Customer Reviews

Braving the Waves: Rockaway Rises -- And Rises Again

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Rockaway Beach is the unofficial capital of firefighting New York. Generations of NYC firefighters have made their homes here in this sliver of a neighborhood by the beach in the shadows of the city's skyline.
Kevin Boyle captures the humor, courage and resilience of this place in what is surely one of the best books to come out of 9/11. In fact, it's inaccurate to call this a "9/11 book" at all because it's more about the powerful personal stories of ordinary people-- not just firemen-- who found themselves doing extraodinary things in the face of two unimaginable catastrophes. In this way, it calls to mind "The Perfect Storm" as it weaves the poignant-- and sometimes hilarious-- details of the lives of people you get to know and like in the shadow of an impending disaster. Here though the coming disaster was double barrelled: September 11 and the crash of Flight 587 in the heart of the neighborhood two months later.
Boyle knows these people and it shows in the remarkably true to life writing. Highly recommended.

I've been out of Rockaway for a long time now, but Boyle put me right back on the boardwalk. And just when he makes us comfortable being back at the beach, he takes us to lower Manhattan on September 11. I've read a lot of eyewitness accounts but this as real as it gets. He follows the day of a bunch of firefighters and some "regular" people and it goes from bad to worse. Because Rockaway lost so many people the place is devastated but not broken. The people are trying to get on with their lives. And just like that a plane crashes in Belle Harbor. Some of the same people who were there on 9-11 rush like mad to the plane crash. Some of them run on foot because they're that close to it. It's just unreal stuff. But Boyle puts it all together.
There are great stories here and some unbelievable people. I give this a big thumbs up. You will too.

I just finished Kevin Boyle's book, Braving the Waves, and in my opinion it's fantastic! I lived through these tragedies and didn't think I wanted to read about them again but once I picked up his book, I couldn't put it down.
Boyle gets inside the heads of the people he writes about. The firemen I know and respect won't open up or talk at all to reporters but they talk to Kevin because he's one of them, one of us. It choked me up half a dozen times.
This book is a must read for everyone, the people from Rockaway who lived through the tragedies and outsiders who want a real insider's view. People who weren't there will feel like they were standing in the concrete dust of the WTC and smelling the burning jet fuel of Flight 587 after reading it.
-George Johnson

Why don't we know more about this amazing story? A jet plane crashes in the middle of a neighborhood that has just lost dozens of people on 9/11, where firmen who survived 9/11 wind up fighting to save their own houses just 2 months later. WHy isn't this story better known?
It will be now if there is any justice. Kevin Boyle has written a book that brings this story to life without melodrama or false sentiment. This incredible story doesn't need purple writing, and Boyle's spare style serves it well.
A damn good story that deserves to be better known.

I really enjoyed Boyle's pace and tone throughout this book--he writes about painfull events with respect and consideration, but still maintained a compelling pace throughout the book.
There are moments that are truly heart pounding, there are moments of tenderness and sorrow that brought tears to my eyes, and there elements of luck, irony and humor.
Although it's clear Boyle cares for these people there is no heavy sentiment. He seems to be a writer made for his subject.

I have a shelf full of books about September 11, and I always thought that Denis Smith's "Report From Ground Zero," was the best of the lot, but now that I have read Boyle's book, I have changed my mind. If there is one book that I will save for my grandchildren so that they can see how Rockaway was affected by both September 11 (when more than 70 local residents were lost) as well as the crash of flight 587 just two months and a day later, killing 265 in the aircraft and five residents on the ground, this is the book. It is quintessential Rockaway, pure Rockaway heroism from the firefighters who spent two months digging their brothers out of the WTC and then spent a day digging their homes out of the wreckage of 587 Heavy, to saloon owner Bernie Herran, who told his stock broker son to go to the roof on September 11 and then, just two months later had an airliner drop on his front lawn, this is a great read for anyone who believes in community and the human spirit.

This is a great book about an amazing place: Rockaway Beach. Remember the guy who told Osama bin Laden to kiss his royal Irish a**? He's from Rockaway? One of the firefighters who raised the flag at Ground Zero in that famous picture? From Rockaway. One of the first firefighters killed on 9/11? Rockaway again.
There's no "hero fatigue" in this book because it's not just another canned book about a well known tragedy. The people are too real. The writer has too good an ear for the way these people talk, which makes them come alive. I really cared about them by the end of the book.
It'll tear your heart out but it will make you laugh like hell too. Filled with colorful stories and great characters. Outstanding.

This is a great book about an amazing place I didn't know existed. It's a beach town in New York City. Like a lot of small towns it's filled with unsung every day heroes, but being part of the big city it's also filled with colorful, wisecracking characters.
9/11 hit this neighborhood, home to hundreds of firemen and Wall St. workers, harder than just about any place else. Just two months later a jet plane crashed in the middle of the neighborhood. There are moments of triumph and heroism that still give me goose bumps as I write this.
There's a scene where the local girls high school basketball team, led by two girls who lost their mother and brother, wins the state high school basketball that beats any Hollywood ending I've ever seen.
Fantastic.

I had the honor and the privilege of editing and typesetting "Braving the Waves" for Rising Star Press. As I read the manuscript for the first time, I remembered why I became an editor in the first place. It brought me to tears--a wonderfully moving, down-in-the-trenches account of these horrific stories and the people who lived through them. At the time, I wondered if the "first person" point of view would enhance the presentation ... it certainly does. Thanks for the opportunity to be a part of this storytelling experience.

A friend in NYC sent this book to me and I finished it in one sitting. The story is simply told and the power builds because you know what's going to happen to these likeable people.
I recommend this book to people who like strong true life stories about real people. The writer really seems to care about the people he writes about.