I had heard that this book was about a woman’s investigation of the lives of oil rig workers as they worked in dangerous conditions in various locations around the world. What I read was something quite different, but I guess it was sort of entertaining in its own way.
The writer is clearly talented – I really liked her writing style and she had a great way of setting up scenes and making you feel like you were there. Her life in England is a completely different one from what I’m used to – a place where men and boys fight outside of bars, clubs and drugs and sex are what people aspire to, and people work hard in dangerous conditions just to blow the money on shoes. When I read I want to visit different worlds, and this one fit the bill.
In the end I wasn’t satisfied with the book – it is more memoir than informative on the subject of life on oil rigs. There is an inordinate amount of focus on the author’s sex life – I’m not sure why we need to hear about it. There is a lot of pop culture from England, which was inscrutable to me but I think probably nailed it for young British women. Finally I wasn’t sure about the ending of the book – what was resolved? What will happen in the future? Just a snapshot of a moment in time?
With her beautiful writing I guess I was expecting more, but it was a fairly educational book from a sociological perspective.
Next I’m reading How the World Really Works by Vaclav Smil.
