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joshuarigsby's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
3.0
saltybrieeze's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
4.5
bibliomaineiac's review against another edition
4.0
A very good story about a tragic event. I wasn't able to give this 5 stars, due to the extensive history on various crew members of the Bounty. Much of it could have been shortened. For that reason, I couldn't quite give it 5, unlike other books by Michael J. Tougias I've read. Once the history was dealt with, I felt more engaged with the subjects of the story.
lah_reads's review against another edition
4.0
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was a well-researched account that highlighted the actions, inactions, and conditions that sealed the fate of the Bounty and changed the lives of her crew. A great deal of history about the ship and her captain was also included, providing an even greater understanding of both the Bounty and Robin Walbridge. As engaging as it was, however, there were a couple of things that prevented me from rating it higher.
I don't usually like it when authors provide a list of characters at the beginning of a book, but I feel that this one would have benefitted from one. There were so many people involved that it was very difficult to keep them all straight. A few crew members were mentioned often enough to become recognizable, but many others were not. There was even one person who was referred to by his surname in the beginning, and by his given name near the end and it took me a few minutes to figure out who he was. There were also people who were not on board who were mentioned, and I lost track of several of those individuals and their roles in events. I often caught myself flipping back to try and refresh my memory about someone, which drew me away from the book and made it less enjoyable to read.
The other frustrating thing about this book is the order in which it is written. If it were a fiction novel, I would say that the authors had developed the terrible habit of using flashbacks in an attempt to add to the suspense, but only succeeded in drawing the reader out of the action, slowing down the plot and making it less enjoyable. Every bit of information that was included was interesting and relevant to the book, but when you start a chapter expecting to see how the ship and crew were managing in the storm only to find yourself reading an account from the captain's childhood, it gets kind of tedious. I felt it would have been preferable if events were presented in the order in which they occurred, rather than repeatedly interrupting the account of the Bounty's final struggles with information about things that had happened many years prior.
I knew how this book would end from the beginning, but that did not detract from the account in the least. There were a lot of edge-of-your-seat moments, and at times, I had trouble putting it down. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to read about survival and heroism through natural disasters, and to fans of maritime history.
I don't usually like it when authors provide a list of characters at the beginning of a book, but I feel that this one would have benefitted from one. There were so many people involved that it was very difficult to keep them all straight. A few crew members were mentioned often enough to become recognizable, but many others were not. There was even one person who was referred to by his surname in the beginning, and by his given name near the end and it took me a few minutes to figure out who he was. There were also people who were not on board who were mentioned, and I lost track of several of those individuals and their roles in events. I often caught myself flipping back to try and refresh my memory about someone, which drew me away from the book and made it less enjoyable to read.
The other frustrating thing about this book is the order in which it is written. If it were a fiction novel, I would say that the authors had developed the terrible habit of using flashbacks in an attempt to add to the suspense, but only succeeded in drawing the reader out of the action, slowing down the plot and making it less enjoyable. Every bit of information that was included was interesting and relevant to the book, but when you start a chapter expecting to see how the ship and crew were managing in the storm only to find yourself reading an account from the captain's childhood, it gets kind of tedious. I felt it would have been preferable if events were presented in the order in which they occurred, rather than repeatedly interrupting the account of the Bounty's final struggles with information about things that had happened many years prior.
I knew how this book would end from the beginning, but that did not detract from the account in the least. There were a lot of edge-of-your-seat moments, and at times, I had trouble putting it down. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to read about survival and heroism through natural disasters, and to fans of maritime history.
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