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The Novel: The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men against the Sea by Sebastian Junger I enjoyed this book because it was based on a real story about a brave crew of fishermen, which happened in 1991. I think that the perfect writing skills of Junger embellished it with the makings of a superb thriller. Critics highly evaluated the style and language of The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men against the Sea. According to some reviews of this book [ 2 ], Sebastian Junger described the natural world in a beautiful poetic manner. In the novel the skies can grow fists; the seas can become dark throats.
Due to the picturesque and vivid descriptions of nature forces a reader comes to understand that people still prey to a storm's maw as helpless as a creature in the womb. So finally a reader can be struck by the idea that a nature is sometimes cruel with those who love her most of all. According to the Reading Guide [ 1 ] Sebastian Junger's novel is distinguished by a nail-biting suspense and non-stop action. I think this book can hardly leave anyone who reads it indifferent. To my mind, there are lots of strengths in the novel. This is a story about a once-in-a-century meteorological occurrence.
The nature was personalised by the author it seems to be one of the most important characters in the book. Places where people worked and lived in Sebastian Junger's novel seem to have not a lesser importance their masters themselves. Junger depicted streets and buildings in details, told their history and thus gave them their own characters: Across the street is Rose Marine, where fishing boats fuel up, and across a small leg of water is the State Fish Pier, where they unload their catch. The State Pier is essentially a huge parking lot on pilings, and on the far side, across another leg of water, is a boatyard and a small park where mothers bring their children to play. Looking over the park on the corner of Haskell Street is an elegant brick house built by the famous Boston architect, Charles Bulfinch. It originally stood on the corner of Washington and Summer Streets in Boston, but in 1850 it was jacked up, rolled onto a barge, and transported to Gloucester.
That is where Bobby's mother, Ethel, raised four sons and two daughters. [chapter 11, 1 ]. The ocean was like a living being too: Beneath them the ocean swells up against the black pilings and sucks back down to the barnacles. [chapter 11, 1 ]. The pictures of the natural world in the book are bright and vivid. Storm possesses a chief role among them. It was strong, violent but perfect, maybe as perfect as everything created by nature. She's comin' on boys, and she's comin' on strong. "[ 4 ].
I think that the author opposed perfect storm to imperfect and weak people. The storm was caused by the convergence of three forces: a hurricane which moved up the East Coast from Bermuda, a massive cold front which came from Canada, and a storm system which moved east from the Great Lakes. When these forces came together they created a mess of weather with frequent waves of 75 feet, and sustained winds of 75 miles per hour, reaching to 80 to 120 miles per hour. At that time the crew of the Andrea Gail was searching for swordfish in the North Atlantic. When the sailors heard the transmission about the coming collision they refused to turn back, partly because of ignorance and mostly of their greediness. In the contest between men and nature, the nature won.
To my mind Sebastian Junger revealed a great amount of social problems in his novel. First, there is a fact that lots of people working on fishing boats are killed in North America. This profession is one of the most dangerous. No sailor can be safe from weather whims. But still this job is challenging and attracts young men of the age under twenty. They take this job a chance to try their courage, bravery, and strength.
Maybe there is no place for such features in the rest of the world. According to one of the book reviews, Columnist Kim Ode reported that Junger said at Edina, Mn book-signing, " There's no way for a young man today to show he's strong and brave and willing to risk his life for the one he loves. That instinct is in every 15 -year-old-boy. " [ 3 ]. Sebastian Junger depicted typical characters for people who earn their living running risks every day.
The crew of the Andrea Gail are heard-drinking, highly-paid, and heard-living. These ocean cowboys earn money to pay the costs of their life-style: child support, bar bills, alimony. They all are still romanticists deep in their souls and they attraction of the sea. Maybe once these brave hearts felt the lack of heroism and beauty in our everyday routine and found the sphere where things can still exist.
But the beauty of the sea can be sometimes fatal for humans. Another problem I see in The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men against the Sea lies in the contradiction between men and nature. Maybe for some readers the novel suggests the idea that itself nature is stronger than people. I partly agree with this. I would agree with those who think that the author introduces the idea of the inevitable punishment for corruption of the human beings. People are part of the nature, its children, and thus they can not fight with it.
The forces in this fight will never be equal, I think. The crew of the Andrea Gail ignored the danger of the storm because they forgot about the value of human life and the punishment for breaking nature laws. They, as mostly all of us, set the priority of material well-being over obedience to laws of nature. The crew gave a dare to nature forces. The issue of this contest may serve as warning for all mankind, I think. Sebastian Junger paid much attention to the role of women in our society.
The author of the novel proved that women can be as strong as men. A pair of women took a command on a sinking sloop when the captain was drunk and unable to make to make necessary decisions. This case showed the heroism of women and evidenced their ability to be equals to men in society. The author of the novel suggested his own version of what had happened with Andrea Gail.
He recreated the voyage of the crew and described the possible sequence of events which might happen when the storm came. The events of the novel are true to life. They were supported by a great number of interviews the author conducted with the families of the crews, the crews of nearby boats, the sailors who survived in similar storms. This realism, I think, is one of strong points of the book and it produces great impression on a reader.
The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men against the Sea provides a reader with the history of commercial fishing. The author included into the novel some passages about technologies of commercial fishing and dangers of this profession. I think that these passages give the background to the story and they have a big cognitive value. I also learned about the physics of large weather systems and the way boats can react to such weather conditions.
Such information I did not learn at school. Among other things, the author of the novel closely investigated the process of drowning and dedicated almost six pages to describe it in details. Sebastian Junger explained that the need of oxygen overcomes the instinct of a victim not to breathe, and then the author of the novel showed the effect of breathing water into the lungs. Finally, this resulted in the collapse of the lungs' alveoli, the failure of the heart, and the shutdown of the nervous system.
It is difficult to judge weather there is any need to enclose such a long description of this natural process. But I think that a reader should not forget that the main character of the book is nature itself. Nature gains a victory over human beings and so weak and fragile humans die affected by its forces. We all are accustomed to the detailed narrations of battlefields, when humans fight humans. Drowning is a battlefield too, I think. It takes place within a human body.
But people can not fight natural processes. It is a fact. So we will not get a victory over our natural death. We are helpless in our attempt to conquer nature around us; we are weak to subdue our own nature. Among the weaknesses of the book there is to my mind too big amount of details. Sometimes they are even morbid [ 3 ], as Sebastian himself admitted in his review.
I think that too many scientific explanations in book can distract the readers attention from the plot. But nevertheless the novel is very popular in modern world because the problems it touches are more vital and important than the drawbacks found in it. In June 30, 2000 the film based on The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men against the Sea was released. This film was directed by Wolfgang Petersen. The characters of the film were professionally performed by such actors as George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, John C. Reilly, Diane Lane, William Fighter, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.
I think the release of the film popularized ideas of the book and the actors engaged in it shifted sympathy of the audience in the conflict men and nature more to the mens side. Bibliography: Sebastian Junger, The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men against the Sea Harper Torch, 2004, 12 Jan. 2005 < web > Sebastian Junger. The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men against the Sea. Reviewed by Jonathan Miles, Sneak Peeks, Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005. 12 Jan. 2005 < web > Sebastian Junger, The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men against the Sea. Reviewed by Sebastian Junger, Simon & Schuster; W. W.
Norton, 2001. 12 Jan. 2005 < web > Sebastian Junger. The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men against the Sea. Reviewed by Tom Cronmiller, Northern Breezes, Inc. , 2004. 12 Jan. 2005 < web >
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