The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger

"A true story of men against the sea."
In case you live under a rock and have not heard of this book, or the movie that followed it, this is the story of the Andrea Gail and its crew of 6 who went down in the "perfect" storm in October of 1991. Or should I say its the story of the storm that took down The Andrea Gail and its crew of six in October of 1991.
Sadly I saw the movie (starring George Clooney, so you really can't blame me too much) before I read the book and its like comparing peas and carrots. With the notion that I was about to read a book about this ship that went down, and as a former sea scout I have a deep respect and love for the sea, it was only when I got a few chapters in that I realized that the focus of this book was not the Andrea Gail but the whole storm system itself. Which looking back makes far more sense.
Sebastian Junger did a FANTASTIC job at recreating the hypothetical events that took place on board the doomed ship, though obviously it cannot be said whether or not it actually did occur, he interviewed friends and family of the crew and did his research into each of the men, the ship, the storm, everything he could surrounding the events around the sinking of this ship.
At first I was let down but as I continued to read I found myself glad of how he went around this book. It is a respectful book, honoring those men in the only way they really could be, and well versed in its nautical aspects and deeply researched and thought out.
No one will ever really know what happened out there in the Grand Banks but reading this book was a pleasure and I would gladly do it again. I really felt like I knew the characters and their mannerisms, could agree with what they probably would have done in their situation and I really felt as though I were involved in the events occurring in the pages.
Thoroughly recommended to anyone who has a love for the sea (or has a slight obsession with the deadliest catch) just remember its about the storm (which happened the month I was born!) and the sea, not so much the Andrea Gail herself.