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Summary: The Perfect Storm
Review: Whether or not this book is what some think it should be structurally, literally or whatever, it is an absorbing, educational, fast paced adventure story which introduces you to the lives of the people of the Andrea Gail, in particular, so you get to know them, then takes you on a ride that makes it hard to put the book down. The weather phenomena, the way one can visualize clearly what they are reading, the rescues - all make for great reading. It will be interesting to see if the movie can measure up to it. I doubt it...but I'll go to see if it does. Kudos to the author for bringing these stories to the world in an informative and reverent way.
Rating: 
Summary: The Perfect Storm
Review: Dissapointed...with all the hype I expected a blockbuster. The movie will surely be better than the book.
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Summary: Forget the movie, PICK UP THIS BOOK
Review: A must-read for weather and sailing enthusiasts alike. I had a hard time putting this one down. This book really shows you what its like on the open seas during a "perfect storm." Gives a simple and detailed explanation into the meteorologic factors that lead to the "Halloween Gale" of 1991. Also explores the lives and fates of those aboard the Andrea Gail, the boat that steams right into the cetner of a monster storm and ............
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Summary: A horrible way to go
Review: Found this nightmarish tale to be one that I couldn't stop reading once I'd started. Polished off the whole book in a weekend! Gripping description of drowning -- what a horrible way to go.
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Summary: A Lost Ship Grips You In Pounding Waves of Drama
Review: This book takes a natural disaster, a storm of the century, and builds it into a compelling clash of man against nature with man having little or no chance. We Are Playthings of the Gods kept running through my mind as I read this book.I am glad that a movie has been made from the book, because the book was clearly designed to be turned into a script. The material is incredibly visible and visceral at the same time. Even if you have never left dry land, you will soon have a good sense of what it meant to be a swordfisherman on the Andrea Gail when the storm came up. Since the ship was lost, the author had a difficult task -- to give us a sense of what happened without turning the book into a dry dissertation. The book is incredibly successful at turning the informed speculation into a story line of what might have happened. If anything, the lack of details allows you to use your imagination, which makes the story richer. Some will complain about the extensive background about Gloucester, the fishing fleets, boats, technology, and the people involved. For me, each element added a richness to the drama that made the story all that more gripping. Like a good Tom Clancy novel, the detail adds a texture and a context for the book that makes it all the more significant in your mind. The book has an unusual structure. It cuts in and out from the present to the past, and from present to past tense and back again. At one level, it operates like mental language. That technique gives the book an emotional immediacy that makes it have much more impact on the reader. Let it weave its magic, and you'll really enjoy yourself. Buy this book today, and save it to read the next time a howling wind and driving rain assault you on a dark night. Have a great read!
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Summary: Exciting but confusing at First
Review: When I first starting reading The Perfect Storm, I i didn't quite understand what the author was doing. I literally had to go back and reread the first 5-10 pages to get and an idea of what he was doing with the time frames. While reading the book I had to keep telling myself that this was a true story, and from what I heard about it, it didn't have a happy ending, which is very unfullfilling. But it is a true account of these people lives and that is fulfilling enough. We live in a world were we are used to happy endings because of movies and so on. I thought the book WAS good but I also thought that there was a lot of unnecessary literature about fishing which I had a drag myself through, this is the main reason I only gave it 3 stars. I'm really looking forward to seeing the film.
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Summary: A Perfect Nightmare
Review: Who hasn't dreamt of leaving the safe confines of terra firma, for the endless mystery of the sea? Who has not wondered what would it require to leave the endless responsibilty of the "real world" behind, to set out upon the water? The answers to these questions are for more complex than one would hope, or even expect. On the eve of a major motion picture, Sebastion's Jungers harrowing tale of the everyday hero against a very angry Mother Nature, will probably see a renewed interest at the bookstore. Even for those who read it when it first appeared, a second look is well worth the effort. The Perfect Storm is almost a perfect book. It is not the most artfully drafted composition, nor does it carry an earth shattering message. Rather, it is a simple tale of working men who set to sea to earn a living, and in doing so, risk their lives every time their boat leaves its dock for another expedition. We are introduced to the families of these men, and we learn firsthand the anxiety and trepidation that comes with loving someone who risks death on a daily basis. Yet, The Perfect Storms truly comes alive when the Andrea Gale (the boat at the heart of the tale) encounters a tremndous storm. The reader is then taken on a ride of breathtaking proportions. The description of what takes places during a hurricane at sea, as well as the mechanics and actions during a Coast Guard rescue mission are simply fascinating. Not to be overlooked is a short but unforgettable description of what happens to a person when they drown. It will leave you breathing deep and savoring every breath fromn that point on. The Perfect Storm does what any adventure should do...it makes you care about its characters; it makes you care about what they care about, and in the end, it makes you mourn their loss. This is a book that should find its place on any landlocked boater's bookshelf, as well as any family member of someone who looks to the sea to earn a living. It will bring true understanding to such a demanding line of work. I can only hope that the movie can do the book justice. And I look to the next investigation that Junger will so elegantly share with us. Kudos to Men's Journal Magazine for running the original story that became the premise for The Perfect Storm.
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Summary: The longest magazine article I ever read
Review: I enjoyed this book, and read it in only a few days. The last half of the book is particularly good; the action is thick and well described, and the characters come right through. I read the last twenty pages of the narrative holding my hand up on the page, moving it down line by line so I wouldn't spoil the ending. However, I have many problems with the structure of this book, the main one being that The Perfect Storm is essentially a 300-page magazine article, betraying its roots as a story in Outside magazine. The true narrative could have been wrapped up in about 200 pages, perhaps less. I didn't need to read 100 pages about the history of swordboats in the Atlantic, nor did I need intricate descriptions of fishing and how satellites work. The true value of this book is in the action and the telling of the human story, which Junger does well. The other problem is that I expected, with all of the hype, for this to be a book about the Andrea Gail, but there are many other stories worked in, some of which take even greater stage. The material on the PJs is even better than the tale of the poor souls on board the AG. The spattering of stories about other ships going down is thoroughly enjoyable. Junger, however, pulled me right out of the action and threw me into the slow beginnings of a different scene. I recommend reading this book. The Perfect Storm and books like it have brought the genre of non-fiction narrative back to life, which is a good thing. Still, I think I might enjoy the movie even more.
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Summary: Better than the techno thrillers
Review: Ron Franscell's review of Chris' novel is, like the novel itself, based on a tried and true formula: first a quick plot overview rapidly followed by a discussion of the protagonist's good and not-so-good qualities, the required negative comment, and finally the recommendation that despite its shortcoming, it is a good read. What it fails to do is to give us a reason to overcome our laziness and truck down to B & N and BUY the darn thing. I'll try. Chris has to follow the format to get published. Once he does that, he is free to include interesting plot twists and give us complex minor characters. We should be thinking how Nick is going to get on with Alex as well as his new client. Chris goes beyond the formula there. The setup for the next novel is slightly weak. That doesn't diminish our fun in this one. And it doesn't let Ron off the hook for not expanding his review beyond his required formula. Ron played it safe. Chris deserves better than that. The review sits next to the best seller lists. Perhaps we will see Chris' name there in the near future. USA
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Summary: Well done
Review: Tidy and well researched, and so much more interesting than those other true-life extreme stories that get mentioned in the same breath (e.g., John Krakaeur). Gives a nice background into the fishing industry, which had the potential to be more boring than it was actually presented, and it elicits sympathy for the characters. While the author admits in the preface that he didn't want to inject too much fiction into the crew's final days, he nonetheless paints a seemingly accurate picture, and certainly a fascinating one (not to mention that the book does feature plenty of eyewitness accounts from the storm's unwilling participants). The book also had a nice descriptive touch to help the reader visualize the events whose magnitude needed to be appreciated.
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