Rating: 
Summary: More popular "disaster history"
Review: I know I'm asking for it on the chin, especially since this book won the "National Book Award" for non-fiction,.....BUT!!!When are we going to get out of the pop-disaster-book trend? And the people falling all over themselves: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, am I **that** critical that I can't let this one go? I think we need a new category for books such as this, "Into Thin Air", "The Perfect Storm", and the others: maybe "tragi-stry" or "disasti-doc", in the same spirit as film's "docu-drama". The very first sentence, "Like a giant bird of prey, the whaleship moved lazily up the western coast of South America, zigging and zagging across a living sea of oil", lets you know what kind of book you have. Any competent historian would have written "The whaleship 'Dauphin', sailing from Nantucket and heading for the whaling grounds of the Western Pacific, tacked not far from St. Mary's Island on Chile's southern coast". This isn't "history", it's "*popular* history" - anecdotes and extrapolations, peoples' thoughts and motives expressed as if the author knew exactly what transpired. Vivid descriptions that can only be woven out of conjecture, best-guesses, and "sounds good". Oh, I know, it IS an engaging tale, one well-documented in several primary resources and hundreds of secondary histories and fictional knock-offs ("Moby Dick" and Poe's "Arthur Gordon Pym" being two of the most notable). But why does the author (in the preface) seem to have to justify himself by naming his father as "a professor of English...and the author of several books about American sea fiction" and in the very next sentence describe his uncle as "winner of the Wallace Stevens Poerty Prize in 1958"? Does that have a bearing on the re-telling of THIS story? Or is it to set the mood for a good yarn, arrrr, a tale of the ol' salty sea, told the way ye like 'em, with shipwrecks and cannibals, desert islands and lightning-wracked storms? It's obvious that Philbrick wants to make MORE out of the story than those other versions. He not only shows his discontent with the main primary resource (First Mate Owen Chase's account) by comparing it with a recently (1960) discovered second version by the ship's cabin boy, he feels obligated to second-guess Chase on several crucial actions throughout the ordeal, always to Chase's denigration. As an example, the "knockdown" episode of Chapter 2 creates pages of arguement and reversals of decision that Philbrick quite simply extrapolates - we can't know that the ship's mood "sank into one of gloom", or that the captain "stared at the splintered mess". Nice writing - conjectural history. That's not enough - he wants to throw in "issues of class, race, leadership, and man's relationship to nature". For that reason, to Philbrick, Sir Ernest Shackleton's epic tale of survival simply will not DO. According to Philbrick, "Shackleton and his men...put themselves in harm's way then had the luck to live out an Edwardian fantasy of male camaraderie and herism...". Too bad - no issues of class and race to exploit and hyperbolate there. Writing that the ship's crew was "more than a half dozen men" short sounds far more portentious than simply stating "the usual crew of 21 needed 7 more". The UK Amazon editor wrote, "By any standard, 50 pages of footnotes impress, though he wears his learning lightly." He'd better check again: I have 39 pages of NOTES, not FOOTNOTES. These notes are highly anecdotal and subjective in themselves. Philbrick isn't wearing his learning lightly, he's heavily leaning on personal stories and superficial gleanings from dozens of sources. Maybe the MOST telling line is the one where Philbrick writes, "Yet, despite the circus (some have called it a theme park) that is modern Nantucket, the story of the 'Essex' is too troubling, too complex to fit comfortably into a chamber of commerce brochure." Well, since Mr. Philbrick makes his residence in the midst of that circus, he has apparently taken upon himself the role of barker for the "Essex' tragedy, writing that "too complex" brochure into more of a novel than a history and no doubt making a few bucks in the process. It makes a great "beach read", but I'd rather have Poe's "Pym" and Shackleton's "South" any day. For that matter, seek out William Hope Hodgson's "Boats of the Glen Carrig" if it's a great shipwreck yarn ye be seeking. If it's HISTORY, Philbrick himself will tell you to read Heffernan's "Stove by a Whale".
Rating: 
Summary: Historical Basis for Moby Dick
Review: This is a well researched, easy to read account of the historical underpinnings of Moby Dick. I had trouble putting the book down. Although cannibalism is addressed, don't expect gruesome details. The issue is straightforwardly but not voyeuristicly addressed.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Good Account
Review: Very good and apparently well researched account of the tragedy of the Whaleship Essex which was stove in and sunk by a whale, a rare event. Begins with a good background of the old whaling industry in New England, particularly Nantucket, and follows with the tragic voyage of the Essex. Detailed description of the ordeal and horrors endured by the 20 men who were in 3 small boats on the open ocean for over 90 days. Good descriptions of the Captain, First Mate, and others, and well illustrated with drawings and photographs. Once started, I found the book hard to put down.
Rating:
Summary: A real page-turner...
Review: You will feel like you were along for the ride. Don't let anyone steer you away from this one. It is a rare good read. Any criticisms are trivial compared with the depth and feel of the history and adventure provided in this book. Just read it.
Rating:
Summary: Call Me Disapointed
Review: I enjoyed "In The Heart Of The Sea" for about 200 pages, the first 3/4 of the book which is your basic stranded/survival story. Once the survivors are rescued, Philbrick loses his storytelling ability. Characters stumble all over each other in a confusing mismash. Even Philbrick's writing gets worse in the last 50 pages; there are several sentences towards the end of this book that are simply incomprehensible.
Rating:
Summary: Horror!
Review: Horror, oh, horror! Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea is a truly horrible book. Read it only with a strong stomach, for it vividly portrays the unimaginable extremes to which creatures that were once human can go to maintain life. Once the fragile bonds to safety and security are severed by the sinking of their ship, the officers and crew of the whaleship Essex are reduced from civilized humans to elemental creatures not only willing but eager to drink the fresh blood and eat the warm flesh of their fellows to ensure their own survival. The book's portrayal of total amorality required to preserve one's existence is shared by the portrayal of total hopelessness and unbelievable despair resulting from being set adrift in small boats whose sides rise but a few dismal inches above the devouring sea. Philbrick's incredible descriptive writing draws the reader into the maelstrom of fear and emotional agony afflicting each pitiable, cowering creature groveling in the filthy, salty, undrinkable water in the bottoms of the miniscule boats tossed by the pitiless ocean. Does their common fate and total helplessness in the face of Nature's uncaring power draw these men together? Let us merely observe that those in the crew who were neither caucasian nor Nantucketer found reason to fear the passing of time. Favoring one's "own kind" is not a new phenomenon among humans. Does Captain Pollard display the best of leadership for his bereaved sailors? Suffice it to say that, had he not been a classic business textbook example of the "Peter Principle" at work, a good man who became ineffectual when promoted to a ship's captaincy, the tragedy might never have occurred. Whether the reader comes to this book seeking true adventure, a psychological picture of men in extreme duress, or a case study in failed leadership, he or she will not be disappointed. The challenge will be to remind oneself that this story is real, for it is the stuff of novels. Were that all history books could be so captivating! This one, at least, can not be put down for long, though the temptation to analyze it as literature rather than as history remains strong--and that's a plus!
Rating:
Summary: History Brought to Life
Review: I am ashamed to admit that I have never read Moby Dick. After all, it's one of those classics that everyone is supposed to have read. The premise of the story never appealed to me, before now. I knew before I even started reading In the Heart of the Sea that this was the true story that Moby Dick was based on. Herman Melville actually went over to Nantucket to talk to the captain of the boat. I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself engrossed in the author's first hand accounts. I felt as if I had been transported back almost three hundred years in time. Nantucket and its society during the early nineteenth century is described with breathtaking vividness. It was a bustling town peopled with the women who ran it and their children. The men who were whalers, were rarely home. They would be gone for two to three years at a time only to ship out again after a few months of being home. Later on it is noted by the author how similar this lifestyle was to that of the whales which they hunted. The circumstances which surrounded the eventual destruction of the Essex are fascinating. This is followed by a series of mistakes made by the captain and officers which eerily reminded me of the Titanic's sinking almost 100 years later. The fact that lives were lost from the Essex crew, was not surprising. The fact that anyone survived at all is miraculous.
Rating:
Summary: A thrilling true story, unforgettable
Review: The true story of the whaleship "Essex" is a tale all Americans should know. It is "the real stuff" of our country's history. It is a thrilling tale of survival and anguish -- the true story from which Herman Melville drew inspiration for "Moby-Dick." But for me, it was endlessly fascinating way before the ship got into trouble with that sperm whale. It is hard to believe that -- a mere 200 years ago -- human beings could do such things just in order to make a living. Twenty males piled into a smallish whaleship and sailed it by hand through storm and calm, went round Cape Horn (in itself a scary thing) and then set about the business of hunting giant sperm whales, killing them, and then cutting the giant corpses into strips of blubber -- working night and day in a hellish atmosphere, for 3-4 days, just to process one whale. Then off! to find another! Launch the small whale-boats, row at top speed (but silently) towards the whales, sneak up and hook one with a harpoon -- and the whale sounds and swims in a frenzy, while you and everyone in the boat goes for a "Nantucket sleigh ride." When the whale finally tires, hurl the killing lance at it until you find the "life." Then row back to the whaleship, towing the dead beast, and go into the cutting and processing once again. Continue this for two years without seeing house or home. Then sail back and -- if you were the cabin boy -- receive $150 for your efforts. This is just the beginning of the fascinating things to be learned from this book. There are good comments on the sociology of Nantucket, where married couples were separated most of the time, and of course the women on shore formed the backbone of the community, while their pacifist Quaker menfolk were out killing whales, and millionaires dressed in "plain clothes." Fortunes were made in Nantucket, where returns ran as high as 40 per cent, year after year after year, and the town was full of widows and orphans. Get this book and read it. I can't begin to tell you all the good things in this book -- and it's VERY well-written as well. One last item of praise: it's not 800 pages long, either. The author knows how to tell a story, and stop when it's over. Highest recommendation!
Rating:
Summary: It is ok to like this book...
Review: I really liked this book. Part of me thinks it intellectually weak to have enjoyed so much this work, as it is on one hand a simple survival tale. But, it is what it is on the other hand that makes a rich and powerful, balanced read. The tale is interwoven with a history of Nantucket, details on the whaling business, a survey of survival psychology, a highlight history of maritime disasters, a primer on Moby Dick, and a light geography on/geology of Pacific island outposts; all this with the added candy of a full-blown preface, endnote and bibliographic frame. One could use this text as a springboard for a full study of any one of these topics. I plan to use it as an intro to a new better-informed reading of Melville's classic. But, like I said, I really liked this book...even if just for the "Into Thin Air" value of the narrative.
Rating:
Summary: An Exciting Tale of Survival
Review: The sinking of the Essex by a whale is probably most famous as the inspiration for Herman Melville's Moby Dick but in In the Heart of the Sea (The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex) by Nathaniel Philbrick, the reader will be engaged in an adventure more exciting than most works of fiction. The author skillfully combines elements from the accounts of two survivors to locate the truth of the tale. In addition, one will become immeresed in the history of Nantucket, the whaling industry (including graphic accounts of the hunt not for the faint hearted), and other elements of this particular place and time in history. An exciting read and a fine speciman of that popular creature, the true survival story. Highly recommended.
|
