Storytime Sunday

"The Fourth Fisherman"

By: Joe Kissack

 Mommy in PA says:   The book I chose to review from WaterBrook Press was "The Fourth Fisherman".  It is the story of five fishermen who set out on a normal fishing trip from San Blas in Mexico and end up adrift at sea for over nine months.  Two of them never made it home again, losing their lives at sea. 

  The thing I didn't really care for about the book is that it isn't just about the fishermen, it is also about the author and his own personal struggles with his job, over the counter drugs, and his marriage (which if I would have looked more closely at the title I would have seen the small print below stating "How Three Mexican Fishermen Who Came Back from the Dead Changed My Life and Saved My Marriage).  I immediately thought that this would not be the book for me. 

  I loved the parts about the fishermen but the author alternates the chapters at the beginning of the book.  They'll be one chapter about him and then a chapter about the fisherman.  I would much rather read the whole thing about the fishermen first and then about him or vice versa.  Maybe it would have been better if the chapters were more similar to each other than they were. 

It did make sense though as it was a story of survival of the fishermen and survival of the man's marriage.  It was also similar in that they had used their faith in God to help them survive.  The last few chapters were very hard for me to read because they mainly focused on the author and how he was going about trying to get the fishermen to agree to a deal for the movie rights and finding a company to help make it a reality.  Then it goes back to talking about his marriage again.  I felt like I was being dragged in so many different directions. 

All in all an OK read but I was more interested in the fishermen parts.

You can purchase your own copy by going here.

Disclaimer:  I received this book free in exchange for my review from WaterBrook Multnomah Press but all opinions are my own.