The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea

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The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea

by Sebastian Junger (Goodreads Author)

3.99 of 5 stars 3.99 · rating details · 39,051 ratings · 893 reviews

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 cre...more

Paperback, 236 pages

Published April 1st 2007 by Harper Perennial (first published May 6th 1997)

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Jul 27, 2010 Matt rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"There was no God to turn to for mercy. There was no government to provide order. Civilization was ancient history... Inside the ship, as the heel increased, even the most primitive social organization, the human chain, crumbled apart. Love only slowed people down. A pitiless clock was running. The ocean was completely in control..."
-- William Langewiesche, A Sea Story

On October 28, 1991, the fishing vessel Andrea Gail and her crew of six men disappeared off the Grand Banks in a tremendous stor...more

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Oct 04, 2007 Beth rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction

I thought this would be a pretty interesting book - I had vaguely heard the story when the movie came out, although I haven't seen the movie.

The Perfect Storm is a great name for the book, as the book revolved around the storm that took out the Andrea Gail. It gave a lot of good information about fishing, but overall I wasn't impressed by the book, especially when it concerns the Andrea Gail. The synopsis on the back of the book annoyed me, because I thought the book was going to be entirely abo...more

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Jul 10, 2012 Darren rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: best

I saw the trailer to the film adap' of this and immediately had to find the book. I bought it one day before a train journey and started it as soon as I sat down. All I can say is that I rode the length of the line back and forth for most of the day until I had finished the book. It was one of the most dramatic, interesting and powerful books I had ever read.

I still reread "storm" every couple of years as its power rarely diminishes. This is a wonderful book expertly executed. The balance betwee...more

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Jul 08, 2007 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who don't mind being depressed and are interested in MA and maritime history

This was pretty good and read really quickly, especially toward the end. The quite drawn-out description of what it's like to drown was terrifying, as well as the description of what the ocean is like in a storm like that. I'm scared of the ocean so I found it oddly fascinating in a horrific way. I also thought that the very real importance of dreams and premonitions was described in the book--crewmen would get a "bad feeling" about going out with a boat and family members would dream about love...more

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Dec 05, 2007 Eva rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I had heard that this book was good but I thought it was sort of boring. I don't know anything about boating and I think you have to have some boating knowledge before reading this book. There are pages and pages of descriptions about what a swordfishing boat looks like, using words I had never even heard of! It would have been helpful if there was a diagram of the boat, just as there was a map of the Atlantic at the beginning of the book that was a great reference. What I did like about the boo...more

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Mar 07, 2010 Sumi added it · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who want a deep read

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Sebastian Junger does an great job in his masterpiece, The Perfect Storm. This was my first book read which was of his and I really have to say it was a well written work and had many elements of emotion attached to each of the different scenarios it poses. Junger does a great job of getting into the mind of the reader, making you feel empty, or as if this was someone you know and love out/lost at sea. Junger opens the story with a sort of lead up to the Andrea Gale's departure. He introduces th...more Sebastian Junger does an great job in his masterpiece, The Perfect Storm. This was my first book read which was of his and I really have to say it was a well written work and had many elements of emotion attached to each of the different scenarios it poses. Junger does a great job of getting into the mind of the reader, making you feel empty, or as if this was someone you know and love out/lost at sea. Junger opens the story with a sort of lead up to the Andrea Gale's departure. He introduces the characters (Billy Tyne, Alfred Pierre, David Sullivan, Michael Moran, Dale Murphy, and Bobby Shatford) and their respective family and gives you a good insight into what life was like and general feel of the fishing town Gloucester. His vivid descriptions are paired beautifully with the abrupt which makes you feel like turning the page and finishing your read.

One of the things that really stood out of me in terms of Junger's writing style is how he chooses to give the reader a similar scenario of a past tragedy to slowly foreshadow what is to come for the real characters. He does a good job weaving in and out of the story – educating the reader on the struggles of the fishing industry and the challenges that many have faced. Some of the stories in the collection he put in here and there really teach you about not taking things for granted and to love/care more to those around you. Everything the author put in the book was there for a reason and sometimes you only realise it when you finish the chapter and you can most definitely tell that he put a lot of effort into researching for this novel! Its almost unreal about the amount of details he added in and even if you don't necessarily follow fishing you'll still feel the need to appreciate them.

As for character development the author makes you feel like you know every single one. He introduces their strengths and weaknesses which are both very personal/intimate details of a person. Every reader wants to find a piece of themselves in the characters that they are reading about and I think he does a great job of making the reader think about the way they would react to a certain situation. Junger is full of top of the ladder questions and he frequently throws them out in this book. You'll just want to halt for a moment and think – its certainly a very deep story.

The only part I wasn't so amazed about was the dragging before the climax.. I know it was just for the suspense but I got very impatient at some parts so overall I rate this novel a 4/5. Definitely pick it up if you want an intellectual read or something deep/meaningful that just changes your outlook on how you view situations because this is the book!

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Feb 26, 2009 Ann Amadori rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this book because I had read 3 by Linda Greenlaw, a fisherman who, at the time of this storm was captain of the Hannah Boden, sister boat to the Andrea Gail which was lost in the storm. She is mentioned numerous times in the book and was portrayed in the movie, The Perfect Storm, by Mary Stuart Masterson. I am intrigued by her lifestyle and thought it would be interesting to learn more about the people who fish hundreds of miles offshore - it takes a week to get to the Outer Banks off New...more

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Jan 20, 2009 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008-2009

I was motivated to read this book after I fell in love with authors like Krakauer and Pierce who wrote books on real, chaotic events that have inspired many. For example, Krakauer writes about mountain climbing experiences and experiences in the snow while Pierce wrote about a plane crash in the Andes where the survivors struggled to make it back home. After being fascinated by the way these authors wrote about tragic events that always left me in suspense I thought The Perfect Storm would be th...more

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Jan 02, 2009 Katherine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Junger’s book, The Perfect Storm, documents the storm and the disappearance of a sword fishing boat, The Andrea Gail, which took place off of the Massachusetts coast in the early 1990s. The Andrea Gail set out several days prior to the storm beginning and was having very bad luck finding swordfish. The captain of the boat, Billy Tyne, refused to return home empty handed and so he decided to sail farther out to sea in order to find the swordfish. After completing a successful swordfish run, Tyne...more

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Mar 18, 2013 03NicoleV rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: book-reviews

Title: The Perfect Storm
Author: Sebastian Junger
Year: 1997 Number of Pages: 225

Who is the Intended Audience: People who like very informational books.
What is the Main Issue: A crew get caught in the middle of a terrible storm

Setting: If it wasn't taken place in the sea then I believe the story would be ruined.

Description of Main Characters: Bobby Shatford- crew man, engaged; Chris Cotter- Bobby's fiancé; Billy Tyne- captain of the Andrea Gail

Summary: A group of men on the sword fishing boat, the...more

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Mar 01, 2013 Allegra rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The men could only look at each other through the falling snow, from land to sea, from sea to land, and realize how unimportant they all were.
–Ship on The Rocks, Newburyport, Massachusetts, 1893, No Survivors.

Although the crew of the Andrea Gail may have felt unimportant as they and their ship disappeared from this world into the perfect (in a meteorological sense) storm, the book does everything but make them unimportant. Based on the tale of the Andrea Gail, it really tells the stories of many...more The men could only look at each other through the falling snow, from land to sea, from sea to land, and realize how unimportant they all were.
–Ship on The Rocks, Newburyport, Massachusetts, 1893, No Survivors.

Although the crew of the Andrea Gail may have felt unimportant as they and their ship disappeared from this world into the perfect (in a meteorological sense) storm, the book does everything but make them unimportant. Based on the tale of the Andrea Gail, it really tells the stories of many ships and people who went to sea, some never to return. Leaping between the stories of other boats and their fates to the Andrea Gail's tragic ending, it fully encompasses the hope, uncertainty and terror of the open oceans.

The story alternates between the unknown fate of the Andrea Gail and either general background information or stories from other ships in related situations. The beginning of the book can be a little slow going unless you have a great passion for the mechanisms and mechanics of swordfishing and boating, but as the story moves on the action escalates. In the latter chapters of the book, the short clips of other boats journeys and the longer tales of daring rescues on high seas are breathtaking and terrifying.

Throughout the The Perfect Storm it's impossible to miss the sheer amount of detail in the book. Each story is complete with facts of date, time, real conversations, and exactly how things fell out. It's easy to form clear pictures of events with the clear descriptions of how the ships are constructed and what each broken piece did and how this will affect the ship. Even knowing nothing about sailing, it's simple to understand the magnitude of the situations and how dangerous life is on the ocean.

It's no fish ye're buying, it's men's lives.
–Sir Walter Scott
The Antiquary, Chapter 11

By trying to tell so many incredible tales in the short space between the two covers of the book, they become a little mixed up and it can be hard to find a comprehensive storyline. The many stories told by Sebastian Junger eventually seem to blend together into a long trip of terror onto the ocean. But, Junger is able to do the impossible and tell the true story of a doomed ship with no survivors. The vivid details and breathtaking suspense of an uncertain adventure creates a captivating story. (less)

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Dec 03, 2012 Sean rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: rwr

"The Perfect Storm," written by Sebastian Junger is a creative nonfictional book. The book is about the 1991 storm known as the, "storm of the century," or the, "Perfect Storm," that took the lives of six fisherman onboard the Andrea Gail. In the beginning of the book, the plot revolves around the six fisherman 's personal lives before boarding the Andrea Gail. The book also explains life in the small fishing town of Gloucester, home of the Andrea Gail. During the book the plot continuously shif...more "The Perfect Storm," written by Sebastian Junger is a creative nonfictional book. The book is about the 1991 storm known as the, "storm of the century," or the, "Perfect Storm," that took the lives of six fisherman onboard the Andrea Gail. In the beginning of the book, the plot revolves around the six fisherman 's personal lives before boarding the Andrea Gail. The book also explains life in the small fishing town of Gloucester, home of the Andrea Gail. During the book the plot continuously shifts from the actual story to explaining fishing life in general. The book gives exqusit detail for what it's like to be on board a fishing vessel. It explains everything from fishing gear to fishing boats, from engines to fish anatomy, from hooks to nets and from payment to the ocean. In the later part of the book, the story plot is made up of reconstructed events that could've taken place on board the Andrea Gail during the storm. The plot also mentions all the rescue attempts during the storm from the Coast Guard and the Navy SEALS. In the book, a rescue helicopter trying to succsesfully rescue the six fisherman on board the Andrea Gail had to ditch into the ocean from the loss of fuel. The plot uses reconstructed events as well as real life stories from the survivors of that storm to determine what happened. Even though there may be points in the book that aren't guaranteed to be true, there is one thing for certain, the Andrea Gail and its six crew members vanished without a trace in the storm.

I was really moved by the story plot of this novel. It was written so well that it actually sounds quite possible for all those events to take place in the real life 1991 perfect storm. I was also fascinated by how the plot also described the rescue efforts during the storm and not just the Andrea Gail. However there were some things that I didn't like or could have been better in the book. I really didn't like how half of the book spent so much time explaining things and going into too much detail rather than telling the story. For example, the book mentioned the Crows Nest which is a bar in Gloucester where most fishermen go after a month at sea. The book went into too much detail and talked about what went on in the bar and just through me of. One of the other things I noticed is that the book didn't seem to mention a lot on the Andrea Gail, instead it talked about fishing in general or other fishing vessels in devestating storms, this also through me off and usually I was lost when this happened. However I did enjoy reading the novel a lot because it was a true story and it was very entertaining to read. One of the best things about the book is that the author would always explain these complicated concepts of fishing or anything relevant to make it easier for the reader to understand. Another thing he did was that he wrote the events so well, I could vividly picture them in my mind. The events seemed so real that I could almost taste the seawater like I was one of the fisherman in the perfect storm.

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Apr 01, 2012 Tina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found this book in my elementary library when a student brought it back saying "My mom said I can't read this...it has to much bad stuff in it." Ok, so I checked it out for myself to see what the bad stuff was and how bad it was. Since it is cataloged in the nonfiction section with a true account of a storm and sea-faring sailors and the women they love, there was definitely some "bad stuff" in the beginning while the sailors are preparing to leave for a month at sea. The language and sexual c...more

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Mar 11, 2012 Jason Taylor rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really liked this book. It's a book that will have you in suspense the entire time you're reading it! It is also very dramatically sad and eventful, though. The crew of the Andrea Gail goes out to sea on the Atlantic Ocean for a fishing trip, look for some beautiful Sword Fish. This was an actually job, not just a bunch of buddies going out on a fishing trip for a couple of days. This was a real crew who went out for weeks and weeks at a time. And, to make it even more "fishy", it is written a...more I really liked this book. It's a book that will have you in suspense the entire time you're reading it! It is also very dramatically sad and eventful, though. The crew of the Andrea Gail goes out to sea on the Atlantic Ocean for a fishing trip, look for some beautiful Sword Fish. This was an actually job, not just a bunch of buddies going out on a fishing trip for a couple of days. This was a real crew who went out for weeks and weeks at a time. And, to make it even more "fishy", it is written about a true tale! The Andrea Gail just arrives home after a long voyage/fight on the Atlantic. They spend the night with their loved ones. But, the time spent home is less of a stay than they attend to. They only stay for ONE night before they set sail again! They kiss their wives, girlfriends, and or kids, and brave up for another trip. The first couple days of the trip are going more than crappy. But then, they swing over for a spot that other fisherman have said is just infested with Marlin. BUT much like everything in this life, there is a catch. There is a strom brewing over there where two hurricanes are predicited to mash together. They decide to take the risk, not thinking it was a big one, and go and catch them selves some money! They spend a few days over there and catch more than what they had planned for! But then a tradgedy strikes... Their icing system where they store the fish breaks down... They have two decisions that they are forced to choose from. Sit out on the ocean and wait for that storm to pass over and let there catch all rot and be under a couple thousand bucks, or try and fight out the storms and come back living phat. Unfortunately, due to modern day society's cocky, greedy people that live in it, they decide to take the risk. At first everything's going great, but then they just keep on getting pounded in the storms. At last, when things can't get much worse, the boat starts taking on water, and eventually gets capsized by a gigantic title wave! What was supposed to be a nice payday, turned into living hell. And since this awful event, none of the members of the Andrea Gail have been seen since...(less)

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Mar 04, 2012 Roger rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-non-fiction

A compelling read. The true tale of the long-line swordfish vessel Andrea Gail and her crew of seven out of Gloucester, Massachusetts who were lost to perhaps the most vicious storm the elements of the north Atlantic have generated in recorded history.

Sebastian Junger interweaves the account with know facts of the crews encounter with the raging storm, necessary and well reasoned speculation to fill the gaps, along with a very accessible explanation of the dynamic natural forces that combined to...more

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Feb 15, 2012 Apoorva Paranthaman rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love this book. In the beginning I found it really boring, but at the middle I loved it. It was a very adventerous and a sad book at the same time. I would recommend it to teens or people older than that since it is a bit for people with the age. There were emotions that I found I couldn't understand. I would find that the details given were cery visual. I found the visuals to be very cool. It was like I knew what was going on, I could like imagine them doing everything.

What puzzled me was th...more I love this book. In the beginning I found it really boring, but at the middle I loved it. It was a very adventerous and a sad book at the same time. I would recommend it to teens or people older than that since it is a bit for people with the age. There were emotions that I found I couldn't understand. I would find that the details given were cery visual. I found the visuals to be very cool. It was like I knew what was going on, I could like imagine them doing everything.

What puzzled me was that it was very sharp. Each point was very intruge. I thought something will happen and something else happened. I sometimes found my self wishing that there was more to read. I didn't exactly like the end. I wanted Jurgen to write more.

It was his suspense that made me want to read. I thought that the suspense and the amount of detail putten was increadible. Sometimes though the vocab was really hard to understand. I had to look through a couple of dictonaries to get the word meaning.

I would recommend this since even the mood is very interesting it always changes. The amount of dialogue helped the story go on. It was very hard of a book to understand especially in the beginning but at the later I found of the interesting book it was.

It was very hard to read, sometimes the way the author wrote puzzled me. I didn't expect those sentences. This showed me the way of life. It was seen as an R-rated. I don't think it was R-rated though. For some reason this book continued to puzzle the turns and plot change were increable. It was very seen interesting but scary book. Sometimes I found myself on the edge of my seat trying to figure out what is going to happen. At some points of time I was sad for those teens. I thought maybe that the envronment was different. I found that the book is very unique. I found that the difference was the writing style was completely different. It was like the author was playing with the word choices. I like the book. Some of the dialogues is very personal. I thought in the beginning that this was a diary. In fact the author had everything included without making it awkard. He gets his point straight but he he goes everywhere to think. He makes us find out what he means without spoiling it for us. That is what I like the best. I kind of found that the beginning was the ending . It was a really good book. And you all should read it.(less)

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Feb 14, 2012 Ramya Nyalakonda rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger is a great book about the daring trip that one group of youngsters chose to take. The book was beautifully crated and when read, it fitted even the most minute details to fill in all gaps within the readers minds as they embark on a journey through the plot. I would recommend this book to people who like tragedies. The ending could be comparable to those such as from Romeo and Juliet by Williams Shakespeare, while although not as tragic, it still was a tear-...more The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger is a great book about the daring trip that one group of youngsters chose to take. The book was beautifully crated and when read, it fitted even the most minute details to fill in all gaps within the readers minds as they embark on a journey through the plot. I would recommend this book to people who like tragedies. The ending could be comparable to those such as from Romeo and Juliet by Williams Shakespeare, while although not as tragic, it still was a tear-jerker. Like Romeo and Juliet, many people within the story did eventually end up dying. I also highly recommend this book to older people. While although this book was very well written, some of the words were difficult to understand. Hence, I would recommend this book towards an elder age group, preferably at or above high school level reading.

The amount of details that Junger has put it into the book was very intriguing. Perhaps what struck me the most were his choices of what to go into detail of. While most authors would choose to go into detail about, say, the location of the tragedy (in this case, a ship), Junger decided to place an emphasis on the surroundings. The in-depth descriptions of the waves made the imagery more vivid and I could picture it in my mind actually crashing over the side of the boat. His use of literary devices within the story allows for the reader to fully understand and completely immerse themselves within the story of the book. His details and descriptions definitely did that for me, getting me lost in the book, and not stopping until I was satisfied. A lot of suspense was included, however while the storm and deaths of the characters was foreshadowed often throughout the book, I still had to read to get closure and to be certain that there wasn't some twist in the plot.

Junger's writing style is very unique compared to other present day writers. His writing is very different in ways of how he structures his paragraphs and the lengths of his sentences. Junger emphasizes a few words or phrases specifically to get one point across to the readers. This makes the reader pay attention to a few words that are worth standing out to the audience.

He also writes about his story in a type of way that is very hard to understand. The plethora amount of vocabulary words he uses and also the way he incorporates action in the dialogue. It is not the how Junger gets the point across but it is the way he gets the information to the readers in a way which is different than most writers. Junger also only chooses to include certain type of dialogue in the book. This certain dialogue is not the type that one person is saying out loud, but what one is thinking on the inside.

Overall, the Perfect Storm was a great book to read and I highly recommend it. It is a great summer read and there is suspense, but also some foreshadowing for those who like to know the ending beforehand. Although it is tough to get through, it pays off in the end to know that you have read such a difficult book.

-Ramya Nyalakonda(less)

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Jan 09, 2012 03celestes rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Perfect Storm, a powerful book about men stranded at sea during a storm. The perfect Storm was written by Sebastian Junger. It's 231 pages long and is very historically correct. This book really shows the dangers fisherman face everyday.
The Perfect Storm takes place in Gloucester, a fishing village on the East Coast. Billy Tyne is a captain of a sword fishing boat called the Andrea Gail. His crew, Bobby Shatford, Murphy, Bugsy, Sullivan, Moran, and Pierre all have to go out right before w...more

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Jan 04, 2012 James Kitt rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A True story Of Men Against The Sea, The Perfect Storm y Sebastian Junger was a book filled with excitement, joy, drama, anger and other mixed emotions. It is the perfect book. The Perfect Storm is about the struggles that a captain and his five-man crew face. They come from a New England fishing town in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The towns fishing industry struggles but the captain is determined to make a lot of profit this year and decides to take his crew to dangerous fishing grounds far away...more

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Dec 12, 2011 05kayleeh rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If you are someone who loves to read fact after fact, tons of boat history, and a book that has at least five different perspectives that the story is told in, in the first 20 pages, then this is the book for you.

"The Perfect Storm" Starts with Bobby and his girlfriend, Christian, sleeping. They wake up, and they round up their gang. Then they all head to a bar. Bobby and his friends drink and drink, and drink some more. Afterward, everyone in the group, not including Christian, go to the sword...more

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Nov 14, 2011 Gerard added it · review of another edition

(Drakakis and Grier CP English 2)
I Read the Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger for my independent reading book. My Opinion on it is varied. At first I didn't enjoy the book because it took about five chapters to actually pick up and get into the main focus of the story. Once I got into the bulk of the story when the crew of the Andria Gail get stuck in the storm, the action and suspense kept my fingers glued to the book. The detail and description the author provides gives the reader a clear idea...more

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Sep 10, 2011 Keith Bowden rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, general-non-fiction

I absolutely hated this book. It's just over 200 pages but it took me more than three weeks to force myself to complete it; I hated the author's style so much that whenever I could bring myself to read a few pages, I started looking for something to distract me.

Beyond stylistic preferences, I had problems with its structure. First off, it was entirely written in the present tense, making it sound like a sports play-by-play commentary. This is a very clumsy approach; the only thing worse is writi...more I absolutely hated this book. It's just over 200 pages but it took me more than three weeks to force myself to complete it; I hated the author's style so much that whenever I could bring myself to read a few pages, I started looking for something to distract me.

Beyond stylistic preferences, I had problems with its structure. First off, it was entirely written in the present tense, making it sound like a sports play-by-play commentary. This is a very clumsy approach; the only thing worse is writing from a second person viewpoint, something that almost never works even in short form writing. It's awkward. Ungainly. Annoying.

The author was also fond of extreme hyperbole, and contradicts himself frequently, such as (as a loose paraphrase) "When this type of condition meets that kind of front, then such and such happens. But that never happens." (If that was supposed to be black humor, it failed on both counts.) The worst occurance of this was when he contradicted his actual narrative, as on pp. 180-181 (original 1997 hardcover edition, less than halfway through the "Into the Abyss" chapter). Junger spent two paragraphs explaining that weather condition updates were channeled across three points (ships, Suffolk AFB and McGuire AFB), but only if specifically asked for. McGuire only communicated with Suffolk if Suffolk asked for updates. Likewise, Suffolk only gave craft updates if they asked and Suffolk only asked McGuire if a pilot asked them for updates. Then he repeated it: "Suffolk never calls McGuire for an update, though, because the tanker pilot never asks for one; and McGuire never volunteers the information because they don't know there is an Air Guard helicopter out there in the first place." [Emphasis mine.] Repeating this scenario yet again, the very next line is "...the tanker pilot calls Suffolk for a weather update..." So which was it? The pilot called and Suffolk failed to ask McGuire for an update, or the pilot failed to ask Suffolk?

Finally, by the end of the book Junger turned the whole thing into a ghost story, complete with clairvoyance and spectral visitations by the dead crews. He didn't report that some family members believed they saw ghosts, he gave this mumbo-jumbo credence by reporting the alleged incidents as factual events.

I have all due sympathy for the people who lost friends and family in that storm, and for the dead themselves, but it's pretty irresponsible to take what is ostensibly purported to be a historical account, sticking only to established, documented facts and then inserting woo crap like that.

Fine, Mr. Junger has won awards for his writing. Based on this I don't understand that, but I accept that. In spite of my problems with his prose, I certainly concede the overall importance of telling this story, that's why I persevered to the end. I just wish it had been told better, and I don't think I'll tackle any of his other books or articles.

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Sep 04, 2011 Jacob rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I first saw the perfect storm book and decided to read it I was excited, I had seen the movie ‘the perfect storm’ before and I really liked the movie it was a thriller and a great story. The book was about 6 fishermen who swordfish and went out for a month trip on the boat called the Andrea Gail. It tells the tail of their hardships on the boat and how they tragically died.

Sebastian did a great job with telling their stories, describing their struggles on the boat, especially describing ho...more

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Jul 07, 2011 Michael Poor rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What would you do if you went to work one day and were thrust into a hell beyond imagining? What would you do if you had little to no hope of coming through that day alive?

This possibility is surely branded in the psyches of anyone who makes his or her living from the sea, where dangers — both human-made and natural — lurk literally at all deceptively serene points of the compass. But you go on because you have to — because it's what puts food on your table, and because there's always the chance...more

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Jun 03, 2011 Nikitabanana rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In October 1991, a crew of fisherman left the port in their hometown, Gloucester Massachusetts to fish for swordfish. They were never seen again.”A Perfect Storm” Sebastian Junger’s creative nonfiction account of these men and their fate is a researched, sympathetic, and mesmerizing chronicle of man’s struggle against nature.
The book follows the lives of the sword fishing crew of the Andrea Gail and their family members before and during the 1991 Perfect Storm. Among the men boarding the Andrea...more In October 1991, a crew of fisherman left the port in their hometown, Gloucester Massachusetts to fish for swordfish. They were never seen again.”A Perfect Storm” Sebastian Junger’s creative nonfiction account of these men and their fate is a researched, sympathetic, and mesmerizing chronicle of man’s struggle against nature.
The book follows the lives of the sword fishing crew of the Andrea Gail and their family members before and during the 1991 Perfect Storm. Among the men boarding the Andrea Gail were Billy Tyne, Alfred Pierre, David “Sully” Sullivan, Michael “Bugsy” Moran, Dale “Murph” Murphy, and Bobby Shatford. Junger spends the first portion of the book describing each man, his backgrounds, his strength and his weakness and interviews the men’s family and friends in order to convey to the reader that there were real people. He makes a point of noting that several of the crewmembers had a bad feeling before sailing off, but followed their brains instead of their guts. Most of them anyway; one man dropped out a few days before the ship left port. Junger explains, “People often get premonitions when they do jobs that could get them killed … the trick is knowing when to listen to them.”
What ends up happening to the Andrea Gail has happened to countless boats and crew in every fishing community around the world: crew and boast depart for profitable fishing waters, the sea claims the boat, women and children are left without husbands, sons and fathers. A community mourns the loss of a handful of its citizens. The cycle repeats. What is unique about this story is how Junger tells it. He has certainly made all attempts to present a plausible scenario of what could have happened to the boat and crew. The most gripping part of the book is when Junger tries to guess, using other people’s accounts of shipwrecks. He hypothesized about what they would have said, what maneuvers they may have tried to make, how they were feeling and when they probably gave up. In a cold, detached and scientific manner, Junger then chronicles exactly what happens to a drowning person, what pain they are feeling and how their bodies will react. It’s an unbelievably moving section and ultimately what convinced me to finish reading the book.
In the end I enjoyed the book. The most compelling part of the book was about the men on the Andrea Gail, and I lost some interest when he devoted time to other people and experiences. However, if you are a fan of nonfiction, you should read this book. (less)

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Mar 05, 2011 Gossymotto rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, nautical-disaster

I enjoyed the movie (George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane), and found it to be an incredible story, but like most true stories, if you want more of the fact you have to read the book.

Sebastian Junger does an excellent job of telling this story and since nobody knows for sure, what happened in the last moments on the Andrea Gail, he fills this in with the best possible information, by interviewing others that have faced similar conditions so that in reading it, you understand just what the c...more

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Feb 17, 2010 CC rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

We enter the doomed fate of the fishing boat, the Andrea Gail, mostly through the eyes of one of its six crew members, Bobby Shatford. Bobby's fiance, a divorced woman with three kids to supposrt -- Christina Cotter -- is depending on Bobby. In turn, Bobby, who owes thousands of dollars of back child support for his own two kids, is depending on his fishing time on the Andrea Gail. With the money made there they can pay off debts and start their new life together fresh.

The Crow's Nest bar in Gl...more

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Jan 31, 2010 Bobbi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction

Since the Mayflower, my relatives were fisherman around Gloucester, making this book a fascinating read for me. I remember my great grandfather talking about cod fishing on the Grand Banks and the storms that sank friends' boats. Not long after I read the book, I was staying in a bed and breakfast in the small town of Scituate down the Massachusettes coast, and the movie was playing in a tiny theater across the street, so I went. When I came out, it was pitch black and a huge thunderstorm had co...more

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Nov 12, 2009 Robbie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 10th-grade-advisory

The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea (Hardcover)
by Sebastian Junger
256 pages
W. W. Norton & Company
0393050327

A group of swordfish fisherman, were having trouble making end's meat, not getting enough catches. However, their captain, Billy, had an idea. He found out a place, where they knew their would be fish. Bobby, one of the fisherman, was skeptical about this trip since he just got back from a previous one, and couldn't spend time with his wife. Accompanied by other sai...more

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Aug 18, 2009 Matthew rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The best thing about Sebastian Junger's tale of the "100 Year Storm" that crushed the western-to-mid North Atlantic in 1991 is the insight it gives into the lives of fishermen and the unique environments that are fishing towns. Fisherman are a different breed of person, and fishing towns are unlike any towns most of us ever encounter, much less get to know and understand. Almost as compelling are the descriptions of the severe weather generated by the freak convergence of 3 separate systems over...more

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About Sebastian Junger

Sebastian Junger is an American author and journalist. He graduated from Concord Academy in 1980 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wesleyan University in cultural anthropology in 1984. He received a National Magazine Award in 2000 for "The Forensics of War," published in Vanity Fair in 1999. In 1997, with the publication of his work, The Perfect Storm, he was touted as the new Hemingway,...more

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“How do men act on a sinking ship? Do they hold each other? Do they pass around the whisky? Do they cry?” — 5 people liked it

“The story about Bessie Goldberg that I heard from my parents was that a nice old lady had been killed down the street and an innocent black man went to prison for the crime. Meanwhile--unknown to anyone--a violent psychopath named Al was working alone at our house all day and probably committed the murder. In our family this story eventually acquired the tidy symbolism of a folk tale. Roy Smith was a stand-in for everything that was decent but utterly defenseless. Albert DeSalvo, of course, was a stand-in for pure random evil.” — 1 person liked it

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