Rating: 
Summary: A perfect novel of men against uncontrollable forces
Review: One leaves this book vastly richer in knowledge of the uncontrollable forces of the sea and weather, and the New England culture surrounding the U.S. swordfishing fleet. Best book of a dozen read in '98. Grisham fans prepare for good writing and an unpredictable storyline.
Rating: 
Summary: schlock
Review: if you enjoy reading novels with over-the-top dramatization and/or boring (and overly simplified) technical discussions of marine transportation, then by all means, read this book!Or you could just wait for the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Poorly written
Review: I had heard so much about this book that I had come to it expecting something interesting. Indeed, the story should be interesting, and I am very much interested in the sea and in weather. However, this book makes for excruciatingly painful reading. The author seems to be repeating himself in many places, while leading us on with promises that never pan out. The book is presented as "factual", but this is stretching the notion of fact a little. The few things that I know something about were presented by the author in such a way that they were only "true" in a fuzzy sort of way, and lead me doubt almost everything that he writes about. He is either a bad lier or a bad observer; in either case, he doesn't give an impression of verisimilitude. This is the Disney version of sailing in storm. I see from the dustjacket that it was originally a magazine article. It should have been left there for a better writer to tackle.
Rating: 
Summary: fascinating
Review: The author's sterile approach highlights even more fully the tragedy he describes. Rather than grip our emotions and play to our sympathies, Junger writes to our rationalism, doubling the impact of the events.
Rating:
Summary: Exciting, scary, and thought provoking
Review: If you know anything about the sea or boating on the Great Lakes, etc. this book will make you think twice about going out again in unsure weather. The author does a great job of making you feel what it was like in The Perfect Storm...even what it is like to drown. Now I know why fishing is the dealiest profession. This book shows how they can deal with it day in and day out. Quite frankly this book scared me but not to the point of terror. Myself I'll stay on Green Bay and close to shore!
Rating: 
Summary: Mediocre and highly overrated...
Review: Why all the acclaim for The Perfect Storm? Good question! Personally, I came into the books with high hopes (due to many excellent reviews), but came out seriously disappointed. I thought the book had numerous (and serious) problems, including: 1) an almost total lack of character development by the author, making it very hard to truly care about the fate of the Andrea Gail's crew; 2) lots of technical jargon which is either not defined at all or inadequately defined at best; 3) the author's annoying -- and often cringe-inducing - attempts to fit in and be accepted by a community to which he will always be an outsider (this is reflected time and again in his writing); 4) the bottom line fact that the Andrea Gail crew was killed because of one main reason -- greed -- which has basically destroyed an entire ecosystem while putting the lives of human beings needlessly at risk; and 5) despite heroic attempts by the author to make this storm (and this tragedy) into something unusual or unique, it's actually not -- there are bad (even really nasty) storms all the time, and lots of people have been lost at sea over the years chasing fish, whales, etc., so why is this particular case special?; 6) the Andrea Gail tragedy was not only nothing unusual, it was not even particularly deadly -- there have been many other accidents on land, in the air, and at sea which have claimed many more lives than in this "Perfect Storm". All in all, "The Perfect Storm" can be described as a lot of sound and fury (and waves and wind) signifying nothing. So why is this book so popular? I don't know, but I also know that many books, music, television shows, movies, etc. are popular, even though their quality level is not particularly high. How does a mediocre or even bad song, movie, or book, end up being more popular than a far better (higher quality/stronger) song, movie, book, or other work or art? Dumb luck? Marketing muscle? Playing to the mass audience's low standards? Whatever the reason, there are lots of better books out there than this one, so don't waste your time or money!
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic! Quick read!
Review: This is an excellent book that combines high seas action adventure with real world science. Once you start reading it, it's hard to put down. I read the entire book in 3 days!
Rating:
Summary: "A Perfect Storm" builds like the ocean before a storm.
Review: This was a one-weekend read. Several people had suggested I read A Perfect Storm, but I put it off as too depressing a subject. However, over the weekend -- while the wind howled outside -- I dove in. It's been a long time since I've held a can't-put-down read. Sebastian makes us care about the Andrea Gail's doomed crew. He makes us appreciate how swordfish gets to the menu of our favorite restaurants. He answers questions about what makes weather do what it does. And he makes us respect the ocean and the people who work her resources. The book begins slowly and builds to it's tragic climax, much as the wind and sea build before a storm. At the end we grieve for the crew of the Andrea Gail. Sebastian brings the reader full circle. The reader will never look at the ocean waves quite the same way again.
Rating:
Summary: 1.5 thumbs up
Review: This book was very good and I enjoyed it immensely. It started out very slow in the beginning and all the facts that he gave to the reader about every little thing I found was not that important, but it was still a fascinating book...
Rating: 
Summary: Just needed a little more mixing
Review: Actually 3.5 stars. I enjoyed the book. It was action-packed, quite informative, and a pleasure to read. But it needed a little more mixing to make for an even-better read. Rather than reading a chunk on hurricanes, a chunk on the history of fishing, a chunk on the Andrea Gail, a chunk on the experience of drowning, etc., if Mr. Junger had mixed all these so that they blended together more I would have enjoyed it more. In other words offer some details about hurricanes and drowning when describing the sinking of the Andrea Gail, and more of both when describing the effort to rescue Rick Smith. I agree that the main characters of the story are not the crew of the Andrea Gail. The central character of this work is the gargantuan storm. Hey, isn't that the title of the book? Either put all characters in the context of this monster storm, or do more with character development. For example what did Chris, and the rest of Gloucester do while Bobby and the crew were out at sea? I think he could have done a little more research on some of the places he writes about as well. Ah, enough of all that. Suffice it to say that I did enjoy this first book by Mr. Junger, and I look forward to his second work. When was the last time you read a book that detailed the experience of drowning so precisely?
|
