I enjoyed reading this book about trying to make a new life back home. I especially like Linda's observations about her relatives and other Islanders. ( )

A well-written true story of what is involved in lobstering and living on a small island.

Linda Greenlaw was a deep sea fisherman. She is the woman sea captain in the movie "The Perfect Storm." In her late 30's, she decides to give up fishing, return to her home on Isle Au Haute Maine and take up lobstering. With her father as her sternman, she takes us through an entire year's cycle of painting buoys, cleaning traps, launching boats, laying traps, and then harvesting (or hoping to harvest) lobsters. It's the story of folks who live without a resident doctor, without a movie theater, or big modern grocery store, whose mail comes by boat. The relationship of the towns people with summer people provides some amusing anecdotes, while the story of local lobsterman protecting their fishing grounds against outsides gives us a true picture of the uncertainties of making a living from the sea.

It's extemely readable and presents a charming but realistic story of this difficult way of life. ( )

The Lobster Chronicles by Linda Greenlaw is just the sort of work that completely captivates me. For the most part, I find my life quite interesting, do find my life quite interesting and have been fortunate enough to do a lot of the things I wanted to do, and it is turning into a relatively long run, when all is said and done. One of the pleasures I get out of life is learning of other people, their experiences; both exciting, earth shaking, and yes, mundane. Hey, I know about me; I want to know about others. Ms. Greenlaw, by any standard is an interesting person! Her accomplishments are really a bit breath taking as told in the story of her time spent as professional fisherman in her work, The Hungry Ocean.

It this autobiographical work we see a more calm, less dangerous (well, sort of) aspect of here life as she introduces us to her native island, a small hunk of rock off the coast of Maine. She has stopped being a Captain of a commercial fishing boat and has taken up lobster trapping, usually with a crew of one, her father. We get a very nice insight to island life; the closeness, harshness, realities of a very hard way of making a living. We also get a close up view of a way of life that may not be with us much longer. Chronicles such as this are a wonderful way to preserve a history of life in these far reaches of our country. This is something that should not be lost to future generations, even if they can only read about them.

As far as I was concerned, this work was very well written. Granted, it does not have the polish of a “professional” writer, and granted, you may find a few flaws in grammar and syntax here and there, but who really cares? Her story is told in her own words, much as you would hear it if you sat and talked with her for a bit. I find this much more pleasing to the eye, ear and mind than many of the professionally written “autobiographies as told to.” Her small village is absolutely infested with interesting characters, she is quite good at descriptive writing and you get a true feel of what it is like at the place and time of which she writes. I take this work to be an oral history, if nothing more, but a wonderful history and quite well done. I cannot imagine anyone with an ounce of imagination, of curiosity of how others live, or wanting to know of things they have not done themselves, being bored with this work. I actually read it in one setting, and I am a pretty slow reader. I simply could not put the thing down.

All in all it was well done. We all have a tale to tell, each of us. Thank goodness there are individuals like Ms. Greenlaw who has the ability to tell theirs. Hope to hear more from this author in the future.

D. Blankenship
The Ozarks ( )

I recently had the opportunity to visit Maine for the first time and found myself wondering. Wondering about lobster fishing, what it is like to live on one of the small islands or isolated fishing communities. I had questions about buoys and boats. This book was AMAZING at answering the questions I had about everything I had seen and observed. The writing style is quick. No extra words. Raw observation combined with true introspection made this book a delight for me. It is one persons account of one lobster fishing season. But there is so much more. Characters as intresting and well portrayed as any Stienbeck novel. I don't know if I would have enjoyed the book as much if I hadn't had any direct knowledge of gear lots and such but the honesty of the portrayl of the people caught me. It isn't a story as much as it is a documentary. Wonderful read. ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, an account of life on a really little island off the coast of Maine. The people in this book are weird and interesting and funny. ( )