Book situations that don't make sense: The Sea Wolf

I'm reading The Sea Wolf right now and I have to admit that I don't like it. Jack London is a very descriptive and talented writer, but some of the situations he comes up with are so ridiculous and schmaltzy that it ruins everything good about the book.
He makes Maud Brewster appear out of nowhere, there is a storm and all of a sudden this high class lady is on their boat. That is too convenient. Humphrey VanWeyden falls in love with Maud, even though until this point he as been presumably homosexual. Then they precede to run away from the evil Wolf Larsen and Hump goes on and on for four pages about how much he loves Maud. What is this doing in a book about a shipwreck?
Unfortunately this seems to be a pattern I see a lot in modern literature. I realize that The Sea Wolf isn't exactly a modern novel, but it reads like a newer adventure novel. The bar for creativity seems to have lowered a lot in the past ten years. There are some obvious exceptions to this, such as Stephen King who has written title after title, all of which are supposedly invigorating although I admit I am not that familiar with his work.
Every novel for a teenage girls seems to have a fairly similar plot. The bulk of them are about a girl who is shy or nerdy or has some fault who falls in love with a boy and obtains him by the end of the book. Very few of the books in the teen fiction section are different; therefore, I am not surprised that many young people are not interested in reading.
Overall book starts off slow and doesn't pick up very often. London devotes entire chapters to discussion of the boat, which isn't necessary to understand the book. Unless you want to read all of London's work I would suggest skipping this read.