that was breakable remained whole. Throughout her career as an offshore captain she not only brought home the swordfish that were unfortunate enough to cross her path, she brought home her boat and her men. She did this year after year in the most dangerous career there is, commercial fishing. The movie from the book of the same title, "The Perfect Storm", introduced millions to the loss of the Andrea Gale, her crew, and also the boat captained by Linda Greenlaw. She wrote a book about what life was like at sea for a month or more at a time hunting her prey. The book was called, "The Hungry Ocean", and it made Linda Greenlaw in to a best selling author. Her work remained for 6 months on the NYT Bestseller List. Not bad for a first time author. "The Lobster Chronicles", will likely follow her first success, for it is as interesting, and it shows just how well this, lady, (excuse me captain), can write. She is candid, very funny, self-deprecating, and has the oh so elusive perceptive eye of a true writer. The end of the book hints that another shift in her career may take place. I hope that it does not preclude her from pursuing the novel she has talked of writing. The only plan she has yet to accomplish is that of becoming a wife and mother that she speaks of with such candor and yearning. She is also humorously practical when she shares that of the 47 full-time residents that live on the island she calls home, there are only 3 single men. One man is her cousin and the two others are gay. Not exactly a target rich environment for her family planning goals. Her sister called her first book, "a novel length personal ad". The author talks of small town Maine family trees as, "being painted in the abstract", and that her family's tree has been referred to as, "more of a wreath". She lives on the island she grew up on, a 6 mile by 3 mile rock 7 miles off the coast of Maine. She explains that if any readers think they may become enamored of island life that they try a list of islands she suggests, for they have all that tourists need, her island, "has nothing". Forget a bank, there is no ATM. Lobsters are familiar to those of us who have grown up in New England, but like many familiarities knowledge does not always appear to the same degree. Lobster fishing is much more demanding, and lethal than I ever imagined, and if you think the high prices paid for this member of the family that includes spiders makes these people wealthy, the facts will open your eyes. The history of lobster has not always been the table delicacy of today. Serving it in prisons more than twice a week was once outlawed. The present state of lobstering and its future are also discussed, and again there is a great deal that was of more interest than I expected. The book is much more than a tale of lobsters and her search for a husband. As tiny as her island home is, 47 people still provide all the drama, and every human behavior you will find in a population 100 times its size. It seems that almost all of the permanent residents are at least interesting, and range to colorful and eccentric. After you gain a bit of familiarity with the island you will see that it would be the choice of a select groups of folks. Climate, the lack of almost everything, and the other aspects she shares require a certain personality. The books closes on a troubling note for a person very dear to her is about to learn whether months of misery will allow her to become a survivor of an all too familiar disease. And we also learn her best friend is building a brand new swordboat. Intended or not we are left hanging. This is a great book by a very talented individual who has set and accomplished pretty much all she has set out to do. The husband issue is still unfinished, but with appearances on national talk shows, and a book-signing tour, I am sure there will be more than one man willing to try and keep up with this remarkable woman. Good luck with all you do, and no matter what, keep writing!
Rating: 
Summary: No Story
Review: A fitting title, but no story here other than the quiet life of a tomboy and her father. Nothing really happens, at least not in a way that was interesting to me. I enjoyed the book, I was relaxed by the book and I learned from the book. But in the end Lobster Chronicles was a bit lite for me. I never really got to know or understand any of the characters, the author included. I did not read her 1st book about sword fishing, but must assume it was better written than this one.
Michael Duranko
www.bootism.com
Rating: 
Summary: Lobster Chonicles
Review: I've now read all three of Linda's books, and now I have nothing else to look forward to in life. :(
Jennie Logsdon Martin
www.ifish.net
Rating:
Summary: Amusing but Shallow
Review: I've read Linda's other book and found much of it riveting. But this volume just leaves the reader flat. The day in the life style certainly works for this type of book but the quirky personalities and amusing events needed far more development. If the reader is to truly care about what happens to whom on this little island, we need to know more about why we should care about them. Also, the best part of the book started to be about the relationship between father and daughter, but that never really seemed to develop. Maybe in her next volume. Stay tuned.
Rating:
Summary: Not what it should have been
Review: I was prepared to like this one. I did not read Greenlaw's previous work, but the idea of presenting life on a Maine island, delving into the trials and simple joys of this life, really appealed to me. I wish that was what Greenlaw had done here. Instead I found a series of dull complaints about inept handymen, the lackluster love life of the author, and character sketches that are so lacking in detail that I can't understand why they were included. Chapter after chapter of complaining about the poor season, her father, her poverty, become so tedious that you hope she gets a few lobsters just so she'll stop whining. Even the sections that were more enjoyable, when she's writing about the nuts and bolts of lobster fishing, are written in a style that just lies on the page. There was a great idea here, somewhere, buried under the bad prose.
Rating:
Summary: No Story
Review: A fitting title, but no story here other than the quiet life of a tomboy and her father. Nothing really happens, at least not in a way that was interesting to me. I enjoyed the book, I was relaxed by the book and I learned from the book. But in the end Lobster Chronicles was a bit lite for me. I never really got to know or understand any of the characters, the author included. I did not read her 1st book about sword fishing, but must assume it was better written than this one.
Michael Duranko
www.bootism.com
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