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Review Summary: Gales Of November by Robert J. Hemming |
Date: 2006-07-05 |
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Details: Out of all the books written about the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, this one remains by far the best. Not only is the book filled with stunningly accurate details about the ship, it reads like a gripping novel. I especially admire the way the author chose to piece together the facts that he knew to recreate the story of the ship's actual sinking. Most other books I have read on the Fitz have been afraid to tackle such a challenge. Robert Hemming's compelling story will leave you on the edge of your seat and sometimes even reduce you to tears. This one is hard to put down and a must have for any maritime enthusiast. |
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Review Summary: A real yawner. |
Date: 2006-03-16 |
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Details: With all due respect to the families of the men lost on the Fitz, this book is a real yawner. But look on the bright side of things -- if you sufffer from insomnia, you've just found your cure!!! Lots of passive verbs, cliches, irrelevant trivia. yaaaaaaaaaaawn. |
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Review Summary: The most famous ship-wreck of the mighty Great Lakes! |
Date: 2006-02-21 |
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Details: I really enjoyed this book. It's an exciting re-telling of the famous Edmund Fitzgerald ore-freighter that sank in the east-end of Lake Superior during a horrific storm in November of '75. I first heard about it and the famous Gordon Lightfoot song that describes it when I was just a little kid, and have been interested in it since. But after reading this exciting book, I quickly became even more fascinated and I look forward to exploring the whole disaster a little more. If you liked the movies "Titanic" and "The Perfect Storm", or have always had an interest in famous ship-wreck stories, you will love this book. Although I rated it a 4, it's really in my opinion a 4.5. That lacking half point is only due to a slight over-abundance of mini-biographies of the Captain and his crew, but atleast you develop a more emotional connection to the entire story as a whole than you would if it was just fact-based. You may read from other reviews that the last few hours of the ship's demise was a fictional description from the author due to a lack of actual survivors, but in my opinion, that in no way takes anything away from the story-line, because the fiction in regards to what actually happened in those last hours is based on some found evidence to support it to a certain degree. An over-all great book! |
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Review Summary: Facts, Figures and Creative License...? |
Date: 2004-12-06 |
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Details: Hemming has written some excellent accounts of disasters on the Great Lakes (see "Ships Gone Missing"), and this book has some very good qualities.
The covering of the history of the Fitz, and that of her crew is well done, and the descriptions of the character bring them to life.
There are also interviews with surviving family members and those who came across the Fitz both before and during the final trip.
Hemming goes with what appears to be the main theory regarding the boat's sinking, that she took on more and more water and dove into a huge wave, unable to recover.
One of the problems I do have is the creative license Hemming takes in trying to recreate what happened on the Fitz, especially as the vessel sank. He did this as well in "Ships Gone Missing," but here I'm not sure if it was such a good idea.
To have people doing and saying certain things is impossible to know that they did anything like that. I can see where Hemming tried to place the men where he thought they'd be, but it's hard to say.
Some of it was a bit melodramatic, but for the most part this is a good book with many facts on the boat and what may have happened.
Frederick Stonehouse as also written a very good book on the Fitz, including testimony and reports from the Coast Guard and the Lake Carriers Association. |
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Review Summary: Hemming's Voyage to Oblivion |
Date: 2004-05-11 |
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Details: The Gales of November was purchased on the strength of the information I could access through the Amazon pages and online discussions I held at Encylopedia Titanica. It was a purchase well made. As the Edmund Fitzgerald crosses Lake Superiror we are given background into the running of these kind of ships and one by one the names of the 29 are given lives as Mr Hemming shares the story of their backgrounds. As events worsen to the terrifying and rapid conclusion I am made to identify with these men which makes those few minutes even worse. Mr Hemming resorts to informed artistic licence to give us asense of what may have taken place, and to my thinking he does it well. Some may not like this style which is also used in the film and book Perfect Storm but it is necessary if we are to create a narrative of the events that led up to the sinking. I understand that a film is being considered. If so It will make frightful viewing especially for anyone who makes the living on the sea. Thank you Mr Hemming, Gordon Lightfoot, Amazon and all who made this book possible. |
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out of 14 Reviews
