You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.11 AVERAGE
3.11 AVERAGE
this is definitely something i never would have read if it wasn't on a course. As a precursor to speculative fiction it is interesting, unintentionally funny and somewhat problematic. Also, what was up with that ending
I read this for a lit class. I'm now wondering why I hadn't chosen Last of the Mohicans. That ending is ridiculous. The parts that I enjoyed, I greatly enjoyed. The parts I did not enjoy, I loathe. This book was slightly torturous in large portions and if I ever teach an American Lit class covering this period, I refuse to assign this novel. To sum up:
I sometimes think it's a shame that Poe didn't write more longer pieces of fiction, because there is so much here ripe for discussion. Race, masculinity, colonialism, environmentalism, etc.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is Poe's one (unfinished) novel, a story adventure and hardship on the sea. Pym stows away on the Grampus, which is immediately subject to a brutal mutiny. Violence and storms leave a few stranded on the destroyed ship for weeks. Attempts to find food from locked quarters below the waterline, and a little cannibalism, enable a couple men to survive until rescue by the Jane Guy.
Reminded me of Heart of The Sea.
Reminded me of Heart of The Sea.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
You can read my review at http://tims-reviews.blogspot.com/2017/04/book-review-36-narrative-of-arthur.html.
Apesar de escrito sob a forma de relato, não contendo diálogos, a primeira metade do livro é empolgante. A segunda metade excessivamente repleta de coordenadas para além do relato monótono, torna-se bastante maçador.
Mr. Poe combined two stories into one and while both were interesting on their own, I don't feel that this combination made the whole a better story.
Mr. Poe is definitely messing with us on this one. It just gets odder and odder: cannibalism (don't pick the short splinter), racism (an evil black cook and the treacherous natives), and gotta have some being buried alive (twice if you include being trapped below decks). Some of the aping of explorers journals gets tired and a couple of the chapters are just non-fiction essay (which may be trickily mucked up by Poe, but I don't have the heart to check them). He may be using the forms of adventure, sea-lit and horror, with a little sf mixed in, but mostly this seems kinda of post-mod, done pre-mod. The white figure at the end of the story could be the white of the page, or a retreat into whiteness after all the 'evil blackness' of what came before. The final words of book may be Poe's message to the unaware reader, or perhaps a quote from some missing pages of the bible...