Customer Reviews

Down in Bristol Bay: High Tides, Hangovers, and Harrowing Experiences on Alaska's Last Frontier

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Not a great book but a good book and very enjoyable reading. Writing style makes for easy reading and understanding. I don't quite know how Durr's family takes to his exploits, but he seems to be having a good time chasing his dream. More power too him. Would recommend it to anyone wanting to read about a guy doing his own thing.

the power of language, refernces to Greek gods and the danger and thrills of commercial fishing in Alaska; this book is poetry and passion. i pray that Bob Durr will continue writing his life experiences. the paragraph containing the description of the ocean at sunset as the fish swim in the waves and are lit up by the brilliant colors; is the best epiphany ever expressed. wish i had the words to describe how good this book is.

This book is a describes a man's struggle to break from the "creature comforts" world to live and fish in Bristol Bay, Alaska. It told a story that was captivating because when reading, you always wanting to know what was going to happen next. The story tells of a man who achieves having the best of both worlds ands puts the utimate dream to the test. I would highly recommend this book to all adventurists and those who would like to "escape" to the alaska frontier; if not in reality, then through this book.

Bob Durr has done what many of us blue blooded males mearly dream of. He actualy takes you on his fishing trips, you feel cold, you feel wet and you feel the emotions that only come with his experiences. Bob Durr is telling his reader "follow your dreams" and have a ball doing it. A great read.

While this is a better book that the second one, there is still something lacking. Depth I suppose. The fishing stories are good but I'm afraid the actual techniques and day-to-day trials are glossed over with tales of drunkeness. The characters are accurately portrayed, but each year is a rerun of the last, a quick summary of the same. Frankly, for all of Durr's qualifications this is the one theme that I can't help but think carries on to this day: The acid Leary professor drops out and stays out. But life is what happens between the parties. During this period, at least I know how he made a living, which is what dismayed me with the Coldman Cometh: thirty-five years of successful bush living on imaginary income, from the readers' perspective. He doesn't share finances here either though so we don't know what he made from the fishing trips.

Staying in Alaska without money is tough. And with a family to support even more impossible, yet Durr seems to go about it as if there's nothing to it; the path of least resistence he describes to Pope, but in Alaska there is a great deal of resistence always. I can hear him try to justify the scheme to his late wife who never says anything or gives him a hard time about the difficulties of living on the edge like that, but Durr rarely reveals anything of this nature. He's very much secretive, which is a motivating force for the retreat to Chase and Back-Lake. I found the Durrs to be stand-offish in 1976, suspicious of newcomers to the land, even fellow "hippie" brothers. This may be due to personal paranoia and the more-people-coming fear, which is the message I got. As it turns out Durr managed to outlast the other '70s settlers in Chase of which I was one, albeit briefly. That evidently was what he wanted in the first place.

This is a great little book and a fun read. It takes a lot of guts to do what Bob Durr did. His descriptions of the Alaskan bush and the people who live and work there are wonderful. Everyone should meet a person like Pope at least once in their lives. The philosophical discussions on board the fishing boat were sometimes tedious and less than believable, but somehow it all works. I hope Durr will write another book about the rest of his life in Alaska.

Didn't really like cold man cometh. Did'nt realize was same writer. This is a good read. Interesting.Short, flows well.

Great read for anyone who wants to get a flavor of the Alaska life and great figurative return for those who have lived it. It is also great literature because he was an English professor.

I agree wholeheartedly with Bob Durr's assertion that the appeal of the frontier is a mainstay in the American psyche. As a result, I looked forward to his perspective as a transplanted academic in the blue collar wilderness world of Alaska. The anecdotes he shares are enjoyable, although not particularly enlightening, as are the discussions with Pope in which Bob waxes philosophic at times. These are not enough. How was the emotional transition from the East coast academic world, and its associated creature comforts, to the Alaska frontier? What is the daily routine in the frontier aside from the salmon fishing? Yes, we know you drank a lot. Share some of the background and insight into your friends and associates to get a better sense of the Alaska fabric.

For what it is, a story of Alaska salmon fishing, Bristol Bay is an enjoyable read. For those readers looking for more than this, wait until Mr. Durr's next book in which he suggests he will share the trials and stress of raising a family in Alaska.

I read this book a little over a year ago, so it is not exactly fresh in my mind, but I must say I disagree with most of the other reviewers here.

If you looked at every book's page on Amazon, you would see that the vast, vast majority of books have an average user ranking of 4 or 5 stars. I think this is because someone who picks up a book and think its junk won't bother to finish it, and rarely would bother to write a review. What ends up happening is that only those people who like a book rank it, and therefore almost everything gets a high ranking. Well, I didn't like this book, but I will take the time to write a review.

Parts of this book are entertaining, especially those dealing with moving his boat from SE Alaska to Bristol Bay, and some of the discussion on fishing. Overall, however, it seems that the author does a poor job of describing the natural majesty of his surroundings nor about the internal conflict of a man embarking on a new life.

Most annoying, however, is the author's slippage into the 3rd person when he describes drinking and 'adult partying' (don't know what words amazon will let me use here) when the rest of the book is in the 1st person. The narrator shows up at a party, and then all of a sudden it is someone else who is sleeping around on his wife.

Anyway, if you want to read a good book about fishing up in Alaska, check out Joe Upton's 'Alaska Blues'.