Reviews

Makes a better story than a novel, if you know what I mean. I am more-or-less fully inoculated to the writing style of the mid-19th century masters, but this book is an absolute slog. Every paragraph is overwritten, so much more complicated than it needs to be. It's just an unpleasant burst of wordiness.

But man, what a tale! Ghost ships! Cannibals! Bizarre angelic figures! Racism! It's a novel that's so much fun to recap for someone else.

transcendantalism's review against another edition

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2.0

Very confusing book with an odd ending. Edgar Poes only novel.

dorynickel's review against another edition

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2.0

This is a decent book. I liked the Ariel and Grampus sections more than the rest of the book.

The racism in the last act of the book affected me more profoundly than in other works from the same period because it extended beyond word choice and into to deeper symbolism and meaning of the story. I kept hoping that the racist elements were going to be flipped around into an ironic commentary on American race relations but unfortunately found the ever-increasing racism was just there for its own sake--no thought-provoking subversion of stereotypes here.

What interested me most about the book was its clear place in history: it is so evidently a product of its time, inspired by many similar works; on the other hand it so clearly inspired some of the most famous authors of the following century, including Verne, Melville, and Wells.

This is one of those books that's worth reading as an exercise, but not worth it for entertainment's sake.

emilyexists's review against another edition

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2.0

you'd think that after nearly starving to death on three (3!) separate occasions, arthur gordon pym would decide that maybe he should head back home
then poe could have left out the racist depictions of the people on the upper islands too?

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