All Fishermen Are Liars: True Tales from the Dry Dock Bar

by Linda Greenlaw

Book Overview

Just before Christmas, Linda meets up with her best friend and fellow fisherman Alden Leeman for lunch and a drink at the Dry Dock, a well-worn watering hole in Portland, Maine. Alden, the captain of Linda's first fishing expedition, has seen his share of mishaps and adventures at sea. When Linda shares memories of navigating her ship through one of the craziest storms she's ever seen, Alden quickly follows up with his own tales. Then other fishermen,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1401300707
• ISBN13: 9781401300708
• Release Date: July 2004
• Publisher: Hachette Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.7" x 8.7"
• Age Range: 17 to 18 years
• Grade Range: Grade 12 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Grabs you at the beginning ...

.... and doesn't let go until the very last page ! To say I loved this book would be a very accurate statement. To be perfectly candid, I love Maine and stories about adventure so going into it I was very hopeful. Linda Greenlaw is an excellent story teller and I felt like she was in the room talking to me directly. What an amazing talent ! The premise of the book is that Linda has asked to meet her best friend of 24 years, Alden Leeman, at the Dry Dock watering hole to discuss the possibility of his retirement (or a least slowing down) from commercial fishing. As they have lunch and a few drinks, the noon hour stretches into afternoon and then early evening and then they finally close the place down. The book contains the stories swapped around the bar and tables of the Dry Dock during this marathon gab session. You get to meet the characters that are in the bar and hear some of their best sea faring stories as well as the stories of people they have come in contact with over the years. It really is a good, old-fashioned tall-tale swap with one person trying to out do the last. The people are described so well that I feel like I will recognize them the next time I am in the Portland area. The stories are entertaining and sometimes breath-taking and I found I had a hard time putting the book down. If you enjoy adventure stories (think Jon Kraukaur from "Into Thin Air" fame or Jean Deeds from "There are Mountains to Climb" about walking the Appalachian Trail) you are sure to enjoy this book. NOTE: I own the hardback version of this book and the pages beginning around 165 and until about page 172 are out of order and maybe even a page or two is missing.

Marine science, diving adventure, boat regulations and management and more blend with riveting adven

If it's a salty yarn you hunger for, you can't go wrong with swordfishing boat captain Linda Greenlaw's latest adventure All Fishermen Are Liars: True Adventures At Sea. Her sea stories are true and involve both death-defying and some funny challenges of professional sailors - from surviving a shipwreck by swimming 10 hours in a hurricane to using rock music as a tuna lure. Marine science, diving adventure, boat regulations and management and more blend with riveting adventure tales.

Hey, Linda, let's go for a drink.

At the beginning of this, her third and latest book, author Greenlaw says, "I could only hope that there might be someone who was interested in hearing more from me. I was full of apprehension and fear that...I had caught my last fish the trip before." No need to fear, in fact, if you keep writing like this you will soon be known not as the lady swordfish skipper from "The Perfect Storm," but as the writer of very good and popular seafaring books. Because that's what "All Fishermen Are Liars" is, a book of so-called true tales from the Dry Dock Bar in Portland, Maine, exchanged in one day-long session over scotch, red wine, beer, cigarettes and eventually coffee. Interspersed between the dozen or so fascinating tales of hair-rising and humorous episodes on board various boats, Greenlaw inserts what she calls "Bar Snacks," interesting tidbits regarding the fisherman's life, such as 10 excuses why there's no fish, top 10 fishermen's lies, and how to hire a crew. In addition to herself, there are three other storytellers: Alden, her fishing mentor, and George and Tommy, two guys that probably shouldn't be, but are life-long commercial fishermen. By the end of the evening, they are our friends, too, as Greenlaw paints them for us as the colorful characters they indeed are. Linda also says at one point that she is thinking of writing a seagoing epic fictional tale. Well, get to it. I can't wait to read it. And the offer stands. I don't ask many ladies out for a drink, well that's not exactly true, but I sure would like to tip a few with you.

It's the truth.

Fishermen ARE liars... they usually have time to ruminate enough to make up good ones so they do and Greenlaw IS a fisherman. Of course all good lies are extrapolated beyond some good truth. That's what makes them good. I don't know what it is that makes a good story teller, though. Maybe it is the ability to explain exactly who it is who is involved in the story so you know who she is talking about. I think I recognized myself scattered among all those people. Of course all liars are not fishermen.