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In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex - Community Reviews back

by Nathaniel Philbrick
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Lora Hates Spam
Lora Hates Spam rated it 4 years ago
by Nathaniel Philbrick This is a seafaring story based on the records of a real whaling ship, The Essex, which was the basis of the story Moby Dick. It's about a ship that actually was attacked by a whale, as recorded in the ship's log and private notes written by a cabin boy. My first impressio...
Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents
Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents rated it 7 years ago
3.5 starsI picked up this book because I saw a preview for the film. It looked interesting. The book was more than I was expecting. It's mostly about what happened after the infamous whale attack that brought down the ship. The author does a great job of delivering the facts. Sometimes it's a d...
Hooked on Books
Hooked on Books rated it 8 years ago
In the Heart of the Sea is a true story about the Essex, a Nantucket whaling ship and its tragic encounter with an angry, revenge-seeking sperm whale. Since the movie was recently being released, my friend Eva and I decided to do a buddy read together. I'll admit I was impressed with the amount of r...
Jenny's Book Bag
Jenny's Book Bag rated it 8 years ago
3.5 StarsThis was so sad. It could have been four-stars, but I don’t think Scott Brick has the right voice to narrate this book. His voice made it sound like he was reading a financial statement instead of a true story about a horrific event. I broke my own rule by seeing the movie before reading th...
JLee22
JLee22 rated it 8 years ago
I wanted to give this book a lower rating because of the poor transitions from observations on the persons in the scene (usually the Essex survivors, such as they were) to third-party sources of information augmented by the author's opinion that it was directly applicable to the original situation. ...
JeffreyKeeten
JeffreyKeeten rated it 8 years ago
”I turned around and saw him about one hundred rods [500 m or 550 yards] directly ahead of us, coming down with twice his ordinary speed of around 24 knots (44 km/h), and it appeared with tenfold fury and vengeance in his aspect. The surf flew in all directions about him with the continual violent t...
Chris Blocker
Chris Blocker rated it 8 years ago
By now, you may have seen the trailer for the movie In the Heart of the Sea. If not, and if movies are your thing, I recommend you do so. Go ahead. I'll wait right here. [In the Heart of the Sea Trailer] Wow, right? Therein lies the problem with this book: one of comparison. In the Heart of the Se...
Lillelara
Lillelara rated it 8 years ago
Herman Melville got inspired by this story to write his novel "Moby Dick" and it is truly a remarkable tale. In the Heart of the Sea tells the true story of the whaleship Essex that has been sunk by a sperm whale in the middle of the pacific and its crew being shipwrecked in the aftermath of this at...
msleighm books
msleighm books rated it 9 years ago
5 stars. I understand there's a movie coming out about this book, the timing of my reading it is completely coincidental. I actually pulled it off my shelf to read it Sept 1, but didn't start in earnest until the 22nd. I hope the movie is as conscientious about historical accuracy as the book trie...
Perrin Pring
Perrin Pring rated it 10 years ago
Warning: This book is about killing whales. Turtles and birds die too. Still worth the read, just go in knowing animals die.Okay, now that that's done.I've been on a kick for non-fiction sea faring disaster stories. Having read The Hungry Ocean (not technically a disaster story, just more like a sea...
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