Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm has long been one of those books that I see all the time but just had never picked up to read. After a friend recommended it earlier this week I grabbed a copy to start on the T-ride home that afternoon, and I just finished it while listening to the remnant winds of once-Hurricane Ernesto barrelling over Boston. Junger's account of the 1991 Halloween Gale is a riveting and chilling look at the events of those days in October and their impact on the men and women of the Gloucester swordfishing fleet who faced the storm down, some of them giving their lives in the battle against the elements.
Junger has done as decent a job as possible, I think, in creating a narrative around a central event which contains many unanswered questions; just when and how the ship Andrea Gail foundered during the storm is unclear, as is why the ship's emergency signalling device failed to deploy. By relying on the narratives of other sailors who found themselves in similar situations but survived, Junger creates a plausible scenario for the events on the Andrea Gail while not lapsing into the trap of fictionalizing the narrative.
This is a not a pleasant book, but it does provide a fascinating glimpse into the depths.
