Malcolm MacPherson (1) (–2009)

I'm not quite sure how much of this I took in beyond the realization that these guys are completely insane, and that I never ever want to be on a boat in the Bering Sea. The book is fun, fast-paced, intense. When Jonathan is narrating it almost feels like he's just sitting there talking. He just jumps from one topic to another. But, they are all great stories and he has a lot of them.

There are at least three general themes. The first is the one and only reoccurring story, that of Jonathan show more alone on boat with a fried engine and no communication/locater equipment. The second theme is on fishing in the Bering Sea, a job that has something like an 8% fatality rate. This is the heart of the book, where, when everything goes right, the seas are stormy, the equipment heavy and the crew works for days on end without rest. These stories are intense even when they don't including mauling, hypothermia and death.

The third theme is Jon and Andy's personal life, including childhood with a rough father and constant daredevil acts, gory injuries and many near death experiences. One horrifying episode is intentionally set-up by their father, where he sends the boys out into the freezing stormy water, almost drowning one boy with the lesson that they should never give up. Later in the book he tells his sons "I have given you boys every means at my disposal to kill yourselves, and you have failed." These guys are obsessive dare-devils, especially Jonathan. I don't think they can stand anything safe.

Jonathan writes "I feel small in universe when I am at sea in an 80-knot blow. I am staring into the abyss. The edge of the earth is over the horizon. I have not yet gone off that edge, but I have seen it. I know my insignificance."

The book left me with a bit of a rush. show less

There is something about fishermen: if you have the luck to be within earshot of one, you know you are going to be in for a story. At least half of it could be bullshit, but it won’t matter. The story is the point—not the truth. They aren’t journalists for chrissake, they’re fishermen. And if you know what’s good for you, you had better sit down and listen. You just might learn something.

The Missus and I don’t get any television channels out here in the holler, so I wasn’t show more familiar with the Hillstrand brothers and the Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch show when I stumbled across their book. I’ll definitely be surfing the free cable in search of it the next time we find ourselves holed up in a Best Western.

I’m a big fan of Sebastain Junger and his dispatches from the ragged edges of gainful employment, so Time Bandit caught my eye as a possibly entertaining and enlightening summer read in The Perfect Storm mode. I was not disappointed. These guys are the real deal.

It was 105˚ in our front yard Saturday, so we grabbed the ice chest, some Lost Coast Alleycat Amber, and fled to the beach. I felt a little guilty reading about the brothers fighting the freezing, murderous Bering Sea while I was chillin’ in a lounge chair sipping Eureka’s finest, so to show some solidarity, I jumped into the ocean. Not quite the same experience, I now realize.

If I could say one thing about the Hillstrands, it would be: they are insane. By the end of the book, you may understand why they became that way (genetics mostly), but it doesn’t change the reality of their condition one bit.

Two days later and it’s cooled off considerably, but I wouldn’t know it since I’m sunburned all to hell. I just couldn’t put Time Bandit down long enough to seek some shade. There’s one cold Alleycat left and instead of pouring it on my tomato-colored chest, I think the Hillstrands have earned a toast.

For every wound, a balm / for every sorrow, cheer
For every storm, a calm / for every thirst, a beer show less

This was tough...I wanted to read this book, I wanted to like this book, and I should have liked it. But I didn't. From the start it definitely felt cobbled together. It was like listening to a bunch of drunk loggers in a bar in Raymond or Forks. Every once in a while there was something to like, but more often than not, the writing was, well, crap. This book did not do the Hillstrand brothers much justice. This was not an easy book to get through. A disappointment.

I read this book while in Iraq, and like many of the other books I read about soldiers serving in the War on Terror, inspired me to keep my head about me and keep a good perspective on my situation.It is well written; there were many times I myself felt the frustration and exhaustion of fighting clueless bureaucrats in the rear, the daring of the soldiers involved, the fatigue from fighting at 14,000 feet, and the exhilaration of the rescue depicted. An outstanding story of courage, show more adventure, and daring. show less