Isaac’s Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History by Erik Larson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
“This is the story of Isaac and his time in America, the last turning of the centuries, when the hubris of men led them to believe they could disregard even nature itself.”
Isaac’s Storm is about the deadly hurricane that hit Galveston, Texas in 1900. It recounts the days leading up to it and the aftermath. It adds in a bunch of accounts from people but focuses on Isaac Cline, who was the resident meteorologist in the city. The storm hit without warning and devastated the area. Thousands of people died and very few buildings were left standing. There are some chapters dealing with the science behind it as well. The author did a lot of research and it shows. The failure of people in charge is evident.
I could tell that this was one of Erik Larson’s first books as it was not as polished as his others. I found this story to be more bogged down in the minutiae of unimportant details which affected his ability to create an exciting story that really moves. He also spent a lot of time trying to explain the science behind weather including clouds, winds, and pressure. It numbed my mind a little and did not contribute to the overall book. His other books utilized historical information and events to create a compelling narrative. Now, I am not saying that this was unreadable and like it was trying to hike through molasses. I am merely stating that I felt I could tell that he shows growth in his writing ability in his later novels which I enjoyed. I also did not feel as much emotion when reading this as I thought I might have, especially with the loss of life and the struggles that people had to go through. I think it came across more straightforward information than people focused. This story was fascinating to me because I love storms. I grew up watching Twister and when I was younger, I wanted to be a storm chaser. I know this took place over 120 years ago, but I wish more detailed information existed to fully understand what happened. There were so many frustrating things that occurred that contributed to the overall devastation of the disaster. Men were playing politics and thought themselves infallible which had them do a lot of guessing or just plain lying. “No cyclone ever can move from Florida to Galveston.” It just shows the destructive power of nature and how it could be made worse by mans sense of infallibility. This book was decent and I liked it overall. A couple quotes that I enjoyed are “Time lost can never be recovered…and this should be written in flaming letters everywhere” and “If I owned Texas and hell…I’d rent out Texas and live in hell.”
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