Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Uncharted and Unlimited Laughs, April 23, 2008 By  Robert M. Clark - See all my reviews    This story reads like a fast, fun, tale with short, easy chapters and an a quick flow in the narrative. The cast of characters are all individuals who remind me of someone I know, or should have known from my past. They cover the gambit: Sweethearts,to Sticklers,to Slobs to Saints and a cross section of misfits for good measure. All with a lot of hilarity and good humor as we follow their adventures across the Pacific and beyond. This is a Sea Story with a lot of irony, and I learned a bit about what Merchant Marine Sea Life is like in reading it. There is the usual amount of Sailor's exagerrated telling and explaining of certain events which transpire, but it doesn't matter if you are reading first or second hand blarney...you will find a lot of humor and catch yourself chuckling as you read page after page. Some of the events which the characters encounter are to funny to attempt a description. I savored each chapter and read it during my stationery bike ride at the gym. It took my mind off that monotous task and entertained me, To Boot!. Ovedrall, I highly recommend this fast and easy story. To the author I ask, What happened to our Hero "Ted" and the Femme Fatale, "Blaze" in Brazil? Saving the answer for part two of an ongoing Seagoing Saga???....I hope so!  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)

Awesome Book!!, April 22, 2008 By  Todd Krekos "toddok75" (Southern California) - See all my reviews    I sure would like to have an inside look at this guys brain. He must be full of stories that are both adventurous as well as exciting. I must say it almost makes me want to go out and work on the open sea. It makes for a different type of life than I have, but one I sure would like to explore. Thanks for writing the book and sharing one of your many (I am sure, you have more) amazing tales.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)

Uncharted Waters is very good!, December 4, 2007 By  BookReview.com (Madison, WI United States) - See all my reviews There is no literary tradition stronger than the sea change. From "The Odyssey" to "Moby Dick," it's almost a genre of its own and certainly is not "uncharted waters." Perhaps that explains my initial disappointment with this book. There's a cocky narrator (who introduces himself to a woman waiting at an airport as "Bond. Jack Bond."), the requisite cast of wacky shipboard characters, description of foreign ports for horny sailors, etc., but what seems missing is any internal conflict that could lead to personal development and the obligatory epiphany. Then I decided to loosen up a bit and just enjoy this cavorting tale for what it is. I love the short chapters and authenticating nautical protocol (such as, Navy ships having a breakaway song they play when separating from another ship, for example, "Load Up an' Truck'n," by Jerry Reed of Smokey and the Bandit fame). When I thought back on my own service days--the camaraderie and those "war stories" we tried to top each other with around the bar--I thanked Theodore Carl Soderberg. Life is "a journey" rather than a destination. I would have given the cover a more human face. Blaze, the short-order cook who purportedly is a mob leader's mol--helping her means death for any guy, like the narrator, who tries--stretches credibility but does add an ongoing sense of peril. Here and there we get a guy perspective on the world: "The Middle East has conditions similar to a ship's engine room, and it isn't an exaggeration to say these people (the ones in the engine room) are volatile and exhibit bizarre behavior... The Mideast has sand storms, lack of water, no food and then just when it cools down and you think its going to be okay in come the flies... I think we should all be grateful that there is no engine room noise and vibration and oily fumes in the Middle East, because (then) the world would certainly have detonated long ago..." But what I really liked was Farley's chapter describing why he went into rehab and the ominous turn the book takes when their ship is sent to the war in Iraq. Then there is Murray the K, a cross dressing, loose cannon obsessed with cleaning supplies. Ishmael, you had it easy.