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bonnie9595's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
relaxing
tense
fast-paced
4.0
This is a really weird book to describe. It's about two Norwegian men trying to catch a Greenland shark, but it's also about being friends with someone you don't see very often, and the history of the ocean.
I found it beautiful and often very moving. Some of the historical passages probably went on slightly too long in a Melville-esque fashion, but I broadly enjoyed the context. These factual, well-sourced sections are distributed through the present-day narrative, which is in turn interspersed with stories, usually told by Hugo, which often take the cadence of folklore. It is in turn soothing, tense, alarming, and interesting.
Despite being someone who gets violently seasick and hasn't eaten fish in 10 years, I have found myself daydreaming about fishing in the fjords.
I found it beautiful and often very moving. Some of the historical passages probably went on slightly too long in a Melville-esque fashion, but I broadly enjoyed the context. These factual, well-sourced sections are distributed through the present-day narrative, which is in turn interspersed with stories, usually told by Hugo, which often take the cadence of folklore. It is in turn soothing, tense, alarming, and interesting.
Despite being someone who gets violently seasick and hasn't eaten fish in 10 years, I have found myself daydreaming about fishing in the fjords.
trin's review against another edition
4.0
Nature is scary. It is vast and strange and unknowable. In Shark Drunk, Morten Strøksnes explores much of what makes nature so captivating -- and so frightening. His focus is on the sea, from which the culture of his native Norway arose, in which his ancestors made their livings and met their deaths. Strøksnes and his eccentric artist friend Hugo embark on a quest to catch a Greenland shark -- a species I had never heard of, but whose mythical-sounding properties include flesh that renders the human consumer intoxicated. (As Strøksnes himself points out, nature can match any fantasy one might choose to invent.) Their self-described Melvillian hunt is, narratively, more of an excuse to survey related -- sometimes tangentially related -- topics of science, history, and philosophy. Strøksnes evokes the cold, isolated landscape and the swirling, often deadly waves, with a sharp eye and a dry turn of phrase that reminds me of [a:Frans G. Bengtsson|72841|Frans G. Bengtsson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1307233870p2/72841.jpg]'s Viking saga [b:The Long Ships|6900710|The Long Ships|Frans G. Bengtsson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327902585s/6900710.jpg|427306] mixed with a [a:Werner Herzog|22565|Werner Herzog|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1208788264p2/22565.jpg] film. (Strøksnes quotes Herzog, too: a typical, delightfully dramatic paragraph that begins: "Life in the oceans must be sheer hell. A vast, merciless hell of permanent and immediate danger." That about sums it up!)
Strøksnes' book is definitely more about the journey than the destination, but what a journey it is. This book made me appreciate nature, in all its terror and glory.
Strøksnes' book is definitely more about the journey than the destination, but what a journey it is. This book made me appreciate nature, in all its terror and glory.
csgiansante's review against another edition
4.0
3.5. They don't actually catch the shark, which is a bummer. The story is fun though and the cover art takes the cake.
spav's review against another edition
3.0
I picked up this book in a library in Tromsø, while on a hiking trip to Lyngen fjord. I was definitely drawn to it by the coastal feeling of a fishing area.
I read the book as a stream of consciousness, dotted with a mix of high level scientific facts and detailed historical (mostly local) anecdotes and stories. It is also sprinkled with a dusting of testosterone here and there (comparing animal parts with a bottle of booze? Ok…).
What rosed my eyebrows was the veiled references to how humans are changing the environment up until the end of the book, when it becomes so obvious that needs to be stated. But even then, climate change, the main reason for mass extinction taken place around us is mentioned in a fleeting manner. The book was written in 2015.
I read the book as a stream of consciousness, dotted with a mix of high level scientific facts and detailed historical (mostly local) anecdotes and stories. It is also sprinkled with a dusting of testosterone here and there (comparing animal parts with a bottle of booze? Ok…).
What rosed my eyebrows was the veiled references to how humans are changing the environment up until the end of the book, when it becomes so obvious that needs to be stated. But even then, climate change, the main reason for mass extinction taken place around us is mentioned in a fleeting manner. The book was written in 2015.
shmole's review
adventurous
funny
informative
tense
slow-paced
3.0
The story of 2 dudes who decided to catch an ancient Greenland shark. Filled with personal anecdotes, oceanography, history, and nal-biting sequences on the open ocean.
moonchild2023's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.0