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Highliners
Highliners are the elite of the fishing world, the skippers and crews who make the biggest catches—salmon, king crab, halibut, shrimp—and deliver them first to the bustling canneries of Kodiak and Dutch Harbor. For these men—and for their women—the safe eight-hour day does not exist. It never will. Some fishermen get rich, many die broke. But they find a special joy in their work that can never be matched by the easier world of the landsman. No matter how great the hardship or how bad the storm, the highliners put out to sea in their primitive battle against the elements.
The protagonist of the novel is Hank Crawford, a young greenhorn who first comes to Alaska to work in a cannery to earn money while on summer vacation from college. He is quickly hooked by the fisherman’s life, and this novel re-creates how a young man becomes a highliner. He succeeds because he is young enough, strong enough, and brave enough. He learns the brutal business from hard-fisted skippers, penny-pinching cannery managers, and the pirates of the fishing world. Hank also meets the tough women who endure the hardships of Alaska alongside their men.
Journey with him as he learns to survive the elements (100-mile-an-hour winds, ice storms, tidal waves, and fire at sea) and attempts to become a highliner.
The protagonist of the novel is Hank Crawford, a young greenhorn who first comes to Alaska to work in a cannery to earn money while on summer vacation from college. He is quickly hooked by the fisherman’s life, and this novel re-creates how a young man becomes a highliner. He succeeds because he is young enough, strong enough, and brave enough. He learns the brutal business from hard-fisted skippers, penny-pinching cannery managers, and the pirates of the fishing world. Hank also meets the tough women who endure the hardships of Alaska alongside their men.
Journey with him as he learns to survive the elements (100-mile-an-hour winds, ice storms, tidal waves, and fire at sea) and attempts to become a highliner.
400 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
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139 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 8, 2017
The tsunami of 1964 caused by the earthquake wiped out a major portion of Kodiak, Alaska, but it vitalized the fishing community which now thrives with canneries for salmon, crabs, halibut, and other seafood caught in the rich waters of the Alaskan shelf. Fishing these waters is extremely dangerous and the towns that support it resemble nothing less than the older frontier.
The book is an interesting combination of fiction and non-fiction alternating chapters as McCloskey follows the career of Hank, college graduate and Vietnam veteran , who falls in love with fishing (for some unfathomable reason) in Alaskan waters for a variety of species. We're treated to a section on each kind of boat and species as Hank learns the skills needed for each finally (after being injured by the smashing force of a Halibut tail --I had no idea...-- they can weigh up to 400 lbs.) as submanager of a cannery, a job that displays all the intricate details of the operation and the vast quantity of material that is processed (millions of cans of salmon during an eight-week season) with the concomitant problems of managing people who don't want to be managed. He ends up as skipper on a boat so we get to see the business from that end as well. (The scenes of the boats icing up are tense and scary.)
Being a bit bizarre myself, I found the mix of technology and culture to be fascinating.
Ìý
The book is an interesting combination of fiction and non-fiction alternating chapters as McCloskey follows the career of Hank, college graduate and Vietnam veteran , who falls in love with fishing (for some unfathomable reason) in Alaskan waters for a variety of species. We're treated to a section on each kind of boat and species as Hank learns the skills needed for each finally (after being injured by the smashing force of a Halibut tail --I had no idea...-- they can weigh up to 400 lbs.) as submanager of a cannery, a job that displays all the intricate details of the operation and the vast quantity of material that is processed (millions of cans of salmon during an eight-week season) with the concomitant problems of managing people who don't want to be managed. He ends up as skipper on a boat so we get to see the business from that end as well. (The scenes of the boats icing up are tense and scary.)
Being a bit bizarre myself, I found the mix of technology and culture to be fascinating.
Ìý
January 24, 2023
4.5
Absolutely fascinating. I didn't think it would hold my attention but I was engrossed.
Absolutely fascinating. I didn't think it would hold my attention but I was engrossed.
April 15, 2016
I read this book before my husband brought me up to Alaska for 11 years. I found it on his bookshelf and it helped me to learn some places and culture before my first trip to AK. I loved reading it and am listening to it now on Audible. It is my book for May's Book Club with my knitting friends. I hope they enjoy it as much as I did. I will enjoy teaching them a little more about Alaska fishing at the meeting next month. ;). We still have the paperback and I have loaned it to some friends since it is not readily available at our area libraries or even on Overdrive. Sad.
November 4, 2012
And still have a copy....
June 25, 2022
I'm giving it 4 stars because of the scene it sets and the information it provides. It's not great writing, and it's rather 'of its time', but it was really worth reading for anyone with any interest at all in life in the north of North America.
February 28, 2019
Outside of my usual reads but it was interesting and informative. The internal/external battle of the characters against the backdrop of the harsh Alaska environment was well written.
January 30, 2021
Amazing book. Had a hard time putting it down. Even though it was written 40 years ago it still stands up today. Amazing showcase of the men and women who make fishing their livelihood.
April 14, 2023
Learned a lot, March 23
August 28, 2024
The rundown: Highliners tells the story of a young whipper snapper straight out of college who runs off to Alaska to chase his dreams of fishing in the last frontier. Life is tough in the north but young Hank is continuously pulled back to the gritty work in the canneries and on the boats. There is also a fair bit of nonfiction dispersed throughout this novel with a bit of the author’s own experiences sprinkled in. It feels a bit like reading Moby Dick. For a while your protagonist is on a grand boating adventure and suddenly we turn the page and we’re learning about the history of Kodiak or the species of crabs and whatnot.
The wrap: I enjoyed the idea of this book perhaps more than the book itself. I think it offers a rich story of Alaskan fishing and the hardships surrounding the industry. I did learn a lot throughout the book, and I also found myself pulled into the story purely from that nautical nostalgia that lives deep inside so many of us. The scenes of sailors being drenched by waves on deck, of pulling giant halibut from the sea floor, have this magical draw that makes you dream of a life that could have been. There’s just something about the ocean, man. Oh, the Moby Dick-inspired historical interjections were a bit drawn out and painstaking at times. But if your favorite author is Melville I wouldn’t expect less.
The rundown: Read this book if you’re drawn to the sea, want to learn about commercial fishing in Alaska, and appreciate old school lit.
The wrap: I enjoyed the idea of this book perhaps more than the book itself. I think it offers a rich story of Alaskan fishing and the hardships surrounding the industry. I did learn a lot throughout the book, and I also found myself pulled into the story purely from that nautical nostalgia that lives deep inside so many of us. The scenes of sailors being drenched by waves on deck, of pulling giant halibut from the sea floor, have this magical draw that makes you dream of a life that could have been. There’s just something about the ocean, man. Oh, the Moby Dick-inspired historical interjections were a bit drawn out and painstaking at times. But if your favorite author is Melville I wouldn’t expect less.
The rundown: Read this book if you’re drawn to the sea, want to learn about commercial fishing in Alaska, and appreciate old school lit.
March 1, 2017
An intense education of fishing off the shores of Alaska in the 70's.
Well researched and written combining human interaction with fact and history.
Recommended highly.
Well researched and written combining human interaction with fact and history.
Recommended highly.
October 8, 2012
I might as well have been reading about Mars. It is still amazing to me that this world of Alaska fishermen was ever real. And apparently this book is really true to life.
The book itself is sometimes a bit of a slog, because the author interleaves the story with chapters about the history of fishing in Alaska, the spawning patterns of salmon, all sorts of non-fiction background. But I have to grudgingly admit that a lot of that background does flesh out the context.
The characters are wonderful. I grew very attached to all of them. I wanted to see them succeed and survive, and I cried for them when things turned bad. I really became invested in the people and their world, which for me is really the sign of a great book.
The book itself is sometimes a bit of a slog, because the author interleaves the story with chapters about the history of fishing in Alaska, the spawning patterns of salmon, all sorts of non-fiction background. But I have to grudgingly admit that a lot of that background does flesh out the context.
The characters are wonderful. I grew very attached to all of them. I wanted to see them succeed and survive, and I cried for them when things turned bad. I really became invested in the people and their world, which for me is really the sign of a great book.
January 10, 2017
I loved this book. I have watched Deadliest Catch since the first season so I was a bit primed for this subject matter. I found this book to be a compelling and rich story with great, and believable, characters in a fascinating environment.
It wasn't until I finished this book that I realized there are two more books in the series which have been written recently. So it looks like I have more reading to do.
It wasn't until I finished this book that I realized there are two more books in the series which have been written recently. So it looks like I have more reading to do.
June 21, 2015
Pretty fascinating account of the early days of the Alaskan crab fishery. The early chapters of Hank's struggle are the most interesting. The book could have been a bit shorter, as a few bits about three-quarters through felt extraneous and the end was a bit too crammed together. A pretty good read, though.
April 19, 2007
Very cool book about the early days of crab fishing. the writing isn't perfect but it gets the job done and the story is interesting.
January 16, 2017
Great insight to sailing the Alaskan waters. Makes me grateful for my coast guard time in that area to be able to relate.
March 10, 2019
Great narration of the 64 tsunami in Kodiak.
December 6, 2019
Wonderful, but hard to get a copy at time I read it. If you love history of Alaska fishing heydays you will love all of McCloskey’s books. There are 6 I have truest enjoyed.
June 20, 2024
Could not be more consuming
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