In Hazard

Jun 27, 2012 David rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nyrb

Among countless other things—both real and imaginary—I'm afraid of water. Not drinking water, of course, but the roiling seas whose power and caprice spell certain doom for the likes of me. Because (of course) I can't swim. Complementing this missing skill set, I lack any effectiveness in crisis situations, so my chances of successfully floating until the sharks ate me are (in the most generous of terms) laughable. My inability to swim was primarily informed by a perplexity at why anyone would e...more Among countless other things—both real and imaginary—I'm afraid of water. Not drinking water, of course, but the roiling seas whose power and caprice spell certain doom for the likes of me. Because (of course) I can't swim. Complementing this missing skill set, I lack any effectiveness in crisis situations, so my chances of successfully floating until the sharks ate me are (in the most generous of terms) laughable. My inability to swim was primarily informed by a perplexity at why anyone would even want to, recreationally speaking. Near-nudity in what amounts to a communal bath tub doesn't exactly appeal to my demographic. The demographic of one.

Richard Hughes' seafaring adventure In Hazard clearly benefits from my fear of water. Certain parts of it—where the protagonist ship the Archimedes is tossed hither and thither in the eyeteeth of a monstrous hurricane—are suspenseful and utterly gripping. Hughes has a talent for transmitting a breathless sense of real peril to his readers. On more than a few occasions, I actually lost myself in the adventure of it—which is remarkable for me because when I am reading a book I am also usually thinking about myself reading a book. There is very little direct access to experience for me; it's generally mediated by a self-awareness which deflects some of the impact.

But... (With a three-star rating, you knew there'd be a 'but' ambling along shortly.) Other parts of In Hazard are just really boring and uneven. Let me explain. This may surprise many of you who know me, but I am not a steam ship captain of the 1930s. I'm often mistaken for one on the street, in my jaunty sailor's cap, my striped shirt, and my careless stubble, but it's true: I can not actually pilot a seaworthy vessel. Shocking, I know. Richard Hughes, however—owing to some sort of epic misunderstanding of Three's Company proportions—seems to believe I'm well-versed in the nomenclature and mechanics of steam ship travel. In the first half of the book in particular, he speaks casually about all kinds of gadgets and whatchamacallits that keep a ship running and presupposes of his readers a working knowledge of their general operation. Yeah, good luck with that one, Dick Hughes.

So in essence, this is how passages of the book read to your average layman:

Seeing that the overhead bearing platform had come loose from the whinny rig, Henry clamped the number eight finglestick to the precariously unmoored cumble rack, which was dripping oil from the reclamation spout on its leeward side. In a panic, Captain Bieber mounted the aft reversible humperdinck valve to the mainstay colander support and shouted, 'You better turn the kardashian valve forty-five degrees toward the summer salad duodenum or we'll lose all of our stippled cobblerspeck, goddamnit!'

But that's not the only problem. In the second half of the book Hughes devotes a wildly disproportionate number of pages to the backstory of one of the Chinese crew members who has never been mentioned before. It's odd and extremely conspicuous because it really goes nowhere and seems to have been inserted into the novel for no apparent reason. I'm not saying it isn't (sort of) interesting, but why is it here? And where was the editor—the voice of reason to say, 'Hey, Dick, love what you've done with this, but it's like you've eaten three or four different meals here and puked them up into the same toilet bowl.' I mean, he could be more diplomatic about it, but constructive criticism was warranted.(less)

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Apr 14, 2012 Justin Evans rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Considering it starts out like the technical chapters of Moby Dick, without bothering to tell you what any of the technical terms being used actually mean, this is one kick ass book. Hughes somehow manages to move from "here's how a steam boat's engine creates steam" to one of the better symbolic tales I've read. A few things to keep in mind, though, if you're thinking about reading it. The opening chapters really are boring, albeit boring with a purpose. So just know that. Also, it is so far fr...more

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May 15, 2008 Korynn rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classic-lit

I was inspired to seek out this volume after reading the collected columns of Alec Guinness regarding his "retired" life. He said he enjoyed it highly and had re-read it and so I was curious.The library copy I found had a cover that was vaguely reminiscent of high school English. I have a strong feeling that somewhere in the world children are required to write papers on this book. It's a strange book, starting out by listing all the factual attributes of the ship, its engagement with a mysterio...more

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Aug 25, 2008 Ryan Chapman rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I thought a good sea adventure story might be a refreshing change. Despite a few digressions into his characters' origins that distract more than they illuminate, Hughes does his best to elevate the genre to literary heights. He certainly captures the minute-to-minute terror or going through a five-day hurricane aboard a destroyed steamer ship. The omniscient first-person narration is praised in the introduction, though I found it intrusive and, at times, cloying.

Next up in my High Seas Syllabu...more

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Jan 21, 2013 Evan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The wind picked the skin off the waves, leaving little white pock-marks. Waves broke, and then swallowed their own foam: you could see it far below the surface, engulfed. Suddenly a squall of rain dashed across. The rain-drops bounced on the water, making a surface like the dewy gossamer on a lawn: like wool. It was as if the naked sea were growing hair.

Like many young lovers, he confused a girl with God: and he could almost imagine her now, watching him, out the the sky; watching him die, and p...more

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Dec 21, 2010 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved the cover to this edition! You can't see the other side, but it's a wraparound that manages to really capture the feel of the book without giving things away. It's a gripping disaster story about the crew on a steam-ship caught in a once-in-a century hurricaine. Hughes does an amazing job creating the world of an early 20th century freighter - describing the ship, the responsibilities of the crew, the different social classes and interactions possible on the ship - so, that when the stor...more

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Aug 04, 2009 Liza rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was expecting to love this book, but sadly it's a very inferior version of the "man against nature" survival-adventure story. As Virgina Woolf said about it, between the storm and the human characters "there's a gap in which there's some want of strength", and there's also some unclear and unexciting plot developments, made more confusing by the boring, indistinguishable characters. Moreover, it's not only dated in its romanticising of the courageous seamen (not to mention the female fantasy o...more

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Mar 11, 2013 Bob rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I got one of those wonderful mid-60s Time-Life Books editions with the modernist cover art and cheap glue.

The second of Hughes' four novels and, as with "A High Wind In Jamaica", it concerns sea-going in the Caribbean and its capacity to provide a context for human behavior in extremis or simply shorn of civilized constraint. A merchant ship is caught in a hurricane most severe and unexpected (it being late in the season); after many chapters of slightly overwhelming technical detail we switch t...more

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Sep 23, 2012 David Ireland rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: big-white-square

A bit of rum, sodomy and / or the lash would have spiced this up a bit. I liked Dick. Ao Ling was ok. But everyone else was pretty boring.

"At first Sukie had blazed in Dick's mind, lighting every part of it: but now already, after two days, she had contracted and receded like the opening by which you have entered a tunnel: turned more unearthily bright than the broad day, but very distant and small and clear."

"It is wonderful how the free busting of anything, especially valuable stuff, goes to y...more

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Oct 17, 2012 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Der Hurrikan, der im November 1932 vor Kuba wütete, war der stärkste tropische Zyklon und der einzige der Kategorie 5, der je im November stattfand. Mit über 3000 Todesopfern war er einer der tödlichsten Hurrikane des 20. Jahrhunderts.
Das Dampfschiff S.S. Phemius geriet in diesen Sturm, der sich mit über 320 km/h bewegte. Der Bericht dieses Unglücks, dass die Besatzung wie durch ein Wunder überlebte, wurde später Richard Hughes von der Reederei vorgelegt, der auf dieser Grundlage „In Bedrängnis“...more Der Hurrikan, der im November 1932 vor Kuba wütete, war der stärkste tropische Zyklon und der einzige der Kategorie 5, der je im November stattfand. Mit über 3000 Todesopfern war er einer der tödlichsten Hurrikane des 20. Jahrhunderts.
Das Dampfschiff S.S. Phemius geriet in diesen Sturm, der sich mit über 320 km/h bewegte. Der Bericht dieses Unglücks, dass die Besatzung wie durch ein Wunder überlebte, wurde später Richard Hughes von der Reederei vorgelegt, der auf dieser Grundlage „In Bedrängnis“ schrieb.
http://www.google.de/imgres?q=s.s.+ph...
Die Archimedes, so heißt das Schiff im Roman, ist ein modernes Dampfschiff, das jedem Unwetter trotzen kann, davon ist der Kapitän Edwardes überzeugt. Daher bereitet es ihm augenscheinlich fast Freude, als das Wetter umschlägt und starker Wind aufkommt. Denn mit einem Hurrikan ist um diese Jahreszeit nicht zu rechnen.
„Die Tage von Conrads Taifun sind vorbei; jene Tage, wo Hurrikane den Schiffsverkehr so unerwartet überfielen wie die Katze die Maus. Zum einen wissen die Mäuse heute mehr über die Anatomie der Katze und ihre Bewegungsmuster – und außerdem hat man der Katze ein Glöckchen umgehängt.“
Und außerdem: „Heutzutage hört man, dass ein Hurrikan meist bei ortsfesten Dingen wie zum Beispiel Bananenstauden Schäden hinterlassen hat, nicht aber beim Schiffsverkehr. Schiffe (da beweglich) sind in diesen geographischen Breiten weniger gefährdet als Regierungsstellen (da unbeweglich).“
Zu Beginn des ersten Teils herrscht noch ein heiter gelassener Tonfall, Hughes führt die Figuren ein und lässt mit viel Witz und Geist Beobachtungen und Bemerkungen einfließen, wie der Leser es schon aus „Sturmwind aus Jamaica“, seinem ersten Roman kennt.
Aber aus dem Sturm wird überraschend ein Hurrikan, und schon bald zeigt sich, dass die Archimedes trotz ihrer Widerstandsfähigkeit und trotz der qualifizierten Mannschaft zum Spielball der Naturgewalt wird und sich alles auf die Frage reduziert, ob die Mannschaft überleben wird.
Es gelingt Hughes, die unvorstellbare Gewalt des Hurrikans so zu beschreiben, dass der Leser sich an Bord der Archimedes versetzt fühlt und Teil hat am Überlebenskampf der Mannschaft.
Als die Archimedes im Auge des Hurrikans ankommt, kann zum ersten Mal seit Sturmbeginn eine Bestandsaufnahme gemacht werden:
„Zum ersten Mal, seit dem Höhepunkt des Sturms, konnten sie das Schiff vom Heck bis zum Bug überblicken. Zum ersten Mal sahen sie den gähnenden Krater, den der Fuß des Schonrsteins hinterlassen hatte. Zerschmetterte Ladebäume, verbogene Stage. Das Ruderhaus glich einem zertrümmerten Wintergarten. Dazu die Schlagseite. Anfangs hatten sie sie noch wahrgenommen, als sie sich dann allmählich daran gewöhnten, dachten sie kaum mehr daran; aber jetzt sah man den Horizont seitlich weggekippt daliegen, den Ozean steil aufgerichtet wie eine Wand, als wolle er sich über den Rand der Welt ergießen, so steil, dass er sich über der Leereling aufzutürmen schien. Das Meer wimmelte von Haien, die einen auf Augenhöhe anglotzten, man konnte fast meinen, sie starrten auf einen herunter. Es schien, als könnten sie jeden Augenblick die steile grüne Wasserwand aufs Deck herabgleiten, direkt auf einen zu. Sie warteten offensichtlich auf etwas, und zwar voller Ungeduld.“
Inzwischen ist das Schiff vollkommen manövrierunfähig und dem Leser schwindet in dieser klaustrophobischen Atmosphäre jede Hoffnung fürs Überleben der Mannschaft.
Ohne zu psychologisieren beschreibt Hughes, was in den Köpfen und Herzen der Besatzung vorgegangen sein mag und schildert anschaulich die verschiedenen Phasen des Überganges in die totale körperliche Erschöpfung und Hoffnungslosigkeit. In dieser unvorstellbar extremen Situation zeigt jeder einzelne, was in ihm steckt. Der Leser fiebert nun mit, ob im zweiten Teil des Romans das Schiff aus dem Auge des Hurrikans herauskommen wird.
Als Leser, der ansonsten an maritimen Themen nicht besonders interessiert ist, habe ich Hughes schmalen Roman doch in einem Stück verschlungen und hatte dabei das Gefühl, vom Hurrikan genauso eingesogen und durchgeschüttelt zu werden, wie die Besatzung der Archimedes.
Als sehr gelungen habe ich auch die neue Übersetzung von Michael Walter empfunden, die der Dörlemann Verlag vorgelegt hat. Der unverwechselbare Ton, der Richard Hughes eigen ist, wird hier nach meiner Einschätzung sehr schön erhalten und liest sich sehr gut.
(less)

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Nov 18, 2011 Eric_W rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Natalie

Shelves: nautical-fiction

This book is based on the true story of the Phemius, a ship which was sucked into the circular trajectory of a hurricane in 1932. The captain’s report of the experience so intrigued the Holt Line owner that he gave a copy to Richard Hughes (A High Wind in Jamaica) who turned it into this novel.

The ship was the well-cared-for Archimedes with a very competent captain and crew. The month being mid-November, the likelihood of a West Indian hurricane was more than remote, it was unheard of. The cargo...more This book is based on the true story of the Phemius, a ship which was sucked into the circular trajectory of a hurricane in 1932. The captain’s report of the experience so intrigued the Holt Line owner that he gave a copy to Richard Hughes (A High Wind in Jamaica) who turned it into this novel.

The ship was the well-cared-for Archimedes with a very competent captain and crew. The month being mid-November, the likelihood of a West Indian hurricane was more than remote, it was unheard of. The cargo was the usual motley of items including quantities of newspaper, which, because of their lightness, were stored fairly high in the hold. The barometer continues to drop precipitously and thinking he is sailing around the storm, Captain Edwardes finds himself in its clutches, perhaps from a twin since this storm doesn’t seem to be following the rules. Dick, the cabin boy, at first mesmerized by the fur of the wind, is in its thrall. “Then the exultation which the storm had raised in him whirled up in his head giddily, and he was sea-sick.”

At first the ship seems to be riding the waves with equanimity until a coir matting becomes lodged in the steering rods and steerage is lost leaving the ship to wallow broadside into the waves. To make matters worse, hatches, which are designed to withstand enormous pressure from above, were now subject to tremendously strong winds blowing across the deck, and, much as with an airplane’s wing, generated lift and creating a vacuum across the top of the hatches pushing them up from below.

It goes without saying (but I will anyway) readers disinclined to enjoy nautical books will not like this book. Tant pis pour toi. The rest of us will love it.

A picture of the Phemius at http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants... that gives you a good idea of the superstructure and funnel which was lost in the 1932 hurricane. (The one described in the book took place fictionally in November 1929.)

Read the introduction by John Crowley to the NYRB edition. In it, he quotes Ford Maddox Ford as describing Hughes writing as so good as to be almost inhuman. “It’s hard … not to wonder whether Hughes ever made clear to himself the distinction between all-knowing divinity and pitiless chance.” Indeed.(less)

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Dec 03, 2009 Michael Weiss rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: maritime-adventure

A terrifying account of an otherwise modern, sturdy, and well-kept steam freighter caught in a random, out of season, maximum force hurricane in the Caribbean. While the crew is fictionalized for dramatic purposes, this is very closely based on the true story of the Phemius, which in November of 1932 was caught in the aforementioned storm. It's crazy that things like this happen.

There are instances where Hughes tries to give us insight toward a select few of the crew members by delving into thei...more

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Sep 18, 2012 Robert rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, british-literature, modern-classics

»Die Tage von Conrads Taifun sind vorbei; jene Tage, wo Hurrikane den Schiffsverkehr so unerwartet überfielen wie die Katze die Maus. Zum einen wissen die Mäuse heute mehr über die Anatomie der Katze und ihre Bewegungsmuster – und außerdem hat man der Katze ein Glöckchen umgehängt.« (In Bedrängnis, S. 32)

Wie verhält sich der Mensch in Gefahrensituationen, wenn er sich eigentlich sicher gefühlt hat? Dieser Frage nimmt sich der wiederentdeckte und erstmals ins Deutsche übersetzte Roman Richard Hug...more

»Die Tage von Conrads Taifun sind vorbei; jene Tage, wo Hurrikane den Schiffsverkehr so unerwartet überfielen wie die Katze die Maus. Zum einen wissen die Mäuse heute mehr über die Anatomie der Katze und ihre Bewegungsmuster – und außerdem hat man der Katze ein Glöckchen umgehängt.« (In Bedrängnis, S. 32)

Wie verhält sich der Mensch in Gefahrensituationen, wenn er sich eigentlich sicher gefühlt hat? Dieser Frage nimmt sich der wiederentdeckte und erstmals ins Deutsche übersetzte Roman Richard Hughes’ an. Wir begleiten die Crew der Archimedes, die sich von Virginia auf den Weg nach China macht. Obgleich die Hurrikan-Saison als überstanden gilt, dauert es nicht lange, bis der moderne Dampfer – wie es der Titel schon andeutet – in Bedrängnis gerät.

Doch nicht nur der Glaube, dass das Wetter nach von Menschen erfundenen Regeln spielt, erweist sich als irrig; auch alle anderen Annahmen und Gesetzmäßigkeiten scheinen außer Kraft gesetzt: Der Hurrikan, mit dem sich die Crew konfrontiert sieht, spielt nicht nach den Lehrbuch-Regeln. Die Meteorologie und die Frühwarnsysteme versagen und so wird der riesige Dampfer von den unerwarteten Winden zu einer Nussschale degradiert, die erbarmungslos über den Ozean geweht wird.

Ebenso erweisen sich die Zahlen als Augenwischerei, die so viel Sicherheit suggerieren: Der Schornstein, der einem seitlichen Druck von 100 Tonnen trotzen kann, erweist sich in dem Sturm ebenso fragil wie die Luken, die dem Wasser zwar standhalten, wenn es von außen kommt, aber nicht, wenn sich ein Vakuum bildet und der Druck von der anderen Seite wirkt.

Durch dieses Zusammentreffen mehrerer unglücklicher Umstände sind die Männer, die sonst nach Hierarchien und Einsatzgebieten getrennt operieren, auf sich allein gestellt und müssen eine Einheit bilden. Um zu überleben gilt es, ihr Wissen zu bündeln und an einem Strang zu ziehen. Hughes gelingt es, die zwei Position sprachlich gegenüberzustellen: Von der anfänglichen Euphorie über die Errungenschaften der Technik bis hin zur Ernüchterung.

Die sachlichen Beschreibungen, die der Erzähler dem Leser wie von einem Datenblatt abgelesen durchgibt, vermitteln den Eindruck von Sicherheit. Der Mensch fühlt sich über die Natur erhaben, wirkliche Abenteuer auf See können, so scheint es, kaum noch stattfinden. Die minutiös aufgeführten Eigenschaften der Archimedes legen präzise dar, warum es (theoretisch) zu keinerlei Überraschungen oder Widrigkeiten auf hoher See mehr kommen kann.

Als sich dieser Glaube als Trugbild erweist, wird das Vertrauen in die Technik mit den Wellen weggespült. Die Matrosen, Männer einer säkularisierten Zeit, wenden sich von den Maschinen ab und beginnen in ihrer Hoffnungslosigkeit sogar wieder zu beten, obgleich sie sich kaum mehr an die Worte erinnern.

Geschickt verzahnt Hughes die Gefühle der Crew mit individuellen Hintergründen und Motivationen einzelner Besatzungsmitglieder. Der Leser bekommt auf diese Weise sowohl einen Eindruck für das große Ganze als auch einen Einblick in die Gedankenwelt ausgewählter Protagonisten.

In Bedrängnis ist somit ein äußerst lesenswertes Buch, das – trotz heute antiquiert wirkender technischer Errungenschaften – nicht an Aktualität verloren hat. Mehr denn je fühlen wir uns sicher und unerschütterlich und doch bedarf es nur eines Hurrikans á la Katrina oder eines im Sommer wütenden Waldbrandes, um uns unsere Verletzlichkeit und Ohnmacht der Natur gegenüber vor Augen zu führen.(less)

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Aug 03, 2010 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In Hazard is the story of a steam ship in the grips of a tremendous hurricane and the struggle of the men on her to survive. It gives a gripping description of the ship being tossed and battered in the wind and sea and all of the measures taken by the crew to save her. You grow tense in sympathy as you watch the men try to make repairs to their beleaguered ship. You also watch the crew’s reaction to the fear and trials of the storm. It is interesting to see how all the men react differently in t...more

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Dec 28, 2009 Tammy Dotts rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, no-longer-owned

In Hazard by Richard Hughes falls neatly into some of the “man vs.” plot categories: man vs. nature, man vs. technology with a little man vs. himself tossed in for good measure. It tells the story of a British cargo ship, the Archimedes, caught in a seemingly endless hurricane as the ship makes for the Panama Canal from the Eastern Seaboard of the United States.

The story, set in 1929, takes place between the two world wars, and, in fact, was originally published in 1938. The current publication...more In Hazard by Richard Hughes falls neatly into some of the “man vs.” plot categories: man vs. nature, man vs. technology with a little man vs. himself tossed in for good measure. It tells the story of a British cargo ship, the Archimedes, caught in a seemingly endless hurricane as the ship makes for the Panama Canal from the Eastern Seaboard of the United States.

The story, set in 1929, takes place between the two world wars, and, in fact, was originally published in 1938. The current publication is a re-release as part of New York Review of Books’ Classics series. As Hughes says in an afterword written years after the initial publication, “the fading smell of remembered death in Britain was just beginning to be replaced by a new stench that was death prefigured.” If it weren’t for Hughes’ afterword, it would be easy for AP English teachers to seize on the book as an metaphor for the onset of World War II. The Archimedes caught helplessly in the storm even though some signs of the disaster were evident. The British ship eventually rescued by an American vessel. Hughes denies the allegory, saying his book is symbol, which is “never concerned primarily with the future qua future but with a much more timeless kind of truth.”

The book is almost too neatly divided in half. The first half all plot and storm; the second, character development. For a modern reader accustomed to getting these two simultaneously, the book can be a difficult read. It takes a few chapters to feel comfortable with the mid-20th century writing.

The ship is the main character of the first half. The reader is taken on a tour of the vessel and its technologic advances explained in detail, along with explanations of where and how the cargo is stowed and hints of the tensions between the crew and officers, the English and Chinese, the engine room staff and the above-deck staff. Characters seem interchangeable at this point. When the storm hits and the ship’s technology disabled, it’s easy to lose track of what petty officer is doing what. But by this point, the ship in peril story has captured the reader’s attention and moves quickly. Hughes’ describes the events beautifully. When the ship reaches the eye of the hurricane, it becomes the only “land” for countless birds and insects. As the crew emerges to survey the damage to the ship, “[t:]he officers were barefoot, and as they walked they kept stepping on live birds—they could not help it. I don’t want to dwell on this, but I must tell you what things were like, and be done with it. You would feel the delicate skeleton scrunch under your feet: but you could not help it, and the gummed feathers hardly fluttered.

No bird, even crushed, or half-crushed, cried.”

As the Archimedes is pulled back into the storm, the book abruptly changes. Detailed back stories and interior monologues for a junior officer and a Chinese laborer take center stage. The change in focus is jarring. If the character information had come earlier or been woven into the story of the storm, it could have been appreciated and helped to move the overall story forward. If the back stories had focused on the chief engineer who is central to the first and last sentences of the book, it may have worked better. As it is, the effect pulls the reader out of the story and feels an unnecessary interruption as the reader just wants to find out if and how the Archimedes survives.

Once the character pieces are finished, the rest of the book feels like an extended denouement. The storm ends; the American ship appears. It’s another fast change from the slow pace of the character information.

The problems with tone and pacing could be a product of the 70-year time difference between the original and current release. Each half of the book could be a fine read on its own. It’s the harsh combination that creates problems.(less)

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Feb 05, 2013 Peter Fortune rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: the-sea, fiction-classics

In Hazard –- Richard Hughes –- 1938

A masterful story. The Archimedes is a cargo ship caught in a tremendous hurricane in 1929. He and her crew of capable officers and superstitious Chinese mariners are without power and are sucked along by the hurricane for five days, helpless but frantic to survive. The efforts to survive are interwoven with observations on the meaning of life. We learn that we are in the hurricane’s eye. Short and fantastic! (Historical Note: This is a “true” story of the HMS...more

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Dec 14, 2009 Carrie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In Hazard happened, more or less. The steamship Archimedes* really was caught in a Caribbean hurricane for four days, dragged along with it and deafened by it. The ship took on a thousand tons of seawater; at the hurricane’s eye, the entire deck was descended upon by masses of birds. The owners of the steamer thought that its story was so extraordinary, so fantastical, that it had to be set down in text and never forgotten. They called Richard Hughes.

Hughes did the story justice. He pieced toget...more

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Sep 23, 2008 John rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

very quick, quirky read from delightfully odd writer.

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Apr 26, 2012 Lysergius rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure-thriller

The Archimedes is a modern merchant steamship in tip-top condition, and in the summer of 1929 it has been picking up goods along the eastern seaboard of the United States before making a run to China. A little overloaded, perhaps—the oddly assorted cargo includes piles of old newspapers and heaps of tobacco—the ship departs for the Panama Canal from Norfolk, Virginia, on a beautiful autumn day. Before long, the weather turns unexpectedly rough—rougher in fact than even the most experienced membe...more

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

We read this book for a recent book club meeting. It was not particularly engaged, although it had some interesting descriptions of being at sea. On the plus side, it generated really fascinating conversation about the book as a metaphor for the time period and other unexpected perspectives on the tale.

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May 11, 2010 Seaofstories rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I admit, the portions about the ship and storm bored me a bit. Especially since I know very little about ships and the sea, and am not all that interested. However, I understand it's importance. It was the details about the characters, past stories and such, that really interested me. I thought it was insightful and witty in some parts, dreadfully boring in others.

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Sep 13, 2012 Littlevision rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ugggggh this book was so boring. I decided to try and pull through it when I was about 30 pages in (and presently wanting to give up). I think I'll stick to books that involve more character development. I couldn't tell any of the characters apart except for the lemur because, duh, he's a lemur. Everybody else kind of blended together (likely because my eyes kept glazing over every few pages).

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Mar 23, 2009 Jason Brackins rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

bleck. why do I inflict things like this on myself. it had so much potential and it completely failed to live up to any of it.

I guess there was a little bit of interesting bits about steam ships. but honestly, why spend a chapter delving into the past of an incidental character who's never even mentioned again? why take an incredibly dramatic and exciting story and remove us from it with trivia? why wax the excitement with Boredom Polish(tm)?

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Oct 20, 2010 Michael Morris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a very well done adventure tale about a steamship caught up in an historic Caribbean hurricane in 1928. It has an unusual point of view and the author has a surprisingly effective and subtle way of telling a complicated story.

If you like adventure stories, check this one out.

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Jul 11, 2012 Mat Sletten rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is good, but feels like it was written by someone using a manual to write a novel. It has a charming flight from novice writer to actual fiction writer by the end, and the story is harrowing and wonderful.

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Jan 01, 2009 Yanni rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Loved it. A 20th centuary literary masterpiece, as many have pointed out. Of course, I should qualify this review and state that it is written by a doting grandson of the author!

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Jan 08, 2012 Clark rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: made-ups

I learned a bunch about boats that they don't really make anymore. The weird bio of the dude chinese dude in the middle of the book is tight.

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Dec 23, 2008 Jesse rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

well written, interesting, but definitely a period piece.

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Jun 07, 2009 Christy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

fairly disappointing after reading 'a high wind'

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Aug 28, 2012 Steve rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A promising plot that devolves into random hallucinations. Strange.

1 like · like · see review

title link	preview: In Hazard: A Sea Story
avg rating	preview: In Hazard: A Sea Story Goodreads rating: 3.43 (114 ratings)
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8196704-in-hazard?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336651443l/8196704.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8196704-in-hazard?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]In Hazard: A Sea Story by Richard Hughes[/url]

In Hazard: A Sea Story

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