The Perfect Storm: Summary and book reviews of The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger, plus links to an excerpt from The Perfect Storm and a biography of Sebastian Junger.
The Perfect Storm A True Story of Men Against the Sea
by Sebastian Junger
Hardcover: Jun 2000,
256 pages.
Paperback: Jul 1998,
301 pages.
October 1991. It was "the perfect storm"--a tempest that may happen only once in a century--a nor'easter created by so rare a combination of factors that it could not possibly have been worse. Creating waves ten stories high and winds of 120 miles an hour, the storm whipped the sea to inconceivable levels few people on Earth have ever witnessed. Few, except the six-man crew of the Andrea Gail, a commercial fishing boat tragically headed towards its hellish center.
Philadelphia Inquirer
Takes readers into the maelstrom and shows nature's splendid and dangerous havoc at its utmost.
LA Times Book Review
A wild ride that brilliantly captures the awesome power of the raging sea.
Newsweek - David Gates
As with any true-adventure story, you wonder if you ought to be getting such a bang out of real people's real suffering. But in The Perfect Storm, we're sharers, not voyeurs. The book is a humanizing reminder that we, too, could -- probably will -- be called on to bear more than we could possibly imagine.
Entertainment Weekly
Guaranteed to blow readers away...A+.
Time Magazine - John Snow
What gives his narration its blood and bones, however, is the fine, boozy picture he sketches of the fishermen's bars of Gloucester, Mass., the Andrea Gail's home port. For the younger fishermen, the bars are home and family in the short weeks between the month-long voyages to the Grand Banks. They make good money, $4,000 or $5,000 a trip, and buy a lot of drinks. . . . The book's epigraph, from Sir Walter Scott, has it right 'It's no fish ye're buying, it's men's lives.'
Boston Globe
Mesmerizing....Packs an emotional wallop.
Publishers Weekly
In meteorological jargon, a perfect storm is one unsurpassed in ferocity and duration a description that fits the so-called Halloween Gale of October 1991 in the western Atlantic. Junger, who has written for American Heritage and Outside, masterfully handles his account of that storm and its devastation. He begins with a look at the seedy town of Gloucester, Mass., which has been sliding downhill ever since the North Atlantic fishing industry declined, then focuses his attention on the captain and the five-man crew of the Andrea Gail, a swordfishing vessel. He then charts the storm particularly formidable because three storms had converged from the south, the west and the north that created winds up to 100 miles an hour and waves that topped 110 feet. He reconstructs what the situation must have been aboard the ship during the final hours of its losing battle with the sea, and the moments when it went down with the loss of all hands. He recaps the courageous flight of an Air National Guard helicopter, which had to be ditched in the ocean leaving one man dead while the other four were rescued then returns to Gloucester and describes the reaction to the loss of the Andrea Gail. Even with the inclusion of technical information, this tale of the Storm of the Century is a thrilling read and seems a natural for filming.
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by Christian The Perfect Storm I had to read this book over the summer for the summer reading list and I really didn't find it that interesting. To be honest, until I saw the movie I didn't really understand it.
Rated of 5
by Bryan The Perfect Storm Sebastian Junger has made this book thrilling and captivating to read. It pulls you in and doesn't let go until the ride is over. He makes you feel as if you are there with the fishermen at sea. Also very dramatic the way the story is told. Two... Read More
Rated of 5
by kerri the book that sunk Now let me start off by saying that I am a 16 year old girl, who had to read this book for English class. This is not the best way to start off with a book. even thought i love to read, the perfect storm held no interest for me. My group and I all... Read More
Rated of 5
by Paul That was a great book. I recommend it to anyone who want to hear a good story.
Rated of 5
by Mark Carter (Australia)
Mark Carter (14 and live in Brisbane, Australia)
I found it incredibly interesting and before I had read this book I hardly ever read but now Im interested in His 2nd book 'Fire' hopefully it will be as good as the Perfect Storm.
In June 1998, Tori McClure set out to row across the Atlantic Ocean by herself in a twenty-three-foot plywood boat with no motor or sail. It was a journey that affected her life in unexpected ways for years to come.
In the tradition of Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air comes a true tale of riveting adventure in which two weekend scuba divers risk everything to solve a great historical mystery – and make history themselves.
These are 2 of the 6 readalike suggestions for The Perfect Storm. Members have full access to all readalikes. If you are a member, please login. To find out more about membership, click here.
Fearless, gripping, at once darkly funny and tender, spanning three continents and numerous lives, Americanah is a richly told story set in today's globalized world.
The story of an American family, middle class in middle America, ordinary in every way but one. But that exception is the beating heart of this extraordinary novel.
The most mature work yet from an incomparable storyteller, TransAtlantic is a profound meditation on identity and history in a wide world that grows somehow smaller and more wondrous with...
From the first page, I was drawn in by the lyrical writing of the author and mesmerized as the narrator, eight year old Raami, remembered the years...
read more
Trite but true, all good things must come to an end. I so wanted to keep reading the wonderful prose, the settings that let one think they are part...
read more
A magical book, an enchanted house, a cast of characters who previously lived there but remain on the walls in photographs to be talked to whenever...
read more
Kenn Nesbitt is new Children's Poet Laureate(Jun 12 2013) Kenn Nesbitt has been named the new Children's Poet Laureate: Consultant in Children's Poetry to the Poetry Foundation, which noted that the two-year position...
Full Story
of 5
by Christian
of 5
by Bryan
of 5
by kerri
of 5
by Paul
Write your own review!
