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A review by bookaneer
A Captain's Duty by Richard Phillips
2.0
My dad's a former able seaman and quartermaster and he loves sharing his sea stories with me. We probably watched Captain Philips (the movie) together twice, complete with running commentary (from his side, obviously). It is one of his favorite movies. The casting director and the screenwriter did a really fine job since this books was just uninspired, to the say the least.
First of all, the encounter at the ship was too short and more pages spent on the captain's background and how the situation at his home. I mean, he could have used the stories from his other 19 crew members to give the readers a more comprehensive picture of the happenings - there were quite a lot even in a short time. Also, he did not even mention what happened to the Leader, who mysteriously disappeared. He was apparently flown to the United States to stand trial and was sentenced 33 year in prison.
And I am not liking this guy at all. Some of his remarks sounded sexist to me, smug, and for sure the behavior was different with Tom Hank's far more sympathetic portrayal (not just because he's, well, Tom Hanks).
The book also needs better editing as some passages are too alike - there are two paragraphs with the almost exact content only one page away from each other.
I appreciate some of the background on merchant mariners and piracy in the Somalian waters, but I suppose there are other better books out there to read about those subjects. I highly recommend [b:The Outlaw Ocean: Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier|43345615|The Outlaw Ocean Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier|Ian Urbina|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1554878215l/43345615._SY75_.jpg|67310429].
First of all, the encounter at the ship was too short and more pages spent on the captain's background and how the situation at his home. I mean, he could have used the stories from his other 19 crew members to give the readers a more comprehensive picture of the happenings - there were quite a lot even in a short time. Also, he did not even mention what happened to the Leader, who mysteriously disappeared. He was apparently flown to the United States to stand trial and was sentenced 33 year in prison.
And I am not liking this guy at all. Some of his remarks sounded sexist to me, smug, and for sure the behavior was different with Tom Hank's far more sympathetic portrayal (not just because he's, well, Tom Hanks).
The book also needs better editing as some passages are too alike - there are two paragraphs with the almost exact content only one page away from each other.
I appreciate some of the background on merchant mariners and piracy in the Somalian waters, but I suppose there are other better books out there to read about those subjects. I highly recommend [b:The Outlaw Ocean: Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier|43345615|The Outlaw Ocean Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier|Ian Urbina|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1554878215l/43345615._SY75_.jpg|67310429].