Rating: 
Summary: Awesome and Intense
Review: I started to read this book on my flight to Spain, I finished it before the 8 hour flight landed. The book kept me awake and wanting to find out what happened next. I definitely recommend reading this book before you even seet he movie! It is a great book and very intense!
Rating:
Summary: Forget the movie...
Review: This book is a "page turner." Junger's descriptions are vivid and his attention to detail is thorough. He recreates the events tastefully, without too much extrapolation or license. The lives of everyone affected by the storm, from the fishermen to the coast guard rescuers to the bar patrons, are presented uniquely, giving perspective to each. As is to be expected, the hollywood version of the account fails the book miserably.
Rating:
Summary: I don't understand the vitriol below
Review: There have been comments made about Junger's use of the disjointed narrative to get his point across, and the more simplistic of our readers have determined that such a narrative impedes the enjoyment. The mention of that, though, totally misses the point. Junger's digressions serve to give the narrative perspective- he isn't content with description and uses history and biography to contextualize the experience of the six men on board the Andrea Gail and show that, while their deaths were heartwrenchingly tragic, they were merely another figure to add to the tally of fisherman lost, while doing a job that many, if not most, of us take for granted as we tuck into our swordfish fillets. The only people who actually know what happened on the Andrea Gail are the men who were lost with her, and those readers expecting a straight narrative will ultimately be disappointed, because, obviously, no straight narrative is available. the only way to write this book as purely "a tale of men against the sea" and nothing else would be to invoke narrative devices, such as invention of scenarios and dialogue, that would have made this a nonfiction novel, and not a chronicle of the events surrounding a hellish storm.this is not the "In Cold Blood" of the "perfect storm", but it is a carefully researched and respectful overview of the perils of longshore fishing, and six men who died in the service of that industry, and for that, it is wonderful, and nearly as powerfully crushing as the storm that inadvertently inspired it. these men, and these rescuers, and these stories, and this storm, don't need a novelistic narrative. they need, and deserve, what they've gotten here- a narrative as direct as the jobs they perform. (addendum- the only edition i found readable was the trade paper, i.e., this edition. something about the publication quality, i think, although it may have been the fact that they finally deigned to include photos in this one. seeing the faces really helps to put it all in perspective.)
Rating:
Summary: A compelling story well written
Review: Sebastian Junger knows how to convey the sense of danger, and that fear is ever-present in this account of the loss of a fishing boat in a massive storm. Since the details of the boat's loss are unknown, Junger takes the opportunity to explore related issues--the formation of storms, the physiology of drowning, the economics of swordfish, and so on. These digressions are engrossing additions to the immensely compelling story of one boat and its crew.
Rating: 
Summary: Long, detailed, and dull
Review: I very much agree with Tracey Gresham's review. I found this book to be rather disappointing. However, in all due fairness, the book is exactly what the author, Sebastian Junger, said it was in the introduction, a factual book about doomed ships during one of the worst storms of the century. The book was suspensful, but left me with a "that's it?" feeling when I finished reading it. The first 100 pages was the necessary background of who was who in Gloucester, MA as well as the prepartations fisherman make before the set sail, what an average day is like, etc. The rest of the book consists of various encounters of people/ships in the storm. However, Mr. Junger keeps jumping from ship to ship and I very often kept losing track of who was on what ship and which ship the Coast Guard was looking for. The vocabulary could be somewhat difficult for someone who is not familiar with boating, fishing, or the ocean. My heart goes out to the families that lost family members in this storm. This book does give a reasonable account of what happened in the storm. Personally, I feel it would have been a better book if it focused on one particular ship or write the book from a single person's perspective rather than keep jumping around as the author did.
Rating:
Summary: Long On Facts, Short on Drama
Review: I can't believe this book was a bestseller...it is a very informative book about the lives of New England fisherman, about how waves and storms are formed, and how the Coast Guard responds to mayday distress signals. But a compelling read it is not...I found it very easy to put down to do other things. It is so detailed, I kept wishing for more pictures and drawings of the stuff it was talking about. If one of my kids ever needs to do a book report on commercial fishing or how to forecast the weather, this would be a great start. But would I recommend it to most people I know?...NO..only my father-in-law, who loves the sea and once sold boats for a living. If the movie follows the book, it is going to be boring for most viewers.
Rating:
Summary: TheNext Time You Eat Seafood!
Review: Being in awe of the ocean since I first saw it as a child,and always being fascinated by the intensity and power of storms . I felt compelled to read the book before I saw the movie. As with any close knit group of people that share a common bond of danger in the work they do, I fully understand the difficulty that the author experienced when trying to gain acceptance and obtain information from the families and friends of the men who were lost on the "Andrea Gail". I think that the attention to detail that the book delivers, takes you inside a world that only these men and their families, plus the people that have the job of rescuing them could ever fully understand.I have seen reviews written here where different people say that the book is boring and that you would save yourself time and money by not buying it.I am not a deep water fisherman nor do I think that I ever will be.ButI do know how it feels to come as close to drowning as you can without actually dying, and fortunately was saved by a total stranger. It wasn't that experience that gave me the respect that I have for the men and their families that this story tries to recreate. It is simply this. The next time that you stroll through your local market and see the sword fish steaks, crab legs ,or lobsters, realize that there are men and women, right now, thousands of miles out to sea risking everything they have to bring you that dinner.With no guarantee they will make it back home . One more thing that I hope at least some of the people that read this will do.Say a prayer of peace for the families of these men and women that have been lost because those families can never receive full closure. I think that Mr. Junger tried to bring us all into a story that evidently affected him deeply while at the same time brought with it a fresh opening of an already painful wound for the families involved. No one but God knows exactly what words were spoken , or what exact events happened in those last few days , but I do think that the books speculations were probably pretty close condidering the interviews Mr. Junger conducted with the Sword Boat Captains that would speak with him. As Gordon Lighfoot wrote in " The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" "Does any man know, where the love of God goes, when the waves, turn the minutes to hours"? I read the book 8 July 2000 .Saw the movie 9 July 2000. Stay with the book! Clooney has enough money.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth reading even if you've seen the movie
Review: I read the book first, then saw the movie, but the reverse would also work. The book contains a lot of trivia (though it was not trivial in a pointless way, it was very interesting) about fishermen, the storm, and other rescues that were going on. A few of the movie's details were changed a bit, and the book will fill in some of the details, as well as give some better background on the characters. It is a very fast read and well worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and informative
Review: The appeal of this book is in the way that the author attacks the storm from many angles, leaving you with an impression of what MAY have happened on the Andrea Gail and what did happen elsewhere at the same time. Junger gives informative detail on weather systems and waves, the physics of boats, the dangers of swordfishing, the daring rescue efforts of the PJ's, the decisions and actions of crew members when faced with deadly circumstances and even the horrific experience of drowning. But most important is the way in which Junger describes the lives of the fishermen (and women) and the ones that care for them. For while the sea takes the lives of many fishermen each year, their families and loved-ones must go on, and other fishermen must brave what they understand to be unparalleled danger in their careers. This book may not have the appeal some readers look for in an adventure book. It is not supposed to be a movie script from cover to cover. Rather it attempts to give you a good understanding of all aspects of what happened in 1991. In the context of the book's authenticity, the story becomes as fascinating as any script that could have been written.
Rating:
Summary: Like Eating Chinese Food
Review: This is a combination of narrative, documentary and historic novel all rolled into one. Although the Andrea Gail is definitely the focal point and the reason for writing the book, the "story" is as much about the life of those whose life is fishing as is it about anything else. Granted we all know that those on the Andrea Gail are going to die. But they die about page 175. The book has another 125 pages left! Obviosuly the story doesn't end with the deaths of those on the Andrea Gail. There are heroes at every turn of the page. From the parajumpers off the coast of Long Island to the captains of the various ships that were being rocked by the storm. Just try and imagine what it is like to be on a 75 foot boat looking dead on into a 100 foot wall of water. Hard to believe that people actually have done it and survived. But just as the narrative starts Mr. Junger takes off on a history of the fishing industry in New England. He does this numerous times throughout the book and it definitely tends to slow down some very dramatic moments. I finished the book in a few days and it is a VERY fast read. But when I finished I was not thoroughly satisfied. Hence the Chinese food reference in the review title. Definitely worth the time though. I have not seen the movie. I wanted to read the book first. But I have seen a few docu-programs on it recently - from Discovery to TLC.
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