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    Time Bandit: Two Brothers, the Bering Sea, and One of the World's Deadliest Jobs
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    Time Bandit: Two Brothers, the Bering Sea, and One of the World's Deadliest Jobs
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    Time Bandit: Two Brothers, the Bering Sea, and One of the World's Deadliest Jobs
    Ebook272 pages4 hours

    Time Bandit: Two Brothers, the Bering Sea, and One of the World's Deadliest Jobs

    By Andy Hillstrand, Johnathan Hillstrand and Malcolm MacPherson

    3/5

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    About this ebook

    “Many brave hearts are asleep in the deep, so beware, beware,” goes the chorus of an old sailors’ sing-along that celebrates the allure and danger of the seafaring life. But make no mistake–there truly is much to beware for those who are drawn to risk their lives and seek their fortunes upon the waves. And perhaps none take more chances than the men and women who brave the tempestuous, bountiful waters of the Bering Sea. Season after season, they bond and battle with its icy depths, determined to reap yet one more rewarding harvest while eluding the ever-present threat of sudden, certain death. And among the rapidly diminishing ranks of these die-hard salts, brothers Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand have forged a reputation as fierce masters of their treacherous, enthralling trade. If you’ve watched their exploits on TV’s Deadliest Catch, you’ve only scratched the surface. To read Time Bandit is to step into their skins, smell the sea air, feel the frigid wind, and know with all your senses the exhilarating, and terrifying life on the edge.

    Natives of tiny, fishing hamlet, Homer, Alaska; sons of a hard-bitten, highly successful fisherman; and born with brine in their blood, the Hillstrand boys couldn’t imagine a life without a swaying deck underfoot and a harvest of mighty Alaskan king crabs waiting to be pulled from the ocean floor. In pursuit of their daily catch, the brothers brave ice floes and heaving waves 60 feet high, the perils of 1000-lb steel traps thrown about by the punishing wind, and the constant menace of the open, hungry water.

    Even the brothers’ downtime on land–where the deadly realities of the unforgiving sea are never far from their minds–is lived as if borrowed: fast and hard, haunted by the knowledge that the next season at sea could end asleep in the deep.

    Here is the Hillstrands’ own heartfelt hymn to the brutally hard, gloriously independent, and mysteriously soul-satisfying life that has earned them their daily bread and defined their existence. By turns raucous and reflective, exhilarating and anguished, enthralling, suspenseful, and wise, Time Bandit chronicles a larger-than-life love affair as old as civilization itself–a love affair between striving, willful man and inscrutable, enduring nature.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRandom House Publishing Group
    Release dateApr 8, 2008
    ISBN9780345507273

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    Reviews for Time Bandit

    3/5

    54 ratings54 reviews

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    • 3/5
      First off, 'Deadliest Catch' is the most "real" reality show on television. Secondly, this is a book by first time writers, but long time brothers (with help from MacPherson). Thirdly, my copy was an uncorrected proof. Now, on to the review.The brothers Hillstrand are certifiably crazy! Putting this book down when needed was very hard to do. Reading about playing with firecrackers, hitting the rough seas at an early age to earn a living, or being in the middle of a drunken brawl is more than enough reason to keep on reading. It just seems impossible that anyone can live this way, but all Hillstrands have done so. And furthermore, they continue to do so. Whether you are a fan of the show, or of juvenile disobedience--even at an older age--this book is a perfect read for satisfaction.[Drawbacks of proofs are inevitable, and I have no way of knowing right away what the finished print is like. Aside from grammar mistakes, including some brain-twisting sentences, there is the rough timeline of the book. Jonathan has interspersed through many chapters, a riveting story about how he almost ..., eh, maybe I shouldn't say more on that subject. But, in the end, I felt it was a struggle going back and forth between a battle between man and sea, and the MANY ordeals the brothers have faced growing up, and working on the boat. If there was a better division between these two styles, and not this mixing, the book could have gotten another 1-and-a-half stars from me.]
    • 2/5
      I didn't read the review well enough when I selected this book. I started reading it and realized that this was almost identical to the TV series which was very disappointing to me. I read it, and enjoyed the book, but could not get overly enthusiastic about it because it was like I was reading it for the second time - I had already watched most of the TV series. I think the guys that do this job are definitely crazy and should be regularly checked by psychiatrists, however, it is a job that they appear to love.I only gave this book two stars because to me, it is simply a rehash of the TV series, and in my more sarcastic ways, think it's just them trying to capitalize on every financial avenue available to them. I fully expect to see toy boats modeled after their fishing boats any day on the shelves at Walmart.
    • 4/5
      I got this book through the Early Reviewers program. At the time, I had never seen the Deadliest Catch, so had no clue who these guys were. I was just interested in Alaska and being a Great Lakes girl, boats interested me. I really enjoyed the book. It was a very readable and entertaining. There were a lot of Wow! moments. When I got cable, I tuned into the show and found that the voice in the book was very authentic.
    • 2/5
      Being a fan of the "Deadliest Catch" TV show, I expected to really enjoy this book. I was disappointed. As with most books of this type, the "celebrity" authors (the two Captains Hillstrand, who are featured in the TV reality series "Deadliest Catch") worked with a professional writer in the creation of this book. In the best books of this type, the "pro" keeps his or her own personality in low profile, and you can almost HEAR, in your mind, the subjects of the book saying their piece in their own voices. Unfortunately, I didn't feel this was the case here, especially in the sections featuring Jonathan. The CONTENT of the stories fit my expectations based on what I'd seen of the Hillstrands on TV. My problem was with the stilted prose used in the telling of the stories. Once in a while Jonathan's voice came through lound a clear, but I could not imagine him saying 90 percent of what was written in "his" first-person account. (It was a bit less of an issue for me in Andy's sections, perhaps because he comes across as a little more well-spoken than his brother on TV.) I found this so distracting that it was difficult to really enjoy what might have otherwise been a very interesting account of life lived on the edge in a very perilous profession. It might have been helpful if their pro co-author had focused more on helping them better organize the stories they were telling into a more unified, easier-to-follow, book.
    • 2/5
      This book is entertaining, but somewhat unfocused. There are two narrators, which at first was confusing, but I got used to it. Above all, I know I will never complain about the price of seafood...
    • 2/5
      I received this book as part of the Early Reviewer program and was highly anticipating reading it. I've never watched The Deadliest Catch but everyone I mentioned the book to had and they were all extremely envious that I was getting a "first look" at it. In hindsight, I don't think they should have been. The book is co-written by Andy & Johnathan Hillstrand and Malcolm Macpherson. To me, the sections written by Mr.Macpherson were extremely obvious. The brothers Hillstrand are fishermen and Mr.Macpherson is a writer. Each man is a professional and, in my opinion, should stick to his given profession from now on. I'm sure Mr.Macpherson would fare as well catching crabs on the Bering Sea as the Hillstrand brothers did in writing about their lives and families. Fishermen on the Bering Sea seem to lead interesting, dangerous lives and I think the realities of their lives could have been better communicated by someone who was a professional writer or, if nothing else, with the help of a meticulous editor. As Jonathan and Andy did most of the narration of the story, there seemed to be a lot of repetition of anecdotes and family history as well as excessive braggadocio. Having never watched the show, it was difficult for me to develop any sort of attachment to the characters in the story since they were never appropriately fleshed out. For people who have been regular viewers of The Deadliest Catch, this book may hold more appeal. Overall, this book gives the feeling of having been (quickly) created to attempt to further cash in on the popularity of the television show. If you have better prospects on your reading horizon, don't hesitate to catch them and release this one back into the wild.
    • 3/5
      Time Bandit is the story of the Hillstrand brothers, Alaskan crab fishermen. They are just 2 of the men featured on the Discovery Channel show, Deadliest Catch. I'm a fan of the show so I was interested in reading this account of the lives of Johnathan and Andy. Part of the premise of the book is that Johnathan is adrift in a disabled boat on a fishing trip away from Alaska's Bering Sea. As he tells of his predicament, he also recounts his life story and other crab fishing anecdotes. Other chapters are told from his brother's Andy perspective, who spends his off season on a horse farm in Idaho. Luckily, this is a short, quick read since I started to tire of the back and forth between reminiscing and Johnathan's current dilemma. Many paragraphs started off with "once, we were" and "one time" and then went into another scrape the boys got into. Overall, if you're a fan of the show, you'll enjoy this quick account of one its more colorful characters.
    • 1/5
      I was excited to receive this book as an Early Review, but was sorely disappointed. The writing is disjointed, tangential, and crass. I was almost embarrassed for Johnathan as he recounted his love affairs with women and alcohol. The language was over-colloquial with contractions, expletives, and jargon. The chapters are not cohesive nor are they clear about the identity of the person speaking. It was unfortunate that there was not a unifying story running through the book. The episodes of Johnathan adrift in a boat were too far apart to maintain that cohesion.
    • 4/5
      Time Bandit reveals a mix of moments both terrifying and hilarious. The book has commentary by both brothers, Andy and John Hillstrand, that could have been more clearly organized. Perhaps the chaos was reflective of their chosen profession. That said, there's no denying the power of their stories and for those who love tails of adventure, this is a good one.
    • 3/5
      A look into the lives of two brothers that are commercial crab fishermen and are featured on the Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch. The three Fs are well covered, here - fishing, fighting, and..never mind. There is some interesting information about the business of crabbing but also a tendency toward overphilosophizing about the manliness and daring of the crabber.
    • 3/5
      What can I say that has not already been said? If you're looking for book about Alaskan fishing, this is one man's story about that lifestyle. However, it is not a well written one, and whoever was the ghost writer failed to make these stories cohesive or interesting and failed to correct what is obviously amateur grammar and writing skills. The book drags and the author repeats himself several times about his love of booze, fishing, and women, which is interspersed with stories about fishing, women, and drinking. I did enjoy some of the stories about friends and family, but they are presented in what is a jarring, crude, and disjointed brag fest about how rough and tough Alaskan fishermen are and that wears thin after about 50 pages. This book would be much improved with better writing and editing, and I believe having some visuals of the boats and men and life of a fisherman would assist the reader in appreciating and understanding life on the Bering Strait. Overall, this is a middle of the road effort by an amateur who is better suit to be on television than in print. Better luck next time.
    • 4/5
      There are many anecdotes that are entertaining and fund to read throughout this memoir. But it is really more a collection of tales on the sea than a memoir. The tales are told in no particular order and the relevance to the preceeding story is not always clear. The set-up was confusing when it bounced back and forth between Johnathan's real-time predicament and the stories from the past; however, I had an advance reader's copy and this might have been made more clear in the final version. Overall, a very entertaining collection of sea tales but not much more than that.
    • 3/5
      I'm not quite sure how much of this I took in beyond the realization that these guys are completely insane, and that I never ever want to be on a boat in the Bering Sea. The book is fun, fast-paced, intense. When Jonathan is narrating it almost feels like he's just sitting there talking. He just jumps from one topic to another. But, they are all great stories and he has a lot of them. There are at least three general themes. The first is the one and only reoccurring story, that of Jonathan alone on boat with a fried engine and no communication/locater equipment. The second theme is on fishing in the Bering Sea, a job that has something like an 8% fatality rate. This is the heart of the book, where, when everything goes right, the seas are stormy, the equipment heavy and the crew works for days on end without rest. These stories are intense even when they don't including mauling, hypothermia and death.The third theme is Jon and Andy's personal life, including childhood with a rough father and constant daredevil acts, gory injuries and many near death experiences. One horrifying episode is intentionally set-up by their father, where he sends the boys out into the freezing stormy water, almost drowning one boy with the lesson that they should never give up. Later in the book he tells his sons "I have given you boys every means at my disposal to kill yourselves, and you have failed." These guys are obsessive dare-devils, especially Jonathan. I don't think they can stand anything safe.Jonathan writes "I feel small in universe when I am at sea in an 80-knot blow. I am staring into the abyss. The edge of the earth is over the horizon. I have not yet gone off that edge, but I have seen it. I know my insignificance." The book left me with a bit of a rush.
    • 2/5
      Time BanditTwo Brothers, the Bering Sea, and One of the World’s Deadliest JobsAndy and Johnathan Hillstrand, with Malcom MacPhersonBallantine BooksPrice: $25.00; Released April 2008 The Hillstrand brothers, for those not familiar with Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch, own and operate a crab fishing boat out of Alaska. The TV show follows them and other crab crews over the season. Time Bandit is the brothers’ story of how they became fisherman, how it affects their lives off the boat and the large amounts of alcohol, nicotine and sugar that are consumed during the crab season.The book opens outside the crab season with Johnathan fishing for salmon alone. His boat runs into trouble and without engines and a radio he is at the mercy of the sea. His story serves as a framing device for the rest of the book. While on the boat, Johnathan “remembers” events from his childhood and days as a fisherman. Interspersed with Johnathan’s chapters are chapters from Andy, who is at his horse ranch in Indiana in the off season. Andy also looks back at his fishing life as well as offering some background on Alaskan, national and international laws and politics that govern the community. A few chapters from a third-person point-of-view describe what happens at the fishing camp when Johnathan doesn’t return and can’t be raised on the radio.At times, the interwoven stories are hard to follow. It’s difficult to tell one brother from the other before you get to a specific detail that says “I’m on the boat” or “I’m on the farm.” It’s best to think of the book, not as a linear story interrupted by flashbacks, but as a long evening or two in one of the bars the crab crews frequent with Johnathan and Andy telling you stories. Some are shorter than you want; others are longer. And just like a bar conversation, tangents pop up that derail what seemed like a really good story that you never get back to.Also, just like a bar conversation, the brothers talk about their friends and employees as if you also knew them. For someone who’s not that familiar with the TV series, descriptions of crabbers other than the Hillstrands are light. Readers get to know these men in broad strokes through snippets of stories involving near injury or arguments with the captains.The book is at its best when the brothers take the time to flesh out the narrative and explain their jobs thoroughly. Johnathan describes a crab run that frustrates the men at first before the pots starts filling up. On its way to a processing center to drop off their $200,000 catch, the boat runs into pack ice. The story is occasionally interrupted by a tangent or the salmon story, but it’s told in full and keeps you turning the pages. Andy’s piece on the rationalization of crab fishing, which involves a lengthy discussion of Derby Day and Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act, would seem to be a dry discussion of evolving legislation. Instead, it becomes one of the more interesting pieces of the book as he describes how the law changed how he works and the concerns he and his colleagues have over the future of the industry. Both men describe these pieces with passion; readers safe in their armchairs come away with an understanding of what life on the Bering Sea is like.Unfortunately, the overall narrative is often choppy. If you’re having a bar conversation and are just as drunk as the guy telling tales, you’re okay with the tangents and distractions. If you’re the designated driver, you have trouble following the conversation and want to ask a lot of follow-up questions. Andy’s explanation of rationalization, although well written for the most part, has a confusing framing. It begins with Andy walking to the Indiana barn to check out his horses; his thoughts about change lead to the rationalization discussion. At the end of it, however, as he describes how the old ways are disappearing, he is suddenly on a plan with a pilot announcing an imminent landing in Alaska. This disconnect is typical of the book. A careful reader will want to look back at previous pages, thinking he’s lost the thread of the book. No thread has been lost; a new one was picked up without warning.For fans of Deadliest Catch, Time Bandit may be a fast read with the confusion absent thanks to familiarity with the authors and setting. For someone not as familiar, the book is best read in small chunks with the ability to skim over the shorter tangents and confusing bits to reach the longer stories.
    • 3/5
      A book for any fan of the TV Show Deadliest Catch , A Very testasterone filled book,, Lot's of fighting, cursing, and fishing. If that stuff interests you than this is a book for you,,Oh Yea They catch 3 different types of crabs in absolutely crazy and deadly conditions, They tell bad, sexist jokes,, and you find out why people pay $$$ For king Crab Legs
    • 3/5
      Time Bandit is a simple tale from a simple fisherman. Granted, this fisherman fishes the most dangerous seas around and develops many tales from that. This book would never be remotely mistaken for literature. It reminds me more along the lines of telling tales through oral tradition. This isn't because he necessarily tells tall tales, though I do question the truth in many of them, just the way he writes or speaks.Reading this, I was going to write that the first chapter, written primarily by Johnathan Hillstrand, is more of a primer for the life the brothers lead, but by the time I finished the book, I realized it never stopped this format. Because of this, he goes off on tangents frequently, and a lot of times, for too long. The book is packed full of various mini-stories with everything on how they outfit their boat to some of their more memorable crew. I think this entire book could have been streamlined a great deal. It doesn't seem to have any real strong direction to it. There is a plot of sorts, in that Johnathan is stranded on his 'vacation' boat and his friend is trying to find him, but this plot is so weak that it really is unnecessary. It probably would have been better without the pretense of any kind of plot, whatsoever. I have to agree with one of the other reviews that I read. That is, I wanted to like this book, and maybe at another time with some different editing, I would have liked it, but overall this book was a great disappointment. I had a difficult time picking it back up after I had set it down and it took far too long to read, considering it's length and scope. I rarely toss my books in the bin, but that is exactly where this one is headed. Two and half stars.
    • 3/5
      Just finished reading this book as part of the Early Readers program and I must say I have mixed feelings about it.The book (in print only because of the popularity of "The Deadliest Catch" on Discovery) is essentially a series of anecdotal stories about growing up in a fisherman's family and living the fisherman's life. While this could certainly be entertaining and engrossing since it's real life, the narrative felt very flat for me for several reasons. First, the story wanders all over the map between trying to advance the "core" storyline and just throwing in mentions of incidents and musings about the world seemingly at random.It's a quick read, but even so it tended to get repetitive and the alternating first person POV did not come off particularly well for me.Another large problem was that many of the situations were not explained well enough to grasp the emotional aspect of the setting. The authors seem to have forgotten that not many readers will intricately know the workings on a crab boat and they fail to engage the reader because of this.By page 15 I was dying for a basic map! Listing every bay, inlet, bank and port in the area gets tedious if you are reading without reference.The book needs some better editing and more skillful writing. I laughed a few times when the fisherman threw out those $5 words -- as if he'd say that in real life.The best parts of this book are the details about life on the high seas and the insight into the fishing industry, costs of doing business, etc. And while some of the anecdotes were entertaining, some just sounded boastful and crazy. I'm not sure there was a tale here that didn't involve booze, fighting or serious injury.Overall, this reads like a book where the co-author, MacPherson, just took every story told by the brothers and threw it in at random. The disjointedness just ruins the narrative.
    • 3/5
      There is no question that [Time Bandit] finds an eager audience among the fans of the American TV show “Deadliest Catch,” but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the book stands up well on its own as an entertaining and informative read. The brothers Hillstrand have a pirate’s lode of great fishing stories, but the book doesn’t stop there. They are also admirably candid about their personal histories and the tough issues they deal with on land (families, obligations, personal demons, compliance with fishing regulations, outfitting for the next fishing run, hiring/firing crew, etc).The first and dominant voice in the narrative is Johnathan Hillstrand whose delivery struck me as egotistical and arrogant to the point that I almost didn’t stick around to give the book a chance--but I’m glad I did. After all, the book opens with the “bad boy of the Bering Sea” perilously adrift and alone, and even if he does seem a bit full of himself, I wanted to see how he would get out of his dire predicament. His situation is life-threatening and serves as the literary means to reflect on his life--kind of a slow-motion version of seeing your lifetime pass before your eyes before you die. Thus unfolds Johnathan’s entertaining story, reminiscences of his life, interspersed with the narrative of his brother Andy and the fellow fishermen who eventually rescue him.At first, I thought the writing style was too unpolished and the tone overbearingly arrogant but as I got to “know” Johnathan better, and then his brother Andy, I decided to cut them some slack. After all, if fishermen were born to be writers, they wouldn’t be fishermen, and vice versa. Thankfully, the authors had the good sense to enlist the help of seasoned writer Malcolm MacPherson who I presume is responsible for creating a cohesive work from two lifetimes of harrowing stories. More effort in that direction would have improved the book even more.I give this book praise for being entertaining. The tales of near death, living on the edge, the roughness of life on land and sea gave me a great escape into a world I could never approach in my real life. I take points off for the literary weakness of the book which is apparently aimed at the established TV audience as a “mixed media” marketing effort. When the TV show eventually ends and the DVD market is sated, the book will not have enough literary quality to sustain it as a book alone. Sharing similarities with [Time Bandit] in subject matter, here are a few recommendations which have more substance as literary works: [The Hungry Ocean] and [The Lobster Chronicles] by [Linda Greenlaw], [The Perfect Storm] by [Sebastian Junger], [Hen Frigates] by [Joan Druett], [Cod] by [Mark Kurlansky].I offer these comments with thanks to publisher Ballantine Books and LibraryThing for this advance reading copy; however, it should be noted that the ARC was not sent to me prior to the book’s release, so I felt no particular urgency to read it quickly in order to post a review by the release date.
    • 1/5
      Poor writing and a rambling, fragmented story make for one horrible book. It reads like a rambling drunk telling outrageous tales that barely make sense. Making a living in the Bering Sea is certainly an interesting subject, but this book doesn't take advantage of it.
    • 1/5
      I spent a good part of the summer after my freshman year in college on the Bering Sea and I watch the Deadliest Catch with mixed nostalgia and fascination. Yet with all of this I only finished this book because I agreed to review it. The book is centered around the weak plot device of Andy Hilstrand being "lost at sea." It might have worked if anyone had edited this book to give it some sort of cohesive thread. Instead it is a disjointed series of bar stories that flip from how much Andy misses his dead dog to how great it was to get beaten by his drunken dad. I can appreciate the effort that goes into writing a book, but I fail to see why someone didn't take the less repugnant of Andy's stories and make them readable. It’s hard not to judge the content along with the writing and as I read I just felt less and less that Andy Hilstrand was someone who I wanted to know. This would not be relevant if this was a work of fiction, but it isn’t it’s a mish-mash of stories from the life of someone lucky enough to do interesting things. The irony here is that the main demographic for this book are not people who generally read books. I am sure this won’t hurt the sales much because they will milk the connection to the TV show for all it is worth and people will buy it buy the potfull.
    • 2/5
      This book is about the two brothers, Johnathan and Andy Hillstrand, who captain the Alaskan fishing boat "Time Bandit" featured in the Discovery Channel series The Deadliest Catch. I watched a few episodes of this show before reading the book to get a feel for what it's like. I think the book was written to take advantage of the show's popularity. The stories Andy and Johnathan tell about their modern-day adventures are realistic, interesting and exciting. I learned a lot about Alaskan fishing (perhaps more than I wanted to know; the section on federal regulations was a rather tedious but important part of the story).However, the book itself is very poorly written. I received an advance copy from Ballantine Books/Random House through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program, but the book did not arrive until well after the April 8 publication date. I have not seen a copy of the book as published, so perhaps some of the problems I've noted were addressed in the final book.The narrative is told from the first-person viewpoints of both Andy and Johnathan. Trouble is, the book does not indicate who is narrating each passage - you have to figure it out (if you can) from the context. The book also jumps around in time. The book is loosely held together with a "real-time" predicament of Johnathan's (he's adrift alone in a small fishing boat with no radio), but that is interspersed with stories from the past, and at times it can be difficult to tell them apart.Despite the presence of a co-writer (MacPherson has written more than a dozen books and was a former correspondent for Time and Newsweek), paragraphs are often long and jump from topic to topic. The book would have benefited from more editing.
    • 4/5
      Time Bandit is and adventure filled with danger and peril. The story is framed by Jonathan floating adrift in the Cook Inlet on his disabled Salmon Fishing boat Fishing Fever. This story keeps the book moving as short snippets are scattered among the chapters to keep the reader wanting more.The men of the Time Bandit are cowboys both on and off the Bering Sea. Living a hard and fast life which for Jonathan is a life of motorcycles, fights, women, and more fishing. Andy leads the ranch life raising horses with his wife and Daughter in Indiana.The book starts off in an incoherent fashion jumping from story to story giving the reader a taste of the tales to come. The story then turns to life in Homer Alaska growing up on the water with their fisherman father. The narrative moves back and forth between the brothers each telling their own parts of the story. The book is an honest and interesting account of these men's lives both on and off the Bering Sea.The story of Jonathan floating adrift helps to accentuate the book and bring the stories together giving the reader a taste of the danger that these men face each time they go to sea.The book is a good supplement to the Discovery television series Deadliest Catch. Jonathan and Andy explain the history of crab fishing and how the system of IFQs(Individual Fishing Quotas) works. They fill in some of the blanks from the show of how things are done on the Bering Sea. If you are at all interested in Crab fishing or want to taste the adventure of an Alaskan fisherman this book is for you.
    • 4/5
      I have been a fan of the show "Deadliest Catch" since the beginning. My husband is in the Coast Guard and was actually present during the filming of the first season. I grew up on boats (mostly sailing) all throughout my childhood. And I love any good sea story. So I went into reading "Time Bandit" with a lot of knowledge and history; especially having read a lot of books on historical nautical voyages. The narrative changes between the two brothers and even the other author steps in once or twice I believe; and during the first chapter, the narrative was all over the place without a really linear viewpoint. I thought to myself, "uh oh. A non-writer has written a book and I won't be able to follow a thing." But I got into the swing of Jonathan's style. You have to read it as if your speaking with someone face to face. It's a much more conversational type of style than most which you have to expect from a person who is not writing for a living - he's out fishing and living that life - which is what I wanted to hear about anyway.Fans of the show will understand a lot of references, I think, more than others, but all in all, it's a well done book. Both brothers make no apologies for the crazy lives that they lead. They try to explain their lives and perspectives and I really enjoyed it. They definitely tell it like it is.Life in Alaska isn't easy. Life on the Bering Sea is even harder. There aren't many people in the world that could tell you about this life and I think Andy and Jonathan did a great job with the book. I really enjoyed the stories; I liked getting more information about the industry of fishing in Alaska; and the crazy antics that they would get into as kids reminded me of my own siblings (maybe with a little less of the death-defying acts involved). I think the only negative is that it was difficult to sense at first what the narrative was but if you read it knowing that you have to go with their flow (and not one that you are imposing on it), it's a fantastic read. Well done.
    • 2/5
      Time Bandit is not to be confused with the movie Time Bandits. The book is named for the boat, which in turn was named for the movie. The F/V (Fishing Vessel) Time Bandit may be familiar to viewers of the Discovery Channel series Deadliest Catch. Time Bandit is one of the crab boats featured in the series. The book is co-authored by brothers, and co-captains, Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand. Many thanks to LibraryThing Early Reviewer for sending me a copy of this book to read and review.I think this book will appeal to readers who enjoy watching the show. If you’ve been a regular viewer, you probably have some liking for the characters and more than a cursory interest in the work they do. For those who don’t know, the F/V Time Bandit fishes for Alaskan king crab in the Bering Sea. As you can imagine, the Bering Sea is a dangerous place to be, especially during the winter crab fishing season, and most certainly aboard a working fishing boat. The seas are rough, often with very high waves, storms are frequent, and the work is difficult and dangerous. The crew works for days with little or no sleep, thereby increasing the danger. If you wonder why Alaskan king crab is so costly, this book certainly explains it all.How many times do we have to read that John Hillstrand likes fishing, drinking and women (in that order!)? Why does he fish? Because that’s how he was raised. The Hillstrand brothers are relatively uneducated, and probably not very well-read. Their narrative style seems better suited to a television audience.The brothers, particularly John, seem to spend an inordinate amount of time cursing, fighting, and performing daring rescues at sea (or being rescued or thrown in jail). The story in Time Bandit is framed by John drifting alone in Cook Inlet on the F/V Fishing Fever. He was aboard the Fishing Fever during off-season for crab, and was fishing for salmon when the engine blew up. So-the book starts with John adrift, and ends, quite predictably with his rescue. Obviously he is rescued or there would be no memoir.Personally, I did not find this book particularly appealing. I found the writing to be amateurish and repetitive. The co-writer, Malcolm MacPeherson and the editors should have had more input; maybe then the book would have been a fraction as suspenseful and exciting as fishing the Bering Sea.
    • 4/5
      Ok, let's be honest. I've been fishing, I've eaten crab, and I can find the Bering Sea on a map. This would be the only things I have in common with the authors of this book, and probably most of the people who might read it. Not the best qualifications for a reviewer, one might think. But here I am, reviewing this book, and I have only one thing to say: I loved it! "Time Bandit" was entertaining, informative, and suspenseful. I visited the book's web site for more information, and I've already recommended it to about twenty people (yes, mostly guys). Even though I don't own a television, I've already decided to drop by a friend's house tomorrow and watch the show "Deadliest Catch" on the Discovery Channel.Granted, it's not for everyone. There is more than a little swearing and other perhaps "objectionable" activities. But, after all, these are commercial fishermen. (Yes, several of Jesus' disciples were originally fishermen, but let's be realistic.) I found the rowdy writing style to be evocative of the personalities of these two men. I imagine we have Malcolm MacPherson to thank for that.The lifestyle of the commercial fisherman is one that most people will not only never experience, but may never even be aware of. That this book can capture some of this exhilirating, albeit grueling, line of work is a marvel.I'll never look at crab legs the same way again!
    • 4/5
      I am really enjoying this book as it tells a story in a way that I'm actually able to mentally picture the events occurring. I'm about 1/2 way done with it right now, so a more "formal" review will be coming in the near future. In the meantime, I promise not to peek at what others have said. As a sidenote, I am aware of the show, The Deadliest Catch, but haven't sat down to watch it as it's not really my cup of tea, nor that of my pre-teen boys.
    • 4/5
      There is something about fishermen: if you have the luck to be within earshot of one, you know you are going to be in for a story. At least half of it could be bullshit, but it won’t matter. The story is the point—not the truth. They aren’t journalists for chrissake, they’re fishermen. And if you know what’s good for you, you had better sit down and listen. You just might learn something.The Missus and I don’t get any television channels out here in the holler, so I wasn’t familiar with the Hillstrand brothers and the Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch show when I stumbled across their book. I’ll definitely be surfing the free cable in search of it the next time we find ourselves holed up in a Best Western. I’m a big fan of Sebastain Junger and his dispatches from the ragged edges of gainful employment, so Time Bandit caught my eye as a possibly entertaining and enlightening summer read in The Perfect Storm mode. I was not disappointed. These guys are the real deal.It was 105˚ in our front yard Saturday, so we grabbed the ice chest, some Lost Coast Alleycat Amber, and fled to the beach. I felt a little guilty reading about the brothers fighting the freezing, murderous Bering Sea while I was chillin’ in a lounge chair sipping Eureka’s finest, so to show some solidarity, I jumped into the ocean. Not quite the same experience, I now realize.If I could say one thing about the Hillstrands, it would be: they are insane. By the end of the book, you may understand why they became that way (genetics mostly), but it doesn’t change the reality of their condition one bit.Two days later and it’s cooled off considerably, but I wouldn’t know it since I’m sunburned all to hell. I just couldn’t put Time Bandit down long enough to seek some shade. There’s one cold Alleycat left and instead of pouring it on my tomato-colored chest, I think the Hillstrands have earned a toast. For every wound, a balm / for every sorrow, cheerFor every storm, a calm / for every thirst, a beer
    • 4/5
      If you are looking for a well written narrative detailing the mariner's life, Time Bandit is not for you. If you are looking for a romanticized sea yarn with heroes and villains, Time Bandit is not for you. If you are looking for a raw, point-of-view look at what drives a man to the sea, hooks him in, and ultimately casts him out, Time Bandit is the perfect read. Hillstrand's Time Bandit is an unfiltered glimpse into the lives of Alaskan fisherman—the harsh circumstances which rear them, the risks and rewards which entice them, and the harrowing lifestyle which keeps pulling them back. This book answers the questions of why and how from the eyes of one who breathes the salt. Fortunately Hillstrand is no Hemingway, for Time Bandit reads with an amateur, true-to-life edge. And for this we are fortunate. It is not often we are presented with a modern maritime narrative in such an unfiltered light. The western sea is increasingly for the rich, and Time Bandit removes the rose-colored lenses. Yes the story jumps around. Yes the characters are undeveloped. Yes the prose stumbles. But it is this raw edge which lends credence to the words, which reminds us that this is no fiction, no script, no television show. This is the world as men see it. This is true life. Time Bandit is a gem, not for the prose or the story, but for the rare first-hand look into the lives of contemporary men who live and die by the sea.
    • 3/5
      The story of one fishing family's experiences on the Bering Sea.I received this book via the Early Reviewers program, and I found it quite interesting. The authors have done a great job of capturing the feel of their profession. Personal stories and important details of the fishing business share the stage in near equal measures. I could easily picture myself there on deck, and I felt like I learned a lot. This was an enjoyable read. Structurally, I did find it a little awkward at times. The chapters didn't feel very organized. There is a framing story surrounding the brothers' recollections, but for the most part the stories seem randomly generated. One event reminds the authors of another, which leads into another, and so on and so forth. There are often thematic ties between the stories, but the chronology is somewhat skewed. As a result, I found the book slow-going at times. I was never really able to sink into it and become involved.Still, I'd recommend this to anyone interested in learning more about commercial fishing. It may not have blown me out of the water, but it was still a good read.
    • 3/5
      This story about and by the brothers that run the 'Time Bandit'. This is intesting and vivid, the writing is done as if by someone who is doing nothing but putting together a group of tales told by the brothers. The TV show 'The Deadliest Catch' is the general basis, but this is a more behind the scene, background with the brothers and their crew. While I found the description pretty good, the flow of the story was more difficult to follow.