At the time I thought nothing of the book itself, that I wouldn’t like it and it would take a while to read it, that I wouldn’t find out anything else about them then what I already knew. I figured it was all about crabbing and what they did on their off time…I was right. It talked about their days as young men and boys. How the fishing hook caught them. It was embedded in their DNA. They grew up not knowing anything else but they were boys nevertheless. They rebelled.
The story started off with a different story which played out during the whole book. It was mostly in Johnathan’s point of view. He spoke of his times on the boats with his father and how they grew up in Alaska. He spoke about how he and his four brothers dealt with living in Alaska and Indiana after a falling out with his parents and his mother remarried. I was joyous when I figured out that maybe that is what helped mold them into the men they are now.
John talked about his ups and downs. How his father died and how that affected him. Andy talked about his life on his horse ranch and his life with his wife and daughters. Neal was mentioned a few times but not too much was said about him other than just in passing.
I did enjoy how John talked about the Time Bandit boat. How they got it, how big is really is, how much it can really carry and how much they make after paying Uncle Sam and their fuel. A lot of people would say that being captain would be the best job but after what I’ve read I don’t believe it. Sure the captain makes more than a regular deckhand but think about everything they have to do to make the boat worthy for fishing. All the paperwork, the debts, the ownership as a whole.
Another thing I loved was that both Andy and Johnathan take safety to a very high level. They make sure they train for any worse case scenarios. John talks about how much they spend on survival suits and rafts, fire extinguishers and other things of that nature. He talks about how they lost a life once and how they saved a life. When they lost the life of a fellow captain they tried to save they believed the ship was cursed because once they saved the life of the deckhand that fell overboard their fishing was plentiful. They believed their luck was turned around.
I was having fun with the guy they called Caveman. Caveman earned his name during the book, which I figured out was written after season 3 of Deadliest Catch. On the show he was an ass by the name of Nate. According to Johnathan, Caveman was worthless as a greenhorn and pissed him off royally. I won’t get into too much details about what went on because some of what happened in the book wasn’t shown in the show and I don’t want to spoil anything.
I did enjoy reading it and I was fascinated on just what went on behind the scenes of the show. They are normal guys, doing normal things. John is almost always on a boat while Andy spends his time taking care of his horses and his family. I admire what they do, even though I hate crab, and am glad they come home safe every season. If I met them out in a bar they would be those guys I wouldn’t mind sitting next to and just talking about how the day’s past, as lame as that might sound. I believe they are nothing more than regular people that still have to pay bills and taxes. The show has merely brought them into our home and we keep watching them because we’re all sitting at home going either “I could never do that.” or “It must be nice to know that these guys are passionate about something they love to do.”
It is my opinion that this is a book to pick up and read even if you hate crab and aren’t into the fishing world. It talks about normal guys doing normal things but also doing something they love and know that 99% of the population could never do. Pick it up and enjoy yourself. It’s worth it.
No comments:
Post a Comment