I just finished Crazy for the Storm, A Memoir of Survival by Norman Ollestad. I liked it (read it in 24 hours!). It is part memoir, part adventure/thriller, and part tribute to his father. He parallels the story of the events after the crash with the events leading up to the crash in alternating chapters. It felt a little disjointed at first but I easily adapted to the style after a few chapters.
Helpful Score: 2
An okay read. I skipped through a lot of young Ollestad's life - it got repetitive and I stayed annoyed with Ollestad Sr. to say the least. The survival story was quite good and I enjoyed this part of the book.
To sum it up, I didn't think it lived up to its rave reviews.
To sum it up, I didn't think it lived up to its rave reviews.
Helpful Score: 1
This is one of my favorite survival stories of all time. It covers several of the major important survival genres: Survival in the mountain wilderness, survival in a plane crash, survival in a storm, survival in the ocean, surviving as an American in Mexico, surviving a sordid childhood, mix in some daddy issues and this this is really fascinating read.
Sandi K W. (Sandiinmississippi) reviewed Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival on + 265 more book reviews
Really loved this book - both for the adventure and survival aspects and for the coming of age story. Ollestad, Jr. is the son of an adventurous and unusually enthusiastic father. Some would call Sr. a thrill-seeker. He'd raised the author on wild trips, high impact sports, constant physical and mental challenge, but all tempered with a certain laid-back attitude to conflict. In reading, one comes to suspect that their personalities were quite different yet each learned to respect the others' limitations and perspective.
The book alternates between snapshots and stories from childhood and the tale of surviving a plane crash which kills pilot, father and father's girlfriend. Usually this style seems disjointed, but it made perfect sense when you consider the point of the book is how the author's childhood gave him the strength of character and the physical ability to hike down a mountain from elevation of about 8500 feet in deep snow and tough terrain. There are lots of details of ski slopes, surfing, and traveling, along with a look at the hippy-dippy lifestyle of the 70s on Topango Beach.
I literally could not put the book down. It finished with a nice wrap-up of how our author is now raising his own son. It felt very satisfying to see the thread of adventure still there, but tempered by experience.
The book alternates between snapshots and stories from childhood and the tale of surviving a plane crash which kills pilot, father and father's girlfriend. Usually this style seems disjointed, but it made perfect sense when you consider the point of the book is how the author's childhood gave him the strength of character and the physical ability to hike down a mountain from elevation of about 8500 feet in deep snow and tough terrain. There are lots of details of ski slopes, surfing, and traveling, along with a look at the hippy-dippy lifestyle of the 70s on Topango Beach.
I literally could not put the book down. It finished with a nice wrap-up of how our author is now raising his own son. It felt very satisfying to see the thread of adventure still there, but tempered by experience.
2 Words that describe the book: Survival memoir
3 Settings where it took place or characters you met:
1. Setting: late 1970s California and Mexico
2. Norman Ollestad Jr.The author had a unique upbringing in the uninhibited and freedom-loving surf culture of the 1970s. (He lived on Topanga Beach.) At age 1, his father strapped him to his back and took him surfing (see photo at right). This was the start of a childhood filled with extreme sports. Norman was continually pushed by his father to surf, play hockey and ski at levels that were both frightening and somewhat dangerous. Yet this background gave Norman a unique mindframe and skills that ended up helping him to survive a plane crash that killed his father, his father's girlfriend and the plane's pilot. Norman was only 11 at the time of the crash.
3. Norman Ollestad Sr.A fearless man with a taste for adventure, Norman Ollestad was many things: a former FBI agent who wrote a book exposing the weaknesses of the agency, a successful lawyer, and a devoted father who wanted to make sure his son (who he affectionately called "Boy Wonder") experienced the exhilaration and beauty of living life fully by pursuing extreme sports like powder skiing and surfing.
4 Things you liked and/or disliked about it:
1 . I liked the trip to Mexico that father and son take shortly before the plane crash. In many ways, it acts as a "coming of age" journey for young Norman. This extended sequence is (in some ways) more the heart of the book than the actual plane crash.
2. I disliked how Ollestad structured the book. The chapters alternate between his childhood and his struggle for survival on the mountain after the plane crash. This technique for telling the story didn't work for me. I felt like I kept losing the "momentum" of the survival aspect of the story. The book might have worked better if it had been told in chronological order.
3. I disliked that I never got a real grip on the survival story. I'm not sure if it was Ollestad's writing or my unfamiliarity with some of the terms he used, but I never felt that sense of "I'm right there" you get with some survival stories (such as Jon Krakauer's excellent Into Thin Air.)
4. I liked the ending where Ollestad writes about his grown-up assessment of his father and his own struggle to find the right amount to push his own son. In many ways, Norman might not have survived if his father hadn't raised him the way he did. But in other ways, it seems almost negligent or cruel the pressure his father put on him and the situations he was forced to experience.
5 Stars or less for your rating?
I'm giving the book 3 stars. I really wanted to like it more than I did. I'm a big fan of real-life survival stories, but this one just didn't do it for me. I think much of it was due to the writing. Although he has a gripping story to tell, I think Ollestad might have benefited from having a co-writer that could have helped him tell his story better. Surprisingly enough, the most interesting part of the book for me was the father-son relationship and the unique way Ollestad was raised.
3 Settings where it took place or characters you met:
1. Setting: late 1970s California and Mexico
2. Norman Ollestad Jr.The author had a unique upbringing in the uninhibited and freedom-loving surf culture of the 1970s. (He lived on Topanga Beach.) At age 1, his father strapped him to his back and took him surfing (see photo at right). This was the start of a childhood filled with extreme sports. Norman was continually pushed by his father to surf, play hockey and ski at levels that were both frightening and somewhat dangerous. Yet this background gave Norman a unique mindframe and skills that ended up helping him to survive a plane crash that killed his father, his father's girlfriend and the plane's pilot. Norman was only 11 at the time of the crash.
3. Norman Ollestad Sr.A fearless man with a taste for adventure, Norman Ollestad was many things: a former FBI agent who wrote a book exposing the weaknesses of the agency, a successful lawyer, and a devoted father who wanted to make sure his son (who he affectionately called "Boy Wonder") experienced the exhilaration and beauty of living life fully by pursuing extreme sports like powder skiing and surfing.
4 Things you liked and/or disliked about it:
1 . I liked the trip to Mexico that father and son take shortly before the plane crash. In many ways, it acts as a "coming of age" journey for young Norman. This extended sequence is (in some ways) more the heart of the book than the actual plane crash.
2. I disliked how Ollestad structured the book. The chapters alternate between his childhood and his struggle for survival on the mountain after the plane crash. This technique for telling the story didn't work for me. I felt like I kept losing the "momentum" of the survival aspect of the story. The book might have worked better if it had been told in chronological order.
3. I disliked that I never got a real grip on the survival story. I'm not sure if it was Ollestad's writing or my unfamiliarity with some of the terms he used, but I never felt that sense of "I'm right there" you get with some survival stories (such as Jon Krakauer's excellent Into Thin Air.)
4. I liked the ending where Ollestad writes about his grown-up assessment of his father and his own struggle to find the right amount to push his own son. In many ways, Norman might not have survived if his father hadn't raised him the way he did. But in other ways, it seems almost negligent or cruel the pressure his father put on him and the situations he was forced to experience.
5 Stars or less for your rating?
I'm giving the book 3 stars. I really wanted to like it more than I did. I'm a big fan of real-life survival stories, but this one just didn't do it for me. I think much of it was due to the writing. Although he has a gripping story to tell, I think Ollestad might have benefited from having a co-writer that could have helped him tell his story better. Surprisingly enough, the most interesting part of the book for me was the father-son relationship and the unique way Ollestad was raised.
