[VIY]≡ Read Ahab Wife Or The Stargazer A Novel PS Sena Jeter Naslund christopher Wormell 9780060838744 Books

Ahab Wife Or The Stargazer A Novel PS Sena Jeter Naslund christopher Wormell 9780060838744 Books

Download As PDF : Ahab Wife Or The Stargazer A Novel PS Sena Jeter Naslund christopher Wormell 9780060838744 Books

Ahab Wife Or The Stargazer A Novel PS Sena Jeter Naslund christopher Wormell 9780060838744 Books

In Ahab's Wife, author Sena Jeter Naslund takes a barely-mentioned, never seen character and gives us her whole life. A novel I read in high school, The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, had the same kind of basis (took a minor biblical character and told her life story), and I loved that book wholeheartedly. Which probably set my expectations a little too high, which isn't really fair, but between that and a killer first line, "Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last", I was really excited to read this book.

As you can probably surmise from the above, I didn't like it quite as much as I was hoping. Una Spenser is meant to be a one-of-a-kind, irrepressible heroine, but I found her maybe a little too special. She's not just lovely, smart, brave, resilient, passionate, and strong, she's also an object of desire for virtually every man she meets, treated with lavish kindness by almost every person of either gender that she comes across, and unfailingly tolerant and liberal in her attitudes. Which is just not very realistic, and leaves her ringing false as a character. While she certainly has to overcome obstacles (the aftermath of a horrific shipwreck, her treatment at the hands of her first husband, the loss of her first child, the death of her second husband), her only real "flaw" seems to be that she's too impulsive and headstrong, too daring. Which, of course, is presented as not much of a flaw at all.

I wish that Una was a better-drawn and more well-rounded character, because this book could have been quite lovely. Naslund's prose is definitely on the flowery side (if this turns you off, avoid this book at all costs because you will hate it), but I can get down with that if the story is compelling. The first half of the book had much more dramatic tension and excitement than the second half, which dragged in the long sections describing Una standing in the wind and gazing at the stars and/or sea, philosophizing about the world and her place in it. It's quite a lengthy novel at over 650 pages, and editing down some of the aforementioned mind-wandering-while-hair-blows-in-the-wind passages might make Una (and her story as a whole) a little more dynamic and interesting. That being said, I did enjoy reading it and thought it was a pretty good book. Just not quite as good as I wanted it to be.


Tags : Ahab's Wife: Or, The Star-gazer: A Novel (P.S.) [Sena Jeter Naslund, christopher Wormell] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. From the opening line— Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last —you will know that you are in the hands of a master storyteller and in the company of a fascinating woman hero. Inspired by a brief passage in <em>Moby-Dick</em>,Sena Jeter Naslund, christopher Wormell,Ahab's Wife: Or, The Star-gazer: A Novel (P.S.),William Morrow Paperbacks,0060838744,Classics,Historical - General,Literary,Ahab, Captain (Fictitious character),Ahab, Captain (Fictitious character);Fiction.,Nantucket Island (Mass.);Fiction.,Ship captains' spouses;Fiction.,AMERICAN HISTORICAL FICTION,FICTION Classics,FICTION Historical General,FICTION Literary,Fiction,Fiction - Historical,Fiction-Historical,FictionClassics,FictionLiterary,GENERAL,General Adult,Historical fiction,Ship captains' spouses,United States,Whalers' spouses

Ahab Wife Or The Stargazer A Novel PS Sena Jeter Naslund christopher Wormell 9780060838744 Books Reviews

This novel is different than anything I've read. The protagonist is a thoughtful, intellectual nature lover who is atheist and her father, a devout man, throws her out of the house. There is one page where he kills her dog for being disobedient, and although disturbing, the author did not linger on the scene. It clearly displayed his intolerance for anyone who challenges him. I loved when Una is blinded by lightning yet she is challenged to run instead of walking; I became legally blind for a few months, and this character resonated with me. The family she lives with has fascinating, involved conversations and the characters are tolerant, amenable and warm. The vocabulary is a challenge, and I have a degree in English. I learned a new word in the first 6 pages. Try this; you won't regret it...it lulls you to sleep but not because it's boring. It's fascinating, and your brain may expand and see things differently from reading the novel.
I love historical books, characters and places That is what drew me to the book. At times I was intrigued and interested....at times totally bored. Some things believable, some not so much. Una's path through life seemed at times connected yet unconnected. I don't think the author's perception of Una or what she wanted her to be was achieved. I was hopeful for her but she often came off as childish, senseless and stupid with a dash of oh she's wonderful because she had a life inspiring thought. The too many places and people caught interest but there was always something lacking. Some scenes were wonderful, some disgusting. As for Ahab, really very little of him of him in the book except for her pining their love. Bottom line There was too much in this long story that there was not enough depth in any of it. The idea was good.
Those from the literary school of kill-the-one-you-love will thrill to Ahab's Wife. This is not meant as a criticism, because the book is set in a tough time, not for sissies. I know from my own family history that losing multiple children, even all the children, to a plague or fire happened all too easily.

Ahab's Wife deserves and I have given it 5 stars. The author has done a fabulous job of not only tying this novel into the Moby Dick universe; it is a marvelous novel standing all on its own. Her research is quite thorough and she does a grand job of putting us squarely in 1800s Nantucket a couple of decades before the Civil War. She did her homework on whaling in that era, also. Aside from protagonist Una's own personal journey, this is a ripping good read. A rich and powerful read, not to be missed.

There are some loose ends never resolved, though. Kit Sparrow disappears fairly early on in the novel, and though he is mentioned thereafter, we never get a resolution, and it feels to me as though there should have been one. He probably died; just about everyone else did. The story lines of dwarf David Poland and the slave Susan also are left unfinished. There is a foreshadowing in each of their cases late in the book, of something bad befalling the dwarf and possibly saving Susan and her mam from slavery, but they too are unresolved. It feels for all the world as if the author got tired of the story or ran out of time. Naslund is so good as making us care about her characters, that I'm sure I'm not the only one who wanted a resolution.

There, she should write a sequel.
In Ahab's Wife, author Sena Jeter Naslund takes a barely-mentioned, never seen character and gives us her whole life. A novel I read in high school, The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, had the same kind of basis (took a minor biblical character and told her life story), and I loved that book wholeheartedly. Which probably set my expectations a little too high, which isn't really fair, but between that and a killer first line, "Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last", I was really excited to read this book.

As you can probably surmise from the above, I didn't like it quite as much as I was hoping. Una Spenser is meant to be a one-of-a-kind, irrepressible heroine, but I found her maybe a little too special. She's not just lovely, smart, brave, resilient, passionate, and strong, she's also an object of desire for virtually every man she meets, treated with lavish kindness by almost every person of either gender that she comes across, and unfailingly tolerant and liberal in her attitudes. Which is just not very realistic, and leaves her ringing false as a character. While she certainly has to overcome obstacles (the aftermath of a horrific shipwreck, her treatment at the hands of her first husband, the loss of her first child, the death of her second husband), her only real "flaw" seems to be that she's too impulsive and headstrong, too daring. Which, of course, is presented as not much of a flaw at all.

I wish that Una was a better-drawn and more well-rounded character, because this book could have been quite lovely. Naslund's prose is definitely on the flowery side (if this turns you off, avoid this book at all costs because you will hate it), but I can get down with that if the story is compelling. The first half of the book had much more dramatic tension and excitement than the second half, which dragged in the long sections describing Una standing in the wind and gazing at the stars and/or sea, philosophizing about the world and her place in it. It's quite a lengthy novel at over 650 pages, and editing down some of the aforementioned mind-wandering-while-hair-blows-in-the-wind passages might make Una (and her story as a whole) a little more dynamic and interesting. That being said, I did enjoy reading it and thought it was a pretty good book. Just not quite as good as I wanted it to be.