Soul of the Hurricane, Nelson Simon
Soul of the Hurricane, Nelson Simon
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Soul of the Hurricane
The Perfect Storm and an Accidental Sailor

Author: Nelson Simon

Narrator: Nelson Simon

Unabridged: 8 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/26/2021

Synopsis

The harrowing true story of an inexperienced crew member on a ship that sailed into the perfect storm.Nelson Simon didn’t want to sign up as a last-minute crew member to transport a Norwegian schooner from Brooklyn to Bermuda. But one thing led to another, and there he was. He told himself that it would be a sort of pleasure cruise: a week in the Gulf Stream with a gourmet chef on board, some down time on a tropical island, then a quick flight home.What did it matter that he had practically no sailing experience? The eight other crew members had plenty—they just needed an extra pair of hands. What could possibly go wrong?It was October 1991, and the ship was Anne Kristine, the oldest continuously sailing vessel in the world. What awaited them was Hurricane Grace, the southern end of what came to be known as the “Perfect Storm.”Soul of the Hurricane tells an unlikely tale that begins with an unexpected invitation and ends in the dead of night somewhere far from home, with a Coast Guard helicopter above and a dark, angry sea below.

About Nelson Simon

Nelson Simon is a writer and performer. In 2006 he led a team of interviewers and facilitators from StoryCorps, the national oral history project, to New Orleans to chronicle the life of the city in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In 2016 he created The Accidental Sailor, the storytelling performance on which this book is based. He lives in Brooklyn.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Owen on January 06, 2022

Bolivia is today a landlocked nation, so it is always curious to have one of its sons involved in some way out on the ocean. Bolivian-born Nelson Simon has written an intriguing account of how it was that, against all odds, he found himself literally up to the neck in very deep water. To the seafarin......more

Goodreads review by Steven on January 31, 2025

This is the story of a tall ship (think sails and pirates) getting caught in the perfect storm of 1991. There’s a movie about this same storm, though not about this ship. This story focuses on the Anne Kristine, a tall ship sailing toward Bermuda when Hurricane Grace forms southwest of the island. N......more

Goodreads review by Bruce on April 26, 2022

Kind of an uneven book. Wanted to read about the hurricane. The author spent way too much time talking about characters and other situations that were way before the event. In fact, I skipped through most of the first 50 pages. Then he took way too long describing the reconditioning of the ship. The......more

Goodreads review by Emily on August 09, 2023

I can understand why so many others found this book incredibly tedious and boring, it was hard to get into and had a lot of back story regarding the owner of the ships life and the building and beginnings of the boat Anna Christina, and the hurricaine aspect of the book only took up a third of the b......more

Goodreads review by Joyce on November 27, 2021

Riveting story of survival at sea during a brutal hurricane. Writing is detailed, personal and skilled. Loyalty, trust and knowledge prevalent throughout the book. Bonded by their love of sailing and respect for the sea allowed this reader to understand more about the power of hurricanes and skill requ......more

Quotes

“In Soul of the Hurricane Nelson Simon has written an epic page-turner. By turns thrilling and lyrical, Simon’s book is a meditation on beauty, courage, and loss. It is a work infused with history and heart that envelops you in its many wonders. Soul of the Hurricane is a remarkable debut from a singular storyteller.” David Isay, Peabody Award–winning creator of StoryCorps

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