Giving the Finger: Risking It All to Fish the World's Deadliest Sea
Campbell, famous for his role in Deadliest Catch, will likely surprise his fans with this thoughtful and nuanced look at the hard reality of an Alaskan fisherman, including when he almost lost a finger. With writer Ruland he documents the fishing life he was born into. Campbell pulls no punches as he decries his school difficulties and late diagnosis of dyslexia, his frustration with having to hold together the small family farm in Washington while his father was away working in Alaska, and the struggle to find a place for himself amid relentless hazing by his father’s crew. The overwhelming casualty in all this was his relationship with his high-school sweetheart and wife, Lisa. Their personal travails remove any romance from the fishing life, and Campbell makes clear all that he has missed, such as the births of his daughters and family birthdays, adding up to years of disappointments that resulted in devastating marital strife. Campbell does provide expected blow-by-blow accounts of his fishing exploits, but this autobiography packs a far more serious and emotional punch. --Colleen Mondor