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The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island
The author details her return to Isle au Haut, a tiny Maine island with a population of seventy year-round residents, many of whom are her relatives, to describe small-town life in a lobster-fishing village.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
96 people are currently reading
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About the author
Linda Greenlaw
27 books235 followersLinda Greenlaw's three bestselling books about life as a commercial fisherman -- THE HUNGRY OCEAN (1999), THE LOBSTER CHRONICLES (2002) and ALL FISHERMEN ARE LIARS (2004) -- have climbed as high as #2 on the New York Times bestseller list. She is the winner of the U.S. Maritime Literature Award in 2003, and the New England Book Award for nonfiction in 2004. Time Magazine called her 2005 RECIPES FROM A VERY SMALL ISLAND, co-authored with her mother Martha Greenlaw, a "must-have cookbook".
Before becoming a writer, Linda Greenlaw was the captain of a sword boat, the career that earned her a prominent role in Sebastian Junger's THE PERFECT STORM and a portrayal in the subsequent film. She has been featured on Good Morning America, Today, CBS Sunday Morning, The Martha Stewart Show, and National Public Radio. She now lives on Isle au Haut, Maine, where she captains a lobster boat.
When Linda Greenlaw confessed a desire to write fiction, readers responded with an enthusiastic "Please do!" At last, she satisfies their hunger with SLIPKNOT, a sharp-witted, compulsively readable mystery, the first in a series featuring marine investigator Jane Bunker. As she proved in THE HUNGRY OCEAN, no one knows the sea like Linda Greenlaw. And as she proved in THE LOBSTER CHRONICLES, no one has a better way with the telling details of Maine village life. SLIPKNOT delivers everything readers want: a great setting, wonderful characters, an authentic and original detective -- and a story that will keep them on the edge of their seats. (from the author's website)
Series:
* Jane Bunker Mystery
Before becoming a writer, Linda Greenlaw was the captain of a sword boat, the career that earned her a prominent role in Sebastian Junger's THE PERFECT STORM and a portrayal in the subsequent film. She has been featured on Good Morning America, Today, CBS Sunday Morning, The Martha Stewart Show, and National Public Radio. She now lives on Isle au Haut, Maine, where she captains a lobster boat.
When Linda Greenlaw confessed a desire to write fiction, readers responded with an enthusiastic "Please do!" At last, she satisfies their hunger with SLIPKNOT, a sharp-witted, compulsively readable mystery, the first in a series featuring marine investigator Jane Bunker. As she proved in THE HUNGRY OCEAN, no one knows the sea like Linda Greenlaw. And as she proved in THE LOBSTER CHRONICLES, no one has a better way with the telling details of Maine village life. SLIPKNOT delivers everything readers want: a great setting, wonderful characters, an authentic and original detective -- and a story that will keep them on the edge of their seats. (from the author's website)
Series:
* Jane Bunker Mystery
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 371 reviews
May 7, 2023
Poetic storytelling about the author's life on a tiny island in Maine with only 70 year round residents, almost half of whom are her relatives. If you haven't read Linda Greenlaw yet, I recommend starting with The Hungry Ocean about her experiences as the only woman swordfish boat captain. The men she hired tested her and ultimately respected and admired her. You may have heard about her boat's sister ship, the Andrea Gail, whose fate was immortalized in the movie The Perfect Storm. I love a good story about strong women who are not trying to make a statement but make one nonetheless by how they live their lives.
January 21, 2008
If I had any guts at all, I would sell all of my sutff, buy a bundle of warm sweaters and move to a tiny island in Maine (although probably not Isle au Haut where the author lives). But, I'm content in Chicago for the moment, where it is cold enough to wear sweaters while I cuddle up under the covers and read my way through Greenlaw's books about fishing/islands in Maine/fishermen.
August 5, 2019
Many things taste like chicken but nothing tastes like lobster.
I've always had a difficult time eating lobster as I don't like how they are killed. Because of that, this book didn't jump out to me, but then I realized the author was the fishing boat captain who wisely stayed away from The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea, so I became intrigued. As Greenlaw's title implies, this is a book about lobsters AND living on a very small island. It's short, concise and full of anecdotes about some of the island residents, which is always interesting.
Prior to the 19th Century, lobster was the food of poor people along the Atlantic coast of the United States. They were so plentiful that feeding them to prisoners was considered cruel punishment. Then others caught on to the succulent meat (preferably served with melted butter) and the cockroach-looking crustacean took off as the ultimate dining experience. Having traded in her swordfish boat experience, the author goes back home to the little island where her elderly parents still live so she can start a new career hauling in lobsters.
This brings us to the description of the island itself which has its usual Atlantic Gothic characters. The two brothers who can't fix anything so they end up ruining everything they touch. The older gent who eats cigars. The workers who come and go, just staying long enough to collect a paycheck after helping with the haul. The commuting by sea for medical care and supplies and better schooling. Overall, it's fairly interesting, a look at an island that is losing its young people as its industry gets cannibalized by the larger fishing consortiums.
The writing moves the reader along and there is always a sense of wistfulness, about the declining lobster numbers, a relative's cancer, and the remembrance of the Andrea Gail, the boat which vanished in that awful Halloween Gale of 1991. Mostly it is really thoughts about growing older yet having the guts to try something new, even though you feel the author doesn't really have her heart set on the lobster trade.
Book Season = Autumn (empty traps)
July 2, 2016
Enjoyed this fun and nostalgic read and peek into a community I know nothing about! Greenlaw captures small town island life with color and humor while giving us insight into a very traditional and slowly retreating lobster-fishing lifestyle. Looking forward to reading her other book, The Hungry Ocean.
November 6, 2014
I love lobster, but I find the whole process of how they are treated to be quite cruel. The idea that live lobsters can be shipped around the country in a box appalls me. So I pretty much avoid eating any. Ms. Greenlaw apparently doesn't share my concerns. She describes one time when she couldn't get to her traps. The lobsters are cannibalizing each other. She calls it a waste of food.
A more serious problem for the industry is climate change. The oceans are warming. Lobsters are beginning to disappear. Big trouble looms in the future. But the world continues to be blissfully unaware.
A more serious problem for the industry is climate change. The oceans are warming. Lobsters are beginning to disappear. Big trouble looms in the future. But the world continues to be blissfully unaware.
February 9, 2009
Hilarious. Linda Greenlaw is an excellent writer. Her non-fiction "The Hungry Ocean" about her days as a swordfish boat captain was gripping drama. But her two non-fiction "humorous" books are 180 degrees the opposite, but just as well written. Very very funny. She describes her quirky island-mates with keen-eyed sarcasm and compassion simultaneously, if that's possible. Laughed out loud through most of the book. See also "All Fishermen Are Liars" for equally humorous observations.
March 25, 2025
I see why my husband loves this book! Linda Greenlaw is a fascinating person and storyteller. I had a lot of fun reading his. Listening to her narrate her story was a plus! 💜
September 18, 2009
Read this in one slow day as a poll worker for the primary election.
Author Linda Greenlaw is a Maine fishing boat captain. She figured in The Perfect Storm, if you read that or saw the movie. After 17 years of commercial swordfishing, she decided to switch to lobster from her home on the small island Isle au Haut. This is a memoir of one season, with colorful tales of lobster fishing and the various residents of and visitors to the island.
Greenlaw, who has returned to swordfishing and can be seen on the Discovery Channel's "Swords", writes well. Here is an excerpt I particularly liked:
"The wind was out of the south and had teased up a 3-foot sea. Battalions of waves paraded by, heading north. I cound not see where they stormed the beach, but imagined it might be just above the pebbly spit of Money Point. Some of the officers on horseback nodded shocks of white hair while masses of lower-rank sailors kept eyes forward and sternly marched in the most rehearsed fashion to the wind that gusted and relaxed with the beat of some patriotic song. I could not hear the tune but felt the rhythm of booted feet hitting ocean floor. The trees lining the shore waved like spectators, some with children on their shoulders. Some of the old guard even saluted."
Author Linda Greenlaw is a Maine fishing boat captain. She figured in The Perfect Storm, if you read that or saw the movie. After 17 years of commercial swordfishing, she decided to switch to lobster from her home on the small island Isle au Haut. This is a memoir of one season, with colorful tales of lobster fishing and the various residents of and visitors to the island.
Greenlaw, who has returned to swordfishing and can be seen on the Discovery Channel's "Swords", writes well. Here is an excerpt I particularly liked:
"The wind was out of the south and had teased up a 3-foot sea. Battalions of waves paraded by, heading north. I cound not see where they stormed the beach, but imagined it might be just above the pebbly spit of Money Point. Some of the officers on horseback nodded shocks of white hair while masses of lower-rank sailors kept eyes forward and sternly marched in the most rehearsed fashion to the wind that gusted and relaxed with the beat of some patriotic song. I could not hear the tune but felt the rhythm of booted feet hitting ocean floor. The trees lining the shore waved like spectators, some with children on their shoulders. Some of the old guard even saluted."
September 21, 2011
I re-read this delightful book nine years after the first reading. I live in a place not unlike an island, isolated by mountains on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other. This is a story about an island on the Atlantic Ocean just off the New England coast, but the people and how they interact(and don't) could be about my town.
The issues of a small community with very limited financial opportunities trying to make rational decisions about how to survive now, how they attempt to solve their problems, people with very strong feelings about just about everything -- like all small towns.
Linda Greenlaw is a wonderful, warm and intelligent writer and this book is a treasure.
The issues of a small community with very limited financial opportunities trying to make rational decisions about how to survive now, how they attempt to solve their problems, people with very strong feelings about just about everything -- like all small towns.
Linda Greenlaw is a wonderful, warm and intelligent writer and this book is a treasure.
March 6, 2008
Somehow I didn't think this was as good as her first book, "The Hungry Ocean" but I still enjoyed it immensely. I have sailed in her hometown waters and her description of weather and downeast life are "spot on".
November 7, 2017
Good entertainment. No violence or fear :-).
August 12, 2024
Having just spent a week in Maine, I was given this by a thoughtful and well-read friend. Even though written in 2002, the story was eye-opening, enchanting and often very funny! Autobiographical, Linda Greenlaw tells of life on a small populated Maine Island that highlights the importance of her parents and the myriad of characters in a close-knit community. She is a remarkable and rare professional woman sea captain fisherman. If you want a sense of what it takes for a family to make a living catching lobsters in Maine, this is likely as relevant now as when it was written. And you learn lots about the life cycle of lobsters!
June 11, 2022
Loved her story.
September 2, 2019
If I took away anything from this book it would be that I would not want to be a lobster fisherman. It sounds like it is really hard work! This book will make you wonder why anyone would want to do that work. The author is a real life character in the book and movie The Perfect Storm and one of just a few female lobster fishermen.
November 29, 2015
One of my husband's all-time favorite movies is The Perfect Storm. For him, it was the perfect thriller, one that had him on the edge of his seat and breathless in the movie theater. Because of this, I picked up The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea somewhere in my wanderings through used bookstores, but have yet to get to it. This weekend, my little family and I wandered around Massachusetts, first to Falmouth on Cape Cod, where I picked up this book at the library sale at the Falmouth Library, and then to Plymouth the next day to check out Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower II. We've also visited Gloucester, Massachusetts, home port of the Andrea Gail, the first time we lived in Rhode Island. So New England and its dependence on fishing is something that interests me, as I'm constantly surrounded by it.
I really wanted to love this book for several reasons. First would be my aforementioned fascination with New England and the knowledge that much of the economy rests on fishing. Second, I enjoy stories of women who do things that tend to fall in the realm of male dominance because I feel as though the women who do are the strongest of us all. And thirdly, I adore memoirs of what I consider to be "normal" people, i.e., not famous or readily recognized by much of the country.
While a lot of the chapters in this book are quite interesting, some fall a little flat. There isn't a lot of cohesion in this book either; it seems more like a collection of essays that detail the chronology of a terrible season of lobstering, but that's it. There's a whole chapter (just a couple of pages) on Dorothea Dodge, the postmistress, but I don't really understand why it's been included, since Greenlaw admits that she barely knows her, even though she's one of only a few permanent residents on the island, since she keeps to herself so much.
Some of the vignettes are amusing, especially the one about Alabama Slammer, but it's almost depressing to read about how difficult it is for the permanent residents to stay on the island and maintain their unique way of life. It made me almost want to move there once my husband retires from his naval career, though I'm not wholly certain we'd be welcome as newbies.
This book is quite readable, however; it's not until you get to the end that you realize there isn't much cohesion. But I'd still recommend it for fans of shows like "Deadliest Catch," to see the contrast between those big boats in the Bering Sea and Greenlaw's small boat off the coast of Maine, with just her as captain and her dad as sternman.
I really wanted to love this book for several reasons. First would be my aforementioned fascination with New England and the knowledge that much of the economy rests on fishing. Second, I enjoy stories of women who do things that tend to fall in the realm of male dominance because I feel as though the women who do are the strongest of us all. And thirdly, I adore memoirs of what I consider to be "normal" people, i.e., not famous or readily recognized by much of the country.
While a lot of the chapters in this book are quite interesting, some fall a little flat. There isn't a lot of cohesion in this book either; it seems more like a collection of essays that detail the chronology of a terrible season of lobstering, but that's it. There's a whole chapter (just a couple of pages) on Dorothea Dodge, the postmistress, but I don't really understand why it's been included, since Greenlaw admits that she barely knows her, even though she's one of only a few permanent residents on the island, since she keeps to herself so much.
Some of the vignettes are amusing, especially the one about Alabama Slammer, but it's almost depressing to read about how difficult it is for the permanent residents to stay on the island and maintain their unique way of life. It made me almost want to move there once my husband retires from his naval career, though I'm not wholly certain we'd be welcome as newbies.
This book is quite readable, however; it's not until you get to the end that you realize there isn't much cohesion. But I'd still recommend it for fans of shows like "Deadliest Catch," to see the contrast between those big boats in the Bering Sea and Greenlaw's small boat off the coast of Maine, with just her as captain and her dad as sternman.
February 14, 2019
I chose this book because I was looking through the biography section and this was the book that looked the most interesting to me.
This book is about a girl named Linda Greenlaw who lives on a small island off the coast of Maine and makes a living through lobstering. She lives with her parents on the island and she lobsters with her dad often on the family's skiff. She has been lobstering for a long time, but this year not nearly as many lobsters are being caught. She then finds out that the people on the main land are trying to take the last piece of ocean the island has for private fishing. Linda starts to attend the monthly meetings on the island, which always ends with fighting between the people in the meeting. Linda goes back to lobstering for a long time until she finds a handsome gay man that wants to find work on the island so that he can have some money. He works with Linda for a couple weeks before he travels back to the mainland. Once he gets back to the mainland, he takes Lindas truck and drives around with it. This angers Linda, although he did bring the truck back to the dock. She never finds the man again, so she goes back to her normal life of lobstering every day. She works with her dad for a long time, and they go back to lobstering, catching much more than they did in the beginning. She ends with having lunch with her dad on the skiff between hauling traps.
What worked well in this book is the showing vs telling. I thought that Linda showed how she did everything in the story extremely well, like when she explains how the whole situation with the gay man went down and especially when she was lobstering, she explained it so well that I felt like I was on the skiff with her.
What did not work very well in this book was that there was not enough action within the book. There was roughly two or three events that happened throughout the book, with little build up and little resolution in each event. After nearly every event, she went back to lobstering with her father like normal.
This book is about a girl named Linda Greenlaw who lives on a small island off the coast of Maine and makes a living through lobstering. She lives with her parents on the island and she lobsters with her dad often on the family's skiff. She has been lobstering for a long time, but this year not nearly as many lobsters are being caught. She then finds out that the people on the main land are trying to take the last piece of ocean the island has for private fishing. Linda starts to attend the monthly meetings on the island, which always ends with fighting between the people in the meeting. Linda goes back to lobstering for a long time until she finds a handsome gay man that wants to find work on the island so that he can have some money. He works with Linda for a couple weeks before he travels back to the mainland. Once he gets back to the mainland, he takes Lindas truck and drives around with it. This angers Linda, although he did bring the truck back to the dock. She never finds the man again, so she goes back to her normal life of lobstering every day. She works with her dad for a long time, and they go back to lobstering, catching much more than they did in the beginning. She ends with having lunch with her dad on the skiff between hauling traps.
What worked well in this book is the showing vs telling. I thought that Linda showed how she did everything in the story extremely well, like when she explains how the whole situation with the gay man went down and especially when she was lobstering, she explained it so well that I felt like I was on the skiff with her.
What did not work very well in this book was that there was not enough action within the book. There was roughly two or three events that happened throughout the book, with little build up and little resolution in each event. After nearly every event, she went back to lobstering with her father like normal.
May 27, 2019
This was a delightful read. I found it in a used bookstore in Salt Lake City and after reading The Secret Life of Lobsters by Trevor Corson to get ready for a vacation to Maine it seemed fate meant for me to pick this book up to help relive that time.
I didn't know anything about Linda Greenlaw before seeing this book, but would certainly enjoy reading more by her. In this book she relates her life as an Islander on Isle Au Haut. Reading this book was at times like watching one of those old sit-com shows set in a small community with an array of eccentric characters (Petticoat Junction or Green Acres comes to mind). There are many funny scenes that she makes come alive and had me laughing.
Although Corson wrote in much more detail of how lobsters are caught, Greenlaw's everyday lobstering adventures were very informative and entertaining.
I didn't know anything about Linda Greenlaw before seeing this book, but would certainly enjoy reading more by her. In this book she relates her life as an Islander on Isle Au Haut. Reading this book was at times like watching one of those old sit-com shows set in a small community with an array of eccentric characters (Petticoat Junction or Green Acres comes to mind). There are many funny scenes that she makes come alive and had me laughing.
Although Corson wrote in much more detail of how lobsters are caught, Greenlaw's everyday lobstering adventures were very informative and entertaining.
February 1, 2012
I wish I could have given this a 3.5. Linda Greenlaw is an intelligent, excellent writer. The book was funny, poignant and a wonderful book to read in between heavier ones. I thoroughly enjoyed the trials and tribulations of living on a very small island and lobstering. Linda has other books she's written since, which I will surely read. Her previous book was "The Hungry Ocean" in which she describes her 17 years as a swordfisherman off the coast of Massachusetts. Perhaps most famous for being the last person to be in touch with the Andrea Gale (The Perfect Storm), she has certainly come into her own as a very good writer.
May 23, 2016
I just moved to Maine and found this at a library book sale. Very witty, even laugh out loud funny at time. She describes that there was some difficulty finishing the book and I would guess it came at about the time her mother faced breast cancer. There is a shift to much less detail, and for obvious reasons, wit and humor. You can here the weight of sadness and stress that time brought her. I look forward to reading more of her work. Great to learn about the area I live near now. Just today I got to meet a lobster fisherman from the same island and I was fascinated to here him recount details of his decades of lobstering.
February 24, 2008
I enjoyed the characters introduced by Linda Greenlaw, though I wouldn't want to be one of the ones she satires. Greenlaw has a way of describing events and people in her life so that you feel you are there too...I could really see the people in her town, the things they cared about and fought over in town meetings. I loved the description of her relationship with her parents and how she worked with her father--a great read.
August 1, 2010
We met and heard Linda Greenlaw at an author's event on Islesboro this summer. I instantly liked her and picked up this book, deciding to read about Isle au Haut before delving into her deep sea adventures.
It did not disappoint. A great glimpse into Maine Island life told through the eyes of a strong and independent woman.
It did not disappoint. A great glimpse into Maine Island life told through the eyes of a strong and independent woman.
December 25, 2020
2.0 STARS
Just OK!
I have spent many summers on the coast of Maine, mostly Downeast ME from south Portland, Bar Harbor and as far east as Eastport but never had the opportunity to visit Isle Au Haut.
Honestly it sounds like I didn't miss a thing!
After a very successful career as a swordfish boat captain and an equally successful book about her sword fishing experiences, Greenlaw returns to her childhood home of Isle Au Haut to apply her sword fishing skills to lobster fishing and get reacquainted with the tiny island located in Penobscot Bay, part of the Gulf of Maine where she grew up.
Her stories and recollections are funny and entertaining but nothing extraordinary!
Another book in my Covid Reading Series, I purchased this book years and years ago at a Friends of the Westfield (MA) Athenaeum book sale and promptly tucked it away in one of my many bookcases at home. Fast forward to COVID 2020 - libraries and book stores are closed or limited in hours or services so I turned to these forgotten treasures.
Just OK!
I have spent many summers on the coast of Maine, mostly Downeast ME from south Portland, Bar Harbor and as far east as Eastport but never had the opportunity to visit Isle Au Haut.
Honestly it sounds like I didn't miss a thing!
After a very successful career as a swordfish boat captain and an equally successful book about her sword fishing experiences, Greenlaw returns to her childhood home of Isle Au Haut to apply her sword fishing skills to lobster fishing and get reacquainted with the tiny island located in Penobscot Bay, part of the Gulf of Maine where she grew up.
Her stories and recollections are funny and entertaining but nothing extraordinary!
Another book in my Covid Reading Series, I purchased this book years and years ago at a Friends of the Westfield (MA) Athenaeum book sale and promptly tucked it away in one of my many bookcases at home. Fast forward to COVID 2020 - libraries and book stores are closed or limited in hours or services so I turned to these forgotten treasures.
October 30, 2025
I enjoy reading about industries. I would never want to be a Lobsterman. Relying on mother nature is such a game of chance it makes my heart constrict just thinking about it. I will, however, have a huge appreciation for the work it took to put those lobsters in that tank at the grocery store. The author gives you a nice taste of what it is like to be a Lobsterman and what it is like to be a permanent resident on a small island in Maine.
July 8, 2021
The subtitle says it all: it's a conflicted situation for the author/narrator, having given up trolling
the fabled Gulf Stream for setting lobster traps in homely waters. Gone are the thrills of the hunt
for big game fish, back is the weary wait for the lowly lobster. Can one go home again? Can a new
old life be fulfilling?
The book is entertaining, engaging, and open-ended, inviting a sequel.
the fabled Gulf Stream for setting lobster traps in homely waters. Gone are the thrills of the hunt
for big game fish, back is the weary wait for the lowly lobster. Can one go home again? Can a new
old life be fulfilling?
The book is entertaining, engaging, and open-ended, inviting a sequel.
November 23, 2023
A fun book to read. It is more like a series chronologically jumbled excerpts from a journal. Although filled with interesting stories some of the reading was disjointed and lacked continuity and progression of ideas. Nonetheless a great introduction to Lobster fishing and the life behind the scenes
April 7, 2025
Review published in the New Zealand Herald, 29 March 2003
"If life is a lobster pot, why is hers empty?"
The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island
Linda Greenlaw
(Schwartz Publishing)
Reviewed by Philippa Jamieson
After 17 years away on swordfishing boats in the North Atlantic (she had a part to play in Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm), Linda Greenlaw returns home to a tiny island off the Maine coast. She takes up lobster fishing, like most people on Isle a Haut, and also hopes to find a man, build a house and have children.
It's a big adjustment, being back on the island, living with her parents again, and trying out new work. She loves her home, but gets despondent when she's hauling up empty lobster traps and wonders if she should be doing something else.
The book has all the ingredients of a moving, funny memoir, but a better writer would have really brought it alive. While the descriptions of lobster fishing may fascinate other fisherfolk, the facts, figures and reportage failed to reel me in. There are chapters about the island's eccentrics, anecdotes like the time Greenlaw's grandmother had to be buried twice, personal reflections and even a lone imagined episode from the past, all rolled together in a somewhat disjointed whole.
Greenlaw openly expresses her desire to find a husband, but I questioned her seriousness. In the permanent population of around 70, the single males are two gay men and her cousin. Anyway, during the fishing season she spends most of her time out on the sea with her father.
At times I laughed out loud. Most of the time, though, it doesn't live up to the promise of the cover blurb: 'something happens that forces Greenlaw to re-evaluate everything she thought she knew about life, luck and lobsters'. It's readable – has been a New Yourk Times bestseller – and moderately interesting, but lacks that X-factor. It works best as an insider's observation of a remote community.
"If life is a lobster pot, why is hers empty?"
The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island
Linda Greenlaw
(Schwartz Publishing)
Reviewed by Philippa Jamieson
After 17 years away on swordfishing boats in the North Atlantic (she had a part to play in Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm), Linda Greenlaw returns home to a tiny island off the Maine coast. She takes up lobster fishing, like most people on Isle a Haut, and also hopes to find a man, build a house and have children.
It's a big adjustment, being back on the island, living with her parents again, and trying out new work. She loves her home, but gets despondent when she's hauling up empty lobster traps and wonders if she should be doing something else.
The book has all the ingredients of a moving, funny memoir, but a better writer would have really brought it alive. While the descriptions of lobster fishing may fascinate other fisherfolk, the facts, figures and reportage failed to reel me in. There are chapters about the island's eccentrics, anecdotes like the time Greenlaw's grandmother had to be buried twice, personal reflections and even a lone imagined episode from the past, all rolled together in a somewhat disjointed whole.
Greenlaw openly expresses her desire to find a husband, but I questioned her seriousness. In the permanent population of around 70, the single males are two gay men and her cousin. Anyway, during the fishing season she spends most of her time out on the sea with her father.
At times I laughed out loud. Most of the time, though, it doesn't live up to the promise of the cover blurb: 'something happens that forces Greenlaw to re-evaluate everything she thought she knew about life, luck and lobsters'. It's readable – has been a New Yourk Times bestseller – and moderately interesting, but lacks that X-factor. It works best as an insider's observation of a remote community.
May 19, 2015
3.5 Stars
I'm very partial to books about Maine. I have an entire shelf of them. So it isn't at all surprising that The Lobster Chronicles should end up on that shelf. This is a lovely little memoir about lobster fishing and living on a small island in Maine. Much of the book actually deals more with living in a very small island community that with the lobster fishing. But it does give a good overview of her job as a fisherman and her day to day life. If you aren't interested in lobsters or small island living, then this isn't the book for you.
The book had a good selection of topics, and the tone ranged from humorous to heartfelt as Greenlaw discussed many aspects of small island living. In additional to talking about her personal experiences, she also discusses issues facing her industry as well as the struggle for her small community to survive and thrive rather than be sucked into mainland conformity.
It didn't take me long to read this. I particularly flew through the last half. I wanted a bit more from it though. I cannot put my finger on exactly what I wanted more of, but I think it could have used just a bit more oomph. But I definitely enjoyed it and I will most likely read The Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain's Journey as well.
This review fulfills the "Memoir" category of the Popsugar reading challenge. http://www.popsugar.com/love/Reading-...
I'm very partial to books about Maine. I have an entire shelf of them. So it isn't at all surprising that The Lobster Chronicles should end up on that shelf. This is a lovely little memoir about lobster fishing and living on a small island in Maine. Much of the book actually deals more with living in a very small island community that with the lobster fishing. But it does give a good overview of her job as a fisherman and her day to day life. If you aren't interested in lobsters or small island living, then this isn't the book for you.
The book had a good selection of topics, and the tone ranged from humorous to heartfelt as Greenlaw discussed many aspects of small island living. In additional to talking about her personal experiences, she also discusses issues facing her industry as well as the struggle for her small community to survive and thrive rather than be sucked into mainland conformity.
It didn't take me long to read this. I particularly flew through the last half. I wanted a bit more from it though. I cannot put my finger on exactly what I wanted more of, but I think it could have used just a bit more oomph. But I definitely enjoyed it and I will most likely read The Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain's Journey as well.
This review fulfills the "Memoir" category of the Popsugar reading challenge. http://www.popsugar.com/love/Reading-...
March 12, 2010
In The Lobster Chronicles, Linda Greenlaw takes readers through lobster season on a small island off the coast of Maine. She details the painstakingly repetitive processes entails in lobster fishing, and she shares stories about the island and the people who live there.
At the center of the story are her parents, with whom she lives, and her relationship with them. She describes her relationship with her father through her tales of fishing, as he works for her on her boat, and she details the conversations she has with her mother about life on the island.
Greenlaw writes in an easy to read style, and her humorous asides play well, at least with me. I felt, however, that the book was disorganized and without a central focus. Life doesn't have a central focus, I suppose, but for memoirs, I do like a little more shape.
At the center of the story are her parents, with whom she lives, and her relationship with them. She describes her relationship with her father through her tales of fishing, as he works for her on her boat, and she details the conversations she has with her mother about life on the island.
Greenlaw writes in an easy to read style, and her humorous asides play well, at least with me. I felt, however, that the book was disorganized and without a central focus. Life doesn't have a central focus, I suppose, but for memoirs, I do like a little more shape.
June 24, 2018
After a distinguished career at sea as the captain of a successful swordfish boat, Linda Greenlaw decides to take a break. She returns to her childhood home - Isle au Haut, a tiny island off the coast of Maine - to try her hand at lobstering.
The Lobster Chronicles is filled with Greenlaw's trademark eye for detail, her wry and expressive wit, and her clear, evocative prose. In it, she introduces us to the denizens of her hometown, gives us a peak at her friendships and family life, and details a lobstering season that will challenge her decision to come back to island life.
While The Lobster Chronicles deals with less adventurous subject matter than the author's debut, The Hungry Ocean, readers who were hooked by Greenlaw's first book will enjoy returning to her world and her writing.
The Lobster Chronicles is filled with Greenlaw's trademark eye for detail, her wry and expressive wit, and her clear, evocative prose. In it, she introduces us to the denizens of her hometown, gives us a peak at her friendships and family life, and details a lobstering season that will challenge her decision to come back to island life.
While The Lobster Chronicles deals with less adventurous subject matter than the author's debut, The Hungry Ocean, readers who were hooked by Greenlaw's first book will enjoy returning to her world and her writing.
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