Is it the title of the book, or is it where it belongs?

Nathaniel Philbrick wrote In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, in the year 2000, and that same year; it won the National Book Award. The book starts out with a young boy named Thomas Nickerson, who aspires to become a whaler like all of the other boys and men who lived on Nantucket Island. Nantucket was a huge whaling hub during this time, and nearly all of the men grew up to become crewmen or captains of these whaleships. Long story short, because that what this book is, a really long, lifeless story, the whaleship that Thomas works on is attacked by a Sperm Whale and he and his crew must survive in the middle of the ocean. While this may sound interesting, do not let it fool you. The action that I speak of only occurs within a span of eight pages, with the other three hundred and something pages explaining nothing but the day-to-day life of a whaleship.

I understand that Nathaniel Philbrick was limited when it came to creativity with this book because it is a true historical event, but was it really necessary to make it as lifeless and boring as it was? I had a difficult time with the clarity of this book because the slow paced plot line really threw me off, making it difficult for me to focus. I felt that it was a result of the endless details of every minute object found aboard the whaleships. I realize that details are important, but at what point does it get to be too much, after the two or three hundredth item described? The couple highlights in this book were the pictures marking the halfway point in the book, and the artistry. Despite my negative feedback on the book as a whole, Philbrick did do a good job describing the adventures that the whalers encountered, as well as the details of the Whaleship Essex. I could really picture what the ship looked like in my head, ranging from the copper plating on the bottom of the ship to help protect its hull from damage to the masts flying high above the sea. All in all, I would not recommend this book to anybody, no matter how much I may dislike them. It was a very boring read, and unless you are huge into reading about tiny minute details that have virtually zero impact on the book then I suggest staying away from In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex.