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nangerecht's review
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.0
Interesting read. It's always tragic when young lives, in their prime, disappear without a trace. All the could have beens is continuous. I could have done without the history on the LIRR and tile fish. The background on the parents was insightful I guess. This book is good for the survivors.
gimpyknee's review
1.0
Little much ado about a common occurrence of fishermen lost at sea. I would argue that at age 28, 23, 19, and 18 at least two of the four victims were not "boys". With little actually known about the event, the loss of the Wind Blown is described in one chapter. The rest of the narration about family and friends goes on and on and on. Did we really need to know that, unknown to skipper Mike Stedman, he did not father two of his three boys? A complete disappointment after reading all the favorable reviews. A Perfect Storm this is not.
kdurham2's review
3.0
Check out the full review at Kritters Ramblings
There are so many moments in history that are big when they happen, but maybe don't remain on the public mind and don't get passed down beyond the family members that the moment impacts and this is one of them. A commercial fishing boat goes down in a horrible storm off the coast of Montauk, NY and with it all four aboard go missing. This book recounts as many details as possible while also going back in time to share the past of these four men and how they came to be together on this boat and where their family members are now, all still dealing in one way or another with their passing.
There are so many moments in history that are big when they happen, but maybe don't remain on the public mind and don't get passed down beyond the family members that the moment impacts and this is one of them. A commercial fishing boat goes down in a horrible storm off the coast of Montauk, NY and with it all four aboard go missing. This book recounts as many details as possible while also going back in time to share the past of these four men and how they came to be together on this boat and where their family members are now, all still dealing in one way or another with their passing.
chloj_805's review
1.0
I love a good shipwreck story, but this book forced me to bail halfway in. The through-line of narration is hard to follow and there's very little of the sea in here. The author devotes a truly wild amount of time to family histories that don't add much to character development. By the time I got to an entire chapter devoted to someone's time at Choate, I had to pull the plug.
hippiechick56's review
2.0
Maybe 2.5. Very little information on the 4 guys who disappeared during the storm but plenty of family history. It seems like the author did her research but took a tradegy and filled alot of pages with very little to nothing on the actual fisherman.
remiroo's review
3.0
I received this book in return for an honest review. The book is about a boat named the Wind Blown that went down at sea in 1984 with it’s 4 man crew. The book is extremely well researched and very detailed. I did find that as much as I was interested in reading about this boat and it’s crew, I could not really get into the book. It went off on tangents and was a very slow read.
shopthebookworm's review
2.0
**We received an ARC in exchange for an honest review**
Amanda M. Fairbanks clearly did her research for this book. She met with many
people who personally knew and/or were affected by the tragic deaths of the 4
fishermen from Montauk which provided plenty of personal details about these men
and their lives. There was a lot of good content, and the concept for the book was
interesting, but the execution left something to be desired. There was often too
much information about the person from whom she got each bit of information, to
the point where I got lost in all of the unnecessary details and didn’t know who or
what I was reading about. The organization also made it difficult to follow. The first
half of the book jumped around in time so much that I felt like I was reading the
same part of the story several times and also lost the main storyline. I was most
fascinated learning about the history and culture of Montauk and of commercial
fishermen and their families, which Fairbanks digs into in great detail, but that was
not even the main point of the book. Overall, the concept is interesting, the story is
tragic, and the book is well researched, but the execution was disjointed and difficult
to follow and finish.
Amanda M. Fairbanks clearly did her research for this book. She met with many
people who personally knew and/or were affected by the tragic deaths of the 4
fishermen from Montauk which provided plenty of personal details about these men
and their lives. There was a lot of good content, and the concept for the book was
interesting, but the execution left something to be desired. There was often too
much information about the person from whom she got each bit of information, to
the point where I got lost in all of the unnecessary details and didn’t know who or
what I was reading about. The organization also made it difficult to follow. The first
half of the book jumped around in time so much that I felt like I was reading the
same part of the story several times and also lost the main storyline. I was most
fascinated learning about the history and culture of Montauk and of commercial
fishermen and their families, which Fairbanks digs into in great detail, but that was
not even the main point of the book. Overall, the concept is interesting, the story is
tragic, and the book is well researched, but the execution was disjointed and difficult
to follow and finish.
the_folklorist's review
5.0
There’s definitely a chance I’m rating this higher than deserved because I’m drawn to the material. I have no doubt there will be a million comparisons to The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger and, rightly so. It’s very similar in style, but also, how else could you really tell such a story? While I wouldn’t say it’s as good as TPS, it still has great character development, interesting information from great sources, and, well, heart.
If you enjoy stories of peril at sea, I think you’ll be glad you got this one. If not, this won’t be the one to convert you. Still, I found I hate to rate it highly because it was certainly written with love.
If you enjoy stories of peril at sea, I think you’ll be glad you got this one. If not, this won’t be the one to convert you. Still, I found I hate to rate it highly because it was certainly written with love.
slider9499's review
2.0
Interesting story. But it is bloated and overwritten. The author constantly meanders off on tangents that have no bearing on the overall story. Do we really need 8 pages on the history of tilefish? The story is also very disjointed. It is all over the place. The author is not a great writer. This book reads like a very, very, very long newspaper article instead of a book. In short, this book should have been cut down to about 200-250 pages at the most. Thankfully, I didn't pay for this one. I got it from the library.