Having survived Borneo, Amazonia, and the Congo, the indefatigable Redmond O’Hanlon sets off on his next adventure: his own perfect storm, in the wild waters off the northern tip of Scotland. Equipped with a fancy Nikon, an excessive supply of socks, and no seamanship whatsoever, O’Hanlon joins the commercial fishing crew of the Norlantean, a deep-sea trawler, to stock a bottomless hull with their catch, even as a hurricane roars around them. Rich in oceanography, marine biology, and uproarious humor, Trawler is Redmond O’Hanlon at his finest.
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From Publishers Weekly
Deviating from his usual excursions into the world's rainforests, O'Hanlon (No Mercy) finagles his way onto a Scottish deep-sea fishing boat headed into the North Atlantic waters in January, "the very worst time of year," when storm winds are at their most forceful. The captain and crew seem to like O'Hanlon well enough, even if he is a "mad, seasick writer who's no use to anyone," prone to staring off into the distance when he gets distracted by his thoughts, and he conveys a genuine affection for them as he records their stories. Since there's little to do aboard the ship other than help his marine biologist friend catalogue the various fishes they pull up, and no real scenery to describe besides the wind and the rain, O'Hanlon gets into one long conversation after another—or maybe just one long conversation with intermittent interruptions, as a certain degree of sameness creeps in. O'Hanlon and his shipmates are equally excitable, especially under their sleep-deprived conditions, leading to dialogue peppered with exclamation points and fevered theories about near-total homosexuality within the 19th-century British navy and the possibility that women find trawlermen attractive because fish smell like human pheromones. Though the unrelenting, incongruous manic tone may be off-putting to newcomers, fans of O'Hanlon's trouble-filled sagas will feel right at home. Photos, illus. not seen by PW.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Bookmarks Magazine
In Trawler, O’Hanlon (No Mercy, In Trouble Again), a British naturalist and adventurer, takes readers on a hallucinogenic journey. Extraordinary (or nauseating, depending on the perspective) first-hand accounts of the ship, the close quarters, the smell, the fear, and the seasickness bring his experience to life. It’s no picnic—just call Trawler a hellish travelogue or dark comedy as O’Hanlon’s sleep-deprived sea companions slowly lose their minds. The best parts include conversations between the author and biologist Luke Bullough, who talk science as they examine their monstrous sea findings (portrayed in beautiful black and white drawings). The worst parts include these same musings, which a few critics described as overworked monologues. Still, armchair sailors will find much value in the unfamiliar, nightmarish world O’Hanlon depicts.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Five stars or no star?,
This review is from: Trawler: A Journey Through the North Atlantic (Hardcover)
So you've noticed. Some reviewers give enthusiastic accolades, while others seem to denounce it. But why such polarized views?
This is where the "expectation" can ruin your appetite. It is probably safe to say that Trawler by Redmond O'Hanlon is a unique and unusual read for everyone. The book could have discussed a plethora of political, economical and ecological issues surrounding Scottish fishing industry. Or could the scholastic O'Hanlon have delved into the biology of deep sea fauna. Each of such approaches would have led to a great story, but as it is, Trawler is about something else. O'Hanlon chose to limit himself to what had actually happened aboard a commercial trawler out in the frigid North Atlantic. He decided to focus on a handful of unfamiliar experiences that made his trip very special; the relentless weather and the incessant physical labors, the severe sleep deprivation, the encyclopedic knowledge displayed by a young biology student on the ship and the curious comradeship (or shall we say, the shipmateship) among the rough, hard-talking crews. The horrific weather is evident throughout the book; the simplest move is with utmost difficulty. And the first casualty is, of course, the author's GI tract. There is very little sense of time passing, which testifies to the hectic but monotonous nature of the trade. But most importantly, it is the sense of sleep deprivation (miserable brain malfunction) that O'Hanlon succeeds most in conveying; the bombardment of non-stop, uncontrollable, loosely structured sentences. A big chaos. A real stream-of-consciousness. But he manages to stop short of becoming gibberish. Yes, there are numerous chaotic passages, but they are there to help the (mock) experience of the reader. With all these, Trawler still manages to be informative; Greenland halibut and Orange roughy (critically overfished in the North Atlantic; try to avoid them at grocery store), a fear of becoming uxorious (being overly fond of one's wife) and the concept of sexual selection and alpha mates (O'Hanlon seems to be obsessed with this). O'Hanlon has an aloof sense of humor but is also poignant at a few key moments. Overall, it is an entertaining read. About two-thirds into the book, at the height of this all-neurons-gone-haywire, O'Hanlon's conversation with one of the most rugged shipmates of all, Robbie, reaches a revelation; the reason why he approached this book in the way he did. A good effort.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Bad case of sleep-deprived testosterone poisoning,
By
This review is from: Trawler: A Journey Through the North Atlantic (Hardcover)
I usually like O'Hanlon's books...I usually can't put them down. But this one...well, I'm just not sure I like it at all. Written in what O'Hanlon, I'm sure, thinks is a style akin to the sleep-deprived ramblings he must have encountered on the trawler, the book instead veers into incoherence and becomes only annoying. Revelations only work if you feel some sympathy and identification with the speaker and I found the speakers, with one exception, highly uninteresting and unsympathetic. Only big Bryan held my interest and I wanted to hear more from him.
I found myself heartily sick of Luke, the walk-on-water marine biologist...he was like an orchestra work comprised of one note, played over and over and over. Jason the skipper...same thing. O'Hanlon invests them with a false nobility that just grates on the nerves after awhile. I can't recommend this book, but I heartily recommend O'Hanlon's other works.
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Natural history and fishing culture at a manic pace,
By
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This review is from: Trawler: A Journey Through the North Atlantic (Hardcover)
After reading "In Trouble Again" and "Into the Heart of Borneo" I had pegged O'Hallahan as a prime example of the British "Fish out of water, funny things happen" school of travel writing. Sort of Bill Bryson in really exotic places. And I really liked these books.
"Trawler" is something else, though. The setting this time is not some tropical jungle, but a fishing vessel in the middle of a winter storm in the Northern Atlantic. Nature becomes a terrorizing presence that robs the people on the boat of peace of mind and sleep, and leads to frenzied, almost delusional conversations about everything from life on small islands to marine biology. The pace is close to Hunter Thompson's drug-addled ramblings, but here it is driven by the need to make sense of at least something in the face of the on-slaught of the elements. The ideas expressed in the book would be interesting even if expressed in a more conventional setting, but the rythm that is pushed onto the people on the boat by the storm makes it irresitable. As much as I liked "The Lobster Chronicles", I don't think it holds a candle to this book.
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