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Title: The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island by Linda Greenlaw, Sandra Burr ISBN: 1-59086-098-5 Publisher: Brilliance Audio Pub. Date: July, 2002 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 5 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.73 (45 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: more about the people and less about the lobsters, please
Comment: Linda Greenlaw made a name for herself as a successful swordfish boat captain based out of Gloucester, Massachusetts. Sebastian Junger wrote about her in "The Perfect Storm" and she subsequently wrote about herself in "The Hungry Ocean". (I haven't read either of those so no comments there.) Ready for a change, she returned to the small Maine island where she had grown up, Isle Au Haut. The island has only a few dozen residents, and many of them are her relatives. Like most locals, she set herself up as a lobster fisherman, with her father as her assistant. This book describes her life on the island and one lobster season.
She does tell some interesting stories about what it is like to live on an island, dealing with winter isolation, summer tourists and year-round local politics. However there were way too many passages like this one..."All traps are equipped with hard plastic escape vents that have oval openings large enough to allow 'short' or undersized lobsters to exit a trap at will. Each of my traps has two vents, one in the door and one in the parlor end. Maine State Law requires that one vent be secured with biodegradable hog rings, while the other may be set with stainless steel, requiring little or no maintenance. The idea behind the mandatory biodegradable vent is to ensure the liberty of all lobsters within a trap that may be lost or neglected. 'Ghost gear,' or lost traps, are not a threat to lobsters' lives because the biodegradable hog rings deteriorate within a season, allowing the plastic vent to flop open, leaving a large exit. All biodegradable rings or remains of rings must be replaced when overhauling traps if a fisherman expects to catch anything. Otherwise, lobsters will find open vents, and fishermen will haul up empty traps. I was clumsy with the hog-ring pliers at first, but found more ease and comfort as the morning progressed."...and on it goes, pages and pages of this stuff.
This book would be essential reading for any aspiring lobster fisherman. Not falling into that category myself, I found the level of detail excessive and there simply weren't enough good anecdotes to make up for it. I wish that her editor had been more aggressive. By the end I was glad to wave farewell to both Greenlaw and the island.
Rating: 4
Summary: Lovely, but incomplete
Comment: A wonderful read by the ever engaging Linda Greenlaw who delivers a bittersweet and loving snapshot of her remote home island. A fascinating look inside the traditional lobster trade, the book is really about Greenlaw's own struggles to find meaning in her work, her life, and to begin to accept the mortality of her parents.
My only regret is that the book stops quite abruptly, leaving several story lines incomplete, requiring a terse afterword to sketch in some missing pieces.
But any time spent with Greenlaw is quality time; her anecdotes manage to be both charming and sharp-eyed. She'll be getting lots of mail over the one jarring section in the book, her rant over dog ownership: Greenlaw derides anyone who stoops to the poop and scoop element. Interestingly, it is this passage which gives us the key to the real theme in this book, Greenlaw's longing for a home, husband and children. Enduring love, like lobster fishing and dog ownership, involves some nasty bits, like handling rancid bait, picking up dirty socks, or dog poop. She understands the connection between the hard, often punishing work of fishing and its rewards...but until she can see what inspires a person to clean up after their dog, she won't be ready for a human of her own.
But she'll make it there; this woman has a huge heart and wonderful stories. Buy her books, they are rare treats.
Rating: 5
Summary: laughter among the lobsters
Comment: Our discussion on Linda Greenlaw's second memoir-type book, was full of laughs. This is in contrast to her first, very serious effort about the death defying Hungry Ocean and being captain of a swordfish boat. Returning home to live on an island of only 70 year-round residents, with 30 being related to Linda, would require humor. She provides daily events which entertain and reveal true Maine island characters. Lobstering is not easy either, but her family and island friends make the long, cold winter an intimate affair. Who wants to attend those community meetings, anyway? Same problem in crowded cities on shore...I am looking forward to Greenlaw's third book, fiction next, I believe?
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Title: The Hungry Ocean : A Swordboat Captain's Journey by Linda Greenlaw ISBN: 0786885416 Publisher: Hyperion Pub. Date: 07 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Working on the Edge: Surviving in the World's Most Dangerous Profession: King Crab Fishing on Alaska's High Seas by Spike Walker ISBN: 0312089244 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: On Whale Island: Notes from a Place I Never Meant to Leave by Daniel Hays ISBN: 156512345X Publisher: Algonquin Books Pub. Date: June, 2002 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: The Perfect Storm : A True Story of Men Against the Sea by Sebastian Junger ISBN: 0060977477 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 06 October, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Sea Room: An Island Life in the Hebrides by Adam Nicolson ISBN: 0865476675 Publisher: North Point Press Pub. Date: 02 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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