The Perfect Storm: A True Story of a Man Against the Sea

This book was the inspiration for the 2000 film of the same name. The book follows the ill-fated fishing trip made by the Andrea Gail in October 1991.

Here you can find everything you ever wanted to know about swordfishing and the men who risk their lives on the Grand Banks off the coast of Newfoundland. This is an excellent slice of life depiction of the type of people who are driven to risk their lives at sea. Based on a true event and only fictionalised because the author has constructed the story from secondary sources.

The book reads as a tribute to some very brave men and also to an industry which saw the introduction of quotas around the time of this story to preserve fish stocks.

Often people go for self-help type books to find inspiration, but I find if you read books like this that tell you what some people go through to make ends meet then it puts your own situation in perspective.

Although the ultimate fate of the Andrea Gail is unknown the book also contains some excellent first hand accounts of the activities of the US Coast Guard.

Very interesting (0/0 people found this helpful)

This blew me way when I first read it because it was unlike anything I had read before. It is my favourite non-fiction book. The way he writes even about some of the most mundane activities such as the crew of the Andrea Gail stocking up at the local store before their voyage seems interesting. The science in this is fascinating. The rescue parts, thrilling.

"What was the final moment? What was the final,final thing?" (7/7 people found this helpful)

Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm is a masterpiece of "disaster writing," written in a crisply paced, masculine style while still incorporating much scientific detail about the meteorology of this "perfect" storm of October 28, 1991, and the physical forces it unleashed on the Andrea Gale, a seventy-foot commercial boat, fishing for swordfish at the end of the season, near Georges Bank. The result is the gripping story of Capt. Billy Tyne and five Gloucester fishermen who ran into the "perfect" conjunction of three major storms and never returned.

Junger begins his story with the maritime history of Gloucester, Massachusetts, a city from which over ten thousand men have perished at sea since the fishing industry began in 1650. Gloucester fishermen and their families are extremely close, and The Crow's Nest bar, vividly described here, is their "homeport" between trips and in times of emergency. To gain insight into the character of Gloucester and its fishing fleet, Junger lived above the Crow's Nest in Bobby Shatford's room while he did his research, became friends with Bobby's mother, who was a bartender at there, came to know and like the regulars, and gained confidences shared with few "outsiders."

As Junger introduces the six men aboard the Andrea Gail, he shows their both their lives and their motivations for going out on one last trip, which would bring thousands of dollars to each crew member, if successful. At the same time, he also presents technical information about fishing boats and how they are engineered, the changes in the center of gravity which occurred on the Andrea Gail with the addition of a "whaleback" storage area on deck, the science of long-line sword-fishing, and the daily lives of the men aboard.

Six other boats in the same area off Cape Cod at about the same time as the Andrea Gail report on their boats' terrifying behavior during this unexpected storm, allowing the reader to imagine the various tragedies that might have happened aboard the Andrea Gail. The Coast Guard rescue of three crew members from a large sailboat (which almost cost the lives of three rescuers) shows the ferocity of the storm and the near impossibility of rescuing the Andrea Gail's crew, even if they had been found in time. Filled with the kind of detail which brings this "perfect," hundred-year storm to heart-pounding life, The Perfect Storm is a gripping story which honors these fishermen without exploiting them or their families--a classic story of maritime disaster. Mary Whipple

John A. McPhee of the sea. (4/5 people found this helpful)

Just as John A. McPhee outlines the history of oranges in the book "Oranges", Sebastian Junger outlines "Men Against the Sea."

In the very beginning of the book Sebastian Junger tells you that this is not a novel or a fictionalization of the events of the last moments of the Andrea Gail. He believes if you read any fiction that you would doubt the parts that are real facts. To this end He has includes many pieces of information about men against the sea; He describes the sea, equipment needed to deal with the sea and the lifestyle of the men who deal with the sea.

Now some people may find his writing style has a feeling of tedium, tedium, and t-e-d-i-u-m. I find it just being through enough to not leave out any piece of information to tie this all together. How ever you may have to make an effort to continue through it.

Also Like John McPhee, Sebastian Junger actually was writing about different dangerous jobs and magazine articles when he sold this book before it was put together. He struggled to balance this between a sort of documentary and thrill of the story. I think he did a good job.

A Heart Wrenching Read (1/1 people found this helpful)

Read it and weep! This book puts you out there on the turbulent seas with all that endured the storm, and makes you feel the pain of those waiting on shore. A tactful depiction of what happened on the Andrea Gail, Sebastian Junger's book will move you to tears.

The Perfect Storm: A True Story of a Man Against the Sea

Sebastian Junger

Editorial Review:

Reader Reviews:

Highly recommended even if you don't like swordfish (0/0 people found this helpful)

Very interesting (0/0 people found this helpful)

"What was the final moment? What was the final,final thing?" (7/7 people found this helpful)

John A. McPhee of the sea. (4/5 people found this helpful)

A Heart Wrenching Read (1/1 people found this helpful)

Similar Products

Categories