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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
adventurous
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
At first I didn't expect much from this book. It started a little slow to be honest. It didn't really pick up until the boat got stuck in the ice. Although, lately I haven't had much time to sit down and just read it. That may have played into the feeling of slowness. Luckily, today I had to take a sick day and I was able to breeze right through!
I really enjoyed the development of the characters even though not many of them were talked about thoroughly. The book was mostly about Erasmus and Zeke. Ned, Dr. Boerhaave, and Copernicus were the ones that we really got to know. And Copernicus didn't really show up until the last half of the book when Erasmus and the men returned home.
What little we did learn about the crew of the Narwhal was that they were typical seamen. They followed the strongest man on the ship, regardless of the title of Commander or Captain. I thought that this wouldn't happen until later in the voyage but the men turned to the Captain of the ship (who was not Zeke, though he had the title of Commander and therefore should have been the one whom everyone followed) pretty early on. During the course of the book the reader can see why the men did this and eventually staged a bit of a mutiny.
Zeke was an interesting character. If I remember correctly he was an orphan and he was taken in by Erasmus' family and was raised like a son. Zeke looked up to the elder Wells (Erasmus' father) and wished to be like him, or at least please him. By the time the men set sail, Father Wells is dead and it's Erasmus, his three younger brothers, Lavinia (who was besotted by Zeke) and Zeke himself who are left to deal with the family business and their own desires. Erasmus' desire to find new and interesting specimens to add to his families home is eclipsed by Zeke's overwhelming desire"find" Franklin (another explorer who has gone missing).
Once the journey on the sea is well under way, we come to see Zeke's real reason to command this journey: he wants to make a name for himself. He felt that all his life it's been about Erasmus and his brothers, and this was the only way he could get himself to stand out and make elder Wells feel proud, even in death. Once the ship gets stuck in the ice this becomes the living nightmare for the men on the boat.
Erasmus constantly battles the love of a brother and the loyalty that comes with it that he feels for Zeke and the want to keep himself and the other ship-men safe. This unfortunately comes to a terrible head when Erasmus disagrees with one of the journey's that Zeke wishes to take to find the Esquimaux and ask for help.
It's at this point were I have come to strongly dislike Zeke. While I understand the need to feel recognized and loved by everyone, he does so in a selfish way and this gets men killed. He puts the lives of all his men in danger just so that he can find land that's been undiscovered. He cares nothing for their lives at all. This, above most anything, is something I loathe. To put aside the well-being of others and think only of oneself is one of the worst things a person can do. I applaud the author for making me feel so strongly towards this man. At the same time, though, I can't help by feel sorry for him. Erasmus looked up to him, loved him and cared for him and yet Zeke was blinded by his own ambitions. Zeke had all he was looking for in his family and he missed it.
Back in Philadelphia, Lavinia and Alexandra are waiting for the men to come home. I wish we got to know them a little more throughout the book. All we see are journal entries of the women that give us glimpses into who they are and what they want out of this voyage, but we don't get anything until the men come home. So by the end of the book, I feel as though a complete picture hasn't been drawn of these ladies. And they could have been strong characters, too. Lavinia with her undying love for Zeke and the anger she had toward her brother and attempted forgiveness, I think could have been felt more deeply had I gotten to know her in previous pages. Alexandra we get a little more information about: she wants to travel, she dislikes being under the thumb of her family and the unfortunate ties of being a woman during this time period and all that entails. So when she finally decides to do something about all of that by the end of the book, I get her a little bit more, I still wish she was expounded upon during the whole novel.
By the end, both Zeke and Erasmus want their stories known. Zeke has more success while Erasmus struggles. And despite the title of this novel sharing a title with Zeke's own book, I think that it's Erasmus' book that came to life in these pages. If he was a real man, I believe he would be proud to call this his own.
You may be wondering why I gave a 5 star rating to this book and only talked about what stood out negatively to me. Well, that's why it's a 5 star book. I felt so much during this story. The indignation that the men felt toward Zeke were my feelings as well. The frustration that Erasmus felt once he knew that Zeke was alive was something I could feel right along side him. Andrea Barrett is a story-weaver and one of the best that I have had a chance to read in a while.
I really enjoyed the development of the characters even though not many of them were talked about thoroughly. The book was mostly about Erasmus and Zeke. Ned, Dr. Boerhaave, and Copernicus were the ones that we really got to know. And Copernicus didn't really show up until the last half of the book when Erasmus and the men returned home.
What little we did learn about the crew of the Narwhal was that they were typical seamen. They followed the strongest man on the ship, regardless of the title of Commander or Captain. I thought that this wouldn't happen until later in the voyage but the men turned to the Captain of the ship (who was not Zeke, though he had the title of Commander and therefore should have been the one whom everyone followed) pretty early on. During the course of the book the reader can see why the men did this and eventually staged a bit of a mutiny.
Zeke was an interesting character. If I remember correctly he was an orphan and he was taken in by Erasmus' family and was raised like a son. Zeke looked up to the elder Wells (Erasmus' father) and wished to be like him, or at least please him. By the time the men set sail, Father Wells is dead and it's Erasmus, his three younger brothers, Lavinia (who was besotted by Zeke) and Zeke himself who are left to deal with the family business and their own desires. Erasmus' desire to find new and interesting specimens to add to his families home is eclipsed by Zeke's overwhelming desire"find" Franklin (another explorer who has gone missing).
Once the journey on the sea is well under way, we come to see Zeke's real reason to command this journey: he wants to make a name for himself. He felt that all his life it's been about Erasmus and his brothers, and this was the only way he could get himself to stand out and make elder Wells feel proud, even in death. Once the ship gets stuck in the ice this becomes the living nightmare for the men on the boat.
Erasmus constantly battles the love of a brother and the loyalty that comes with it that he feels for Zeke and the want to keep himself and the other ship-men safe. This unfortunately comes to a terrible head when Erasmus disagrees with one of the journey's that Zeke wishes to take to find the Esquimaux and ask for help.
It's at this point were I have come to strongly dislike Zeke. While I understand the need to feel recognized and loved by everyone, he does so in a selfish way and this gets men killed. He puts the lives of all his men in danger just so that he can find land that's been undiscovered. He cares nothing for their lives at all. This, above most anything, is something I loathe. To put aside the well-being of others and think only of oneself is one of the worst things a person can do. I applaud the author for making me feel so strongly towards this man. At the same time, though, I can't help by feel sorry for him. Erasmus looked up to him, loved him and cared for him and yet Zeke was blinded by his own ambitions. Zeke had all he was looking for in his family and he missed it.
Back in Philadelphia, Lavinia and Alexandra are waiting for the men to come home. I wish we got to know them a little more throughout the book. All we see are journal entries of the women that give us glimpses into who they are and what they want out of this voyage, but we don't get anything until the men come home. So by the end of the book, I feel as though a complete picture hasn't been drawn of these ladies. And they could have been strong characters, too. Lavinia with her undying love for Zeke and the anger she had toward her brother and attempted forgiveness, I think could have been felt more deeply had I gotten to know her in previous pages. Alexandra we get a little more information about: she wants to travel, she dislikes being under the thumb of her family and the unfortunate ties of being a woman during this time period and all that entails. So when she finally decides to do something about all of that by the end of the book, I get her a little bit more, I still wish she was expounded upon during the whole novel.
By the end, both Zeke and Erasmus want their stories known. Zeke has more success while Erasmus struggles. And despite the title of this novel sharing a title with Zeke's own book, I think that it's Erasmus' book that came to life in these pages. If he was a real man, I believe he would be proud to call this his own.
You may be wondering why I gave a 5 star rating to this book and only talked about what stood out negatively to me. Well, that's why it's a 5 star book. I felt so much during this story. The indignation that the men felt toward Zeke were my feelings as well. The frustration that Erasmus felt once he knew that Zeke was alive was something I could feel right along side him. Andrea Barrett is a story-weaver and one of the best that I have had a chance to read in a while.
After this and [b:The Air We Breathe A Novel|977705|The Air We Breathe A Novel|Andrea Barrett|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179954448s/977705.jpg|2682733], I'm officially an Andrea Barrett fan. The world of the story is fascinating - polar explorers in the 1850s - but the characters are what sell me on her stories. I love the way she recycles minor characters between books – it makes me want to read them all, and then go back and reread so I understand all the connections. The characters all feel so real – there was one character who I suspected would be unlikeable, and did turn out to be a pretty terrible person, and I kept wondering if he would have a redeeming moment (pretty much not). Other characters struggled to come into themselves in a way that was fascinating and slightly painful, but ultimately rewarding.
This book is painstakingly historically accurate in almost everything but the facts about the imagined characters in the foreground of the story. Sadly, I know I would've enjoyed the story a lot more if it had strayed further from historically plausible events and gotten weird with it. At the very end there is a moment of magical realism that I found redeemed the book for me a great deal. Before that I had almost given the book up because it was so profoundly boring for so long, focusing on unlikeable characters failing to grow in any appreciable way.
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
I bought this book years and years ago on the strength of its ludicrously beautiful cover, and the fact that I enjoyed Andrea Barrett’s book of short stories Ship Fever. I finally got around to reading this one, and was disappointed. Put it down. But that cover is glorious.
Wonderful use of language. Though it's about arctic exploration, the focus is not so much on the adventure elements as on the interpersonal relationships. The reader gets to know the characters in a deep and personal way.
"The Voyage of the Narwhal is fraught with as many problems as the eponymous ship within the book; a lack of emotional or physical tension leaves what could have been an interesting and enticing tale as little more than a dry retelling punctuated by dramatic flair. I was a bit disappointed in the execution and perhaps went in with too many expectations. Though the voyage of the Narwhal is a major part of the story, its consequences are explored in too much detail which causes its underwhelming end." - https://thepastduebookreview.com/2017/12/13/voyage-of-the-narwhal-review/
I really liked the topic of this book and the setting and tone. I never read anything by Andrea Barrett but I did like her writing style.
The novel is set in the 1850's and starts off with a group of men about to set off on an arctic exploration trip on the ship called the Narwhal. The mission of this trip is to find out what happened to Franklin and his men. Franklin's ships were equipped to handle 3 years out to sea but they have been missing for 10 years. Previous rescue/exploration missions found traces of Franklin's remnants, including evidence the crew resorted to cannabilism to survive longer. Another mission for this trip is to explore new regions of the arctic and find evidence of an open polar sea.
The majority of the book is told from the viewpoint of Erasmus, the naturalist on board. He collects samples of the plants and animals and becomes good friends with the doctor on board. The expedition is led by Zeke, Erasmus soon to be brother-in-law. Zeke is so ambitious he puts everyone at risk. Instead of returning home in October as originally planned he drives his crew to explore further causing their ship to be iced in for the long winter. Erasmus struggles with his own ambitious desires, concern for the safety of the crew, and his loyalty and responsibility towards his sister's soon to be husband.
I enjoyed the descriptions of the arctic, learning a little bit the history of arctic exploration, and reading about the Eskimos. In general the arctic trip portion of the book was very interesting. This book isn't packed with crazy arctic adventure stories (no polar bear attacks or miraculous recovery of lost men), it dealt more with the psychological effects of arctic exploration. It was when the remaining crew returned to PA and dealt with all these issues and the Annie/Tom plot, that I kind of lost interest.
The novel is set in the 1850's and starts off with a group of men about to set off on an arctic exploration trip on the ship called the Narwhal. The mission of this trip is to find out what happened to Franklin and his men. Franklin's ships were equipped to handle 3 years out to sea but they have been missing for 10 years. Previous rescue/exploration missions found traces of Franklin's remnants, including evidence the crew resorted to cannabilism to survive longer. Another mission for this trip is to explore new regions of the arctic and find evidence of an open polar sea.
The majority of the book is told from the viewpoint of Erasmus, the naturalist on board. He collects samples of the plants and animals and becomes good friends with the doctor on board. The expedition is led by Zeke, Erasmus soon to be brother-in-law. Zeke is so ambitious he puts everyone at risk. Instead of returning home in October as originally planned he drives his crew to explore further causing their ship to be iced in for the long winter. Erasmus struggles with his own ambitious desires, concern for the safety of the crew, and his loyalty and responsibility towards his sister's soon to be husband.
I enjoyed the descriptions of the arctic, learning a little bit the history of arctic exploration, and reading about the Eskimos. In general the arctic trip portion of the book was very interesting. This book isn't packed with crazy arctic adventure stories (no polar bear attacks or miraculous recovery of lost men), it dealt more with the psychological effects of arctic exploration. It was when the remaining crew returned to PA and dealt with all these issues and the Annie/Tom plot, that I kind of lost interest.
I had such high hopes for this book. But the story just never grabbed me the way I thought it was going to even though it was about an expedition to the Antarctic.
The characters were a little lackluster and the main character ...he was not really my favorite ...so I wasn’t as invested in this story as I wanted to be.
I wish I had enjoyed it more then I did as it was my first read of the new year but sometimes that’s what happens and you just don’t connect with a book and don’t think I connected with this book.
Perhaps sometime in the future I will revisit this book but at this point I’m going to say that I don’t recommend it.
The characters were a little lackluster and the main character ...he was not really my favorite ...so I wasn’t as invested in this story as I wanted to be.
I wish I had enjoyed it more then I did as it was my first read of the new year but sometimes that’s what happens and you just don’t connect with a book and don’t think I connected with this book.
Perhaps sometime in the future I will revisit this book but at this point I’m going to say that I don’t recommend it.