3nmeinob's review against another edition
5.0
A review I had read that led me to this book discussed the beauty of its writing first, the crafting of the story told, and the rare skill of description wielded by its author, and that the narrative, though incredible, and the reporting, though truly timely and exotic, were even outshined by the gifts of Doug Bock Clark.
For the most part, I concur; this is a gorgeously told story by a master craftsman, but I would argue that the story itself, and most important the characters in the story are clearly what inspire the beautiful writing. This is a human story - a story about humans navigating the world around them - navigating relationships, family, expectations, traditions, opportunities, social judgements, aspirations, and change.
Once I started, I wanted to be reading this tale whenever I was not, and when the final pages were all I had left, I found several reasons to stop reading simply so that it would not end. I miss the characters. I want to go back. Thank you, Mr. Clark, for taking me to Lamalera.
For the most part, I concur; this is a gorgeously told story by a master craftsman, but I would argue that the story itself, and most important the characters in the story are clearly what inspire the beautiful writing. This is a human story - a story about humans navigating the world around them - navigating relationships, family, expectations, traditions, opportunities, social judgements, aspirations, and change.
Once I started, I wanted to be reading this tale whenever I was not, and when the final pages were all I had left, I found several reasons to stop reading simply so that it would not end. I miss the characters. I want to go back. Thank you, Mr. Clark, for taking me to Lamalera.
smiley938's review against another edition
3.0
Surprisingly boring. The author clearly learned a lot about whaling, but all the detail is just extraneous and not interesting. I think the society and culture has a story worth telling, but this book didn't do it justice.
mweisenfeld's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
3.0
chickn_noodle_soup's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
2.0
sarahlindsey's review against another edition
3.0
The beginning was epic. After that it was interesting to read about day to day life and thoughts of the people in Lamalera, but there wasn't enough of a story line to keep my interest. I skimmed a few of the chapters in the second half. The book did a good job with the commentary about the conflicts between globalization vs traditional ways being much more nuanced than I previously understood.