Book Review: The North Line, by Matt Riordan
A young man on a Hero's Journey to the Bering Sea.
Hyperion Avenue, 2024, 313 pages
Even at the ragged edge of civilization, some lines should not be crossed.
Everyone believes Adam to be something he’s not. Sometimes that’s because he’s told them a story. Sometimes he’s told himself one. But when Adam joins an Alaskan fishing crew that’s promising quick money, the dangerous work and harsh lifestyle strip away all fabrications and force a dark-hearted exploration of who he really is.
On the unforgiving Bering Sea, Adam finds the adventure and authenticity of a fisherman’s life revelatory. The labor required to seize bounty from the ocean invigorates him, and the often crude camaraderie accompanies a welcome, hard-earned wisdom. But when a strike threatens the entire season and violence stalks the waves, Adam is thrust into a struggle for survival at the edge of the world, where evolutionary and social forces collide for outcomes beyond anyone’s control.
In his riveting debut novel, Matt Riordan pairs personal experiences with a master storyteller’s eye in a piercing examination of the quest for identity in the face of tempests within and without.
“You know what I regret most in my whole life?”
“What’s that?”
“Everything I ever did for the money.”
I have always enjoyed survivalist, man-against-nature stories, and this book caught my attention because of all the seasons of Deadliest Catch I watched. And it turned out to be a fantastic debut novel, with an unexpectedly dark twist.
Adam is a college senior. He was on a full-ride lacrosse scholarship, until he got caught dealing ecstasy. Now he's lost his scholarship and he needs to come up with 26 grand by the start of the fall semester in order to finish his degree and make something of his life. He comes to Alaska, after a hook-up from school hooks him up with a shady uncle who runs several Alaskan fishing boats. The money is good, but the work is brutal, and for a greenhorn, it's produce or gtfo. Or die, because there are lots of ways to die on the Bering Sea.
The North Line is a road novel, of sorts (the road being the Bering Sea), and it's a Campbellian journey. It's about a young man going forth to do something hard and dangerous and find himself. And what he finds is what we see hints of earlier in his journey; Adam isn't an entirely reliable narrator, and he's hiding things.
Adam takes well to the fishing life, despite its its dangers and its raw discomforts. His first trip out, with two other crude but helpful veterans, he learns a lot, gets banged up pretty good, and survives the ship catching fire.
He also begins to learn the ways of Alaskan fishing, which is as much man against man as it is man against nature. Because everything is about money, everyone is out to screw everyone else, and his new crewmates teach him a lot about not being the one to get screwed.
What they don't know is that Adam has already had some hard lessons. He's not just running away from a drug charge, he's running from his dead-end small town, and he's running from his father, who told him before he died in prison:
In every business dead, there's a fucker and a fuckee. Make sure you're not the fuckee.
As a fishing strike brews, Adam is presented with one opportunity after another to be either the fucker or the fuckee. If this is the story of a young man on a journey to enlightenment, it's a dark kind of enlightenment. There's a lot of psychological tension, a lot of physical danger, and a character transformation that sneaks up on the reader but was obvious if you were paying attention.
If you like gritty road novels about young men getting deep in the shit, or you're a fan of Deadliest Catch and like being put out there on the Bering Sea where everything is cold, wet, miserable, and dangerous, you should read this book.
My complete list of book reviews.
Hyperion Avenue, 2024, 313 pages
Even at the ragged edge of civilization, some lines should not be crossed.
Everyone believes Adam to be something he’s not. Sometimes that’s because he’s told them a story. Sometimes he’s told himself one. But when Adam joins an Alaskan fishing crew that’s promising quick money, the dangerous work and harsh lifestyle strip away all fabrications and force a dark-hearted exploration of who he really is.
On the unforgiving Bering Sea, Adam finds the adventure and authenticity of a fisherman’s life revelatory. The labor required to seize bounty from the ocean invigorates him, and the often crude camaraderie accompanies a welcome, hard-earned wisdom. But when a strike threatens the entire season and violence stalks the waves, Adam is thrust into a struggle for survival at the edge of the world, where evolutionary and social forces collide for outcomes beyond anyone’s control.
In his riveting debut novel, Matt Riordan pairs personal experiences with a master storyteller’s eye in a piercing examination of the quest for identity in the face of tempests within and without.
“You know what I regret most in my whole life?”
“What’s that?”
“Everything I ever did for the money.”
I have always enjoyed survivalist, man-against-nature stories, and this book caught my attention because of all the seasons of Deadliest Catch I watched. And it turned out to be a fantastic debut novel, with an unexpectedly dark twist.
Adam is a college senior. He was on a full-ride lacrosse scholarship, until he got caught dealing ecstasy. Now he's lost his scholarship and he needs to come up with 26 grand by the start of the fall semester in order to finish his degree and make something of his life. He comes to Alaska, after a hook-up from school hooks him up with a shady uncle who runs several Alaskan fishing boats. The money is good, but the work is brutal, and for a greenhorn, it's produce or gtfo. Or die, because there are lots of ways to die on the Bering Sea.
The North Line is a road novel, of sorts (the road being the Bering Sea), and it's a Campbellian journey. It's about a young man going forth to do something hard and dangerous and find himself. And what he finds is what we see hints of earlier in his journey; Adam isn't an entirely reliable narrator, and he's hiding things.
Adam takes well to the fishing life, despite its its dangers and its raw discomforts. His first trip out, with two other crude but helpful veterans, he learns a lot, gets banged up pretty good, and survives the ship catching fire.
He also begins to learn the ways of Alaskan fishing, which is as much man against man as it is man against nature. Because everything is about money, everyone is out to screw everyone else, and his new crewmates teach him a lot about not being the one to get screwed.
What they don't know is that Adam has already had some hard lessons. He's not just running away from a drug charge, he's running from his dead-end small town, and he's running from his father, who told him before he died in prison:
In every business dead, there's a fucker and a fuckee. Make sure you're not the fuckee.
As a fishing strike brews, Adam is presented with one opportunity after another to be either the fucker or the fuckee. If this is the story of a young man on a journey to enlightenment, it's a dark kind of enlightenment. There's a lot of psychological tension, a lot of physical danger, and a character transformation that sneaks up on the reader but was obvious if you were paying attention.
If you like gritty road novels about young men getting deep in the shit, or you're a fan of Deadliest Catch and like being put out there on the Bering Sea where everything is cold, wet, miserable, and dangerous, you should read this book.
My complete list of book reviews.