The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger. W. W. Norton & Company, 1997. Genre: Nonfiction
The Perfect Strom takes place in Gloucester, Massachusetts were sword fishing was a popular occupation. Billy Tyne the captain of the Andrea Gail, his fishing vessel, goes out on a voyage with his crew to bring home a big catch after his recent miss. But with big catches comes big dangers. As it shows in the weather he would be sailing into a hurricane otherwise known as “The Perfect Storm of 1991.”
“During the long drawn-out and wholly convincing climaxes one reads with the most intense concern, anxiety and concentration; and if one knows anything at all about the sea one feels the absolutely enormous strength of the hurricane winds and the incredibly towering mass of the hundred-foot waves.”-Patrick O’Brian
Captain Billy Tyne is heading towards the Flemish Cap, which is almost of the chart of fishing grounds, but he believes that where the fish are. The crew and all the other fishermen think he’s crazy to go out there but the crew needs the money if he’s right s they agree to go on this journey with him. After a couple of days they’ve been having some bad luck with Murph going overboard and a rogue wave hitting the boat the crew is thinking of turning around and heading home. But Billy wants to keep going to find the fish. Sebastian Junger writers in a very suspenseful way and in a lot of ways I find that he leads up to a lot of stuff in his writing.
This book reminds me of another book I read about fishermen. They have a very ruff live and they go out on the ocean for 3 months at a time away from their friends and family. They also never have control over the sea so anything could happen out there.
“All chemical reactions and metabolic processes become honey-slow and the brain can get by on less than half the oxygen it normally requires.”(146)
Sebastian Junger really reminded me about how these fishermen risk their lives so we can eat seafood. I think after reading this book I have more respect for these fishermen. I liked this book because it always kept me guessing and never got boring in my mind. I enjoyed the fact he didn’t just put a bunch of facts together but actually made a story of it. I think the theme of this book is that if you don’t take risks than life will pass you by. He is saying to live as much as you can now and not to regret it later.
1. i think that the reader really liked this book overall. this is because he talks about how the book wasnt boring and kept him wondering.
ReplyDelete2. one thing that the reader points out about how the reader writes is that the author fits in the facts about the book without making it boring.
3. The passage that the reader chose was very interesting because it was descriptive and interesting.
4. This is the first book review ive read so i dont really have anything to compare it to.
5. I would not consider reading this book because it is about fishing which i dont find very interesting.