Author Linda Greenlaw captures the highs and lows of commercial fishing in the North Atlantic. Her prose is simplistic, but to the point. We are constantly reminded of the sea and how it adjudicates over fisherman, ships, and the lives of anyone who dares to venture out into it. The author is an amazing woman who chased her dreams and found a home at sea. The book does go into a lot of detail of day-to-day existence aboard a swordboat, but if you find that boring, you are missing the point entirely. Riding on the "wave" of publicity surrounding The Perfect Storm, the author tells it like it is. If you are remotely interested in factual sea-faring stories, this is the book for you. A fascinating read and another chapter in man/woman's fascination with the sea and it's inspiring, but sometimes deadly politics.

I read Linda Greenlaw's book in 2 DAYS it was THAT good!

In fact, her descriptions of a month long fishing trip was easier to understand than "The Perfect Storm". I wish I had read her book first and then "The Perfect Storm" because I would have understood a great deal more of what the crew of the Andrea Gail dealt with on their fishing trip. Don't get me wrong, "The Perfect Storm" was an excellent book to read and in fact, after reading Linda's account of a typical fishing trip, I am going to re-read "The Perfect Storm" so that I can better understand it.

Her description of a month long fishing trip takes you with her and her crew, as if you were working right along side them! It was an excellent account of the hard work she and her crew dealt with on a typical fishing trip.

I learned a great deal about the commercial fishing industry because Linda's vivid descriptions of her day to day account made it an easy read for any green horn who has never stepped foot on a boat!

Her accounts of some of her crew and their "in fighting" was so hilarious, I actually laughted out loud!

I recommend reading her book before reading "The Perfect Storm" to get a better idea of the commercial fishing industry.

I can't wait for the movie to come out regarding "The Perfect Storm" - I'll be the first one in line on opening night!

I hope to one day meet Linda and shake her hand and tell her how proud I am of all that she has accomplished.

Thanks, Linda, for an excellent read!

The author, Linda Greenlaw, captained the "Hannah Boden", a swordfishing boat out of Gloucester, MA. Her vessel, and her command of it, were an element of THE PERFECT STORM book and movie, which told the tale of the sister ship "Andrea Gail", lost in a 1991 tempest off the East Coast.

In THE HUNGRY OCEAN, Linda invites the reader aboard the "Hannah Boden" for a 30-day fishing expedition to the Grand Banks, 1100 miles distant in the North Atlantic, during the month of September sometime in the mid-90s. Interspersed in the narrative of this particular voyage are Linda's memories from her childhood and previous sailings, all of which experiences contribute to make her one of the most successful swordfisherman on the ocean.

This is a memoir that's hard to put down. As I sat reading in the comfort of home with a pet cat in my lap, I was reminded how cushy a 9 to 5 indoor job is. Even if I was 30 years younger, I can't imagine enduring fourteen successive 20-hour days, each one of which is spent setting down, and then hauling-in, the 40-mile fishing line carrying 900 very sharp, baited hooks capable of catching several tons of thrashing swordfish (or unwanted, but dangerous, sharks). Especially if one is struggling to keep from falling overboard (much less stand upright) on a rolling deck in the face of 40-knot (or greater) winds, driving rain, and heaving seas. Just call me a landlubber with a capital "L". Proud of it, too!

Though I wouldn't have otherwise given much thought to the gender distinction, Greenlaw herself points out that being a female swordboat captain is unusual. Her obvious ability to handle a diverse, sometimes difficult, all-male deck gang of five, plus her talent for finding and bringing home the catch, inspires me to snap off a salute and call her "Cap'n" with all due admiration. If I was so inclined to enlist as part of a crew, I'd sail with her to anywhere.

This is a first-rate, salty yarn. Buy it, and you'll enjoy it. Now, where did I put that can of tuna? The cat and I are both hungry.

'The Lobster Chronicles' describes Linda Greenlaw's frustrating lobster season off a Maine island. As Linda pulls up empty traps, the reader feels there is also something missing in the text.

The book does a nice job depicting life on a Maine island, where the author excels at painting the natural and physical features of the isle. You sniff the saltwater, pines and barnacles. Some of the island characters are wonderful in their stoic nature with an occasional streak of zaniness. Linda gives us a very textbook lesson in lobstering. We learn about these delicious giant insects, how they are captured and how they are replenished.

What Ms. Greenlaw does not provide is an honest depiction of herself. Why would an enormously successful sword fishing captain and best-selling author, settle on a tiny island? Why is her bank account so tight, when we know her earnings on the first book were very good? Perhaps she lost all the money. Tell us about it? Maybe a love or tragedy sent her home? We want to know?

'The Lobster Chronicles' is a good travel log. Like the missing lobsters, the book is empty when it comes honest self perspective.

If you have a hankering to live on a very tiny island off the Maine Coast and earn your living as a lobsterman, then this is the book for you. Linda Greenlaw gives the sense of such a life in this read. All right, unlike fellow Maineite Stephen King, you won't find chilling horror and oppressive suspense. But, you will find funny, gentle, and insightful tales of people who live on this island...stories about Linda's neighbors which often have no bearing on the main plots, like the chapter on Dorothea Dodge. Linda could just has well have left this chapter out of the book, but I am grateful she included it so we could get to meet the postmistress of Isle Au Haut. It's a slice of life in a book filled with enough slices to make a giant loaf of bread. And, unlike Stephen King, the book's main story lines don't come to a neat conclusion at the end of 235 pages. But life doesn't come to a neat conclusion either. And that is what this book is about: Life. Author Greenlaw has the pace, the tone, the solitude, the frustration just right. I hope the issues that could mean the end of her island world eventually get resolved. I hope that her mother surmounts her challenge. I hope Linda doesn't stop at two books. One nit-picking point which, I believe, points out the lack of editorship quality prevalent in the book world today. Here we have a notable publisher, Hyperion, but no one there had the knowledge to point out to Linda that it was Samson, not Goliath, that lost his strength when he lost his hair (editor: see page 206). How that could get by any editor/proofreader is beyond me. Hopefully, they will catch it before further printings.

There are certain elements in life that define us as human beings; the basic wants, needs and emotions that place us all within the Community of Man. And beyond the story she tells so well here, that is precisely what author Linda Greenlaw conveys in "The Lobster Chronicles," an exploration of the human condition that is rich with humor, poignancy, and above all, a joy for life and living. Long before you reach the last page you'll think of her as an old friend who has generously taken you into her confidence, and it makes you realize that a lobster fisherman in Maine isn't so different from a farmer in Kansas or a postal worker in Oregon, all doing what has to be done everyday to live, thrive and survive.

After seventeen years at sea as a swordfish boat captain, Greenlaw returned home to Isle Au Haut, a small island seven miles off the coast of Maine in Penobscot Bay, the "Lobster capitol of the world," where she proceeded to outfit and launch a lobster boat, the "Mattie Belle," to begin a new career as a lobster fisherman. This story is an account of the fourth season of her endeavors at seeking out the often elusive crustaceans of the title, but it is more than that; much more. Simply put, it's a book about "life." And the pages between the covers are filled with insights and anecdotes that are both captivating and endearing, as Greenlaw puts her heart on her sleeve and openly shares her inner most thoughts and emotions, all of which paint a stunning portrait of what it's like to live on a small island with a year round population of seventy (thirty of whom are her relatives).

With her thoroughly engaging style and way with words, you become more than just a "reader" of her book; you're a guest in Linda's home, where she introduces you to her parents, as well as the colorful, eclectic group who make up the year round and seasonal population of the island. Folks like the invasive Rita and her ex-husband, Frank; Suzanne, the quintessential bike chick known as the "Alabama Slammer," endowed with a rather unique peccadillo; the sternman she dubs "Stern-Fabio," and with good reason; and George and Tommy of "Island Boys Repair Service-- If we can't fix it, it ain't broke," guys with a penchant for making easy tasks hard and for leaving hard tasks unfinished.

At her best, Greenlaw's prose have a rhythm and flow that are nothing less than poetic, and certain chapters call to mind Ray Bradbury's "Green Town" stories, especially the one entitled "The Foghorn," which taken within a context of it's own is a transporting short story written with a Bradburyesque flair that is entirely mesmerizing. She follows this with a brief chapter, "The Little Lobsterman," which evokes James Joyce's "Dubliners." Not bad company for a lobster fisherman from Maine to be keeping.

By the epilogue, it's clear that what Linda Greenlaw wants and expects from life is what we all hope for and pursue in our own ways: Love, security and happiness, for herself as well as those she holds dear to her heart. And we should thank her for sharing her thoughts and desires with us in "The Lobster Chronicles," because as we read, it gives us a chance to pause and reflect upon what is truly important in our own lives, too. In it's own way, this book is every bit as profound as Dostoevsky at his best.