Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.11 AVERAGE
3.11 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was expecting an adventure novel from Poe. I guess this was kind of that. I ultimately enjoyed it, but it was certainly not my favorite work of his. Honestly, if he hadn't been the author I probably would have liked it even less. Some interesting concepts, certainly.
After reading this tale of a high-seas adventure to the South Pole, it isn't difficult to surmise why Poe never wrote another novel. It's simply not his form; the work had a few riveting Poevian descriptions, but such enjoyable instances were highly episodic. The work was pushed past redemtion by its colonialist and racially-heirarchical plot devices and character descriptions, which may be more interesting to students of history and the humanities than those in search of great literature.
Some telling quotes & passages:
"Unsupported as my assertions must necessarily be (except by the evidence of a single individual, and he a half-breed Indian), I could only hope for belief among my family, and those of my friends who have had reason, through life, to put faith in my veracity..." - Preface
"Fortunate, indeed, was it that the incident occurred—for, upon this incident, trivial as it appears, the thread of my destiny depended."
"a line-manager, who went by the name of Dirk Peters... was one of the most ferocious-looking men I ever beheld. He was short in stature, not more than four feet eight inches high, but his limbs were of Herculean mould. His hands, especially, were so enormously thick and broad as hardly to retain a human shape. His arms, as well as legs, were bowed in the most singular manner, and appeared to possess no flexibility whatever. His head was equally deformed, being of immense size, with an indentation on the crown (like that on the head of most negroes), and entirely bald. To conceal this latter deficiency, which did not proceed from old age, he usually wore a wig formed of any hair-like material which presented itself- occasionally the skin of a Spanish dog or American grizzly bear. At the time spoken of, he had on a portion of one of these bearskins; and it added no little to the natural ferocity of his countenance, which betook of the Upsaroka character. The mouth extended nearly from ear to ear, the lips were thin, and seemed, like some other portions of his frame, to be devoid of natural pliancy, so that the ruling expression never varied under the influence of any emotion whatever. This ruling expression may be conceived when it is considered that the teeth were exceedingly long and protruding, and never even partially covered, in any instance, by the lips. To pass this man with a casual glance, one might imagine him to be convulsed with laughter, but a second look would induce a shuddering acknowledgment, that if such an expression were indicative of merriment, the merriment must be that of a demon.... I have been thus particular in speaking of Dirk Peters, because, ferocious as he appeared, he proved the main instrument in preserving the life of Augustus."
"I suffered less than any of us, being much less reduced in frame, and retaining my powers of mind in a surprising degree, while the rest were completely prostrated in intellect, and seemed to be brought to a species of second childhood, generally simpering in their expressions, with idiotic smiles, and uttering the most absurd platitudes.... It is possible, however, that my companions may have entertained the same opinion of their own condition as I did of mine, and that I may have unwittingly been guilty of the same extravagances and imbecilities as themselves- this is a matter which cannot be determined."
Some telling quotes & passages:
"Unsupported as my assertions must necessarily be (except by the evidence of a single individual, and he a half-breed Indian), I could only hope for belief among my family, and those of my friends who have had reason, through life, to put faith in my veracity..." - Preface
"Fortunate, indeed, was it that the incident occurred—for, upon this incident, trivial as it appears, the thread of my destiny depended."
"a line-manager, who went by the name of Dirk Peters... was one of the most ferocious-looking men I ever beheld. He was short in stature, not more than four feet eight inches high, but his limbs were of Herculean mould. His hands, especially, were so enormously thick and broad as hardly to retain a human shape. His arms, as well as legs, were bowed in the most singular manner, and appeared to possess no flexibility whatever. His head was equally deformed, being of immense size, with an indentation on the crown (like that on the head of most negroes), and entirely bald. To conceal this latter deficiency, which did not proceed from old age, he usually wore a wig formed of any hair-like material which presented itself- occasionally the skin of a Spanish dog or American grizzly bear. At the time spoken of, he had on a portion of one of these bearskins; and it added no little to the natural ferocity of his countenance, which betook of the Upsaroka character. The mouth extended nearly from ear to ear, the lips were thin, and seemed, like some other portions of his frame, to be devoid of natural pliancy, so that the ruling expression never varied under the influence of any emotion whatever. This ruling expression may be conceived when it is considered that the teeth were exceedingly long and protruding, and never even partially covered, in any instance, by the lips. To pass this man with a casual glance, one might imagine him to be convulsed with laughter, but a second look would induce a shuddering acknowledgment, that if such an expression were indicative of merriment, the merriment must be that of a demon.... I have been thus particular in speaking of Dirk Peters, because, ferocious as he appeared, he proved the main instrument in preserving the life of Augustus."
"I suffered less than any of us, being much less reduced in frame, and retaining my powers of mind in a surprising degree, while the rest were completely prostrated in intellect, and seemed to be brought to a species of second childhood, generally simpering in their expressions, with idiotic smiles, and uttering the most absurd platitudes.... It is possible, however, that my companions may have entertained the same opinion of their own condition as I did of mine, and that I may have unwittingly been guilty of the same extravagances and imbecilities as themselves- this is a matter which cannot be determined."
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I wanted to love this book but I don’t. It doesn’t feel like Poe’s writing at all. I’m glad he only wrote one full-length novel because I wouldn’t want to read more than this one.
DNF - I tried. Somehow made it through the unmentioned and un-regretted death of his heroic dog, Tiger. Despaired at the lack of acknowledgement of the death of his best friend, Augustus. Cannibalism for survival got much more psychological torment than the death of T and A combined. I don’t know the first thing about the mental anguish caused by forced cannibalism, but that really bothered me.
Still managed to keep slogging through the boring geography lesson near the South Pole.
I gave up when I got to the polar bear that somehow exists in the Southern Hemisphere, that is killed almost effortlessly by a single man.
Where is my suspension of disbelief? Where is my acknowledgement that there was no wiki back then, and no one (probably?) knew for sure there WEREN’T polar bears in the Antarctic?? There’s no way Poe could have experienced for himself the Antarctic first-hand, can I chill? Can’t I be more understanding within the context of that which this book was written?
Nope, can’t do it.
Still managed to keep slogging through the boring geography lesson near the South Pole.
I gave up when I got to the polar bear that somehow exists in the Southern Hemisphere, that is killed almost effortlessly by a single man.
Where is my suspension of disbelief? Where is my acknowledgement that there was no wiki back then, and no one (probably?) knew for sure there WEREN’T polar bears in the Antarctic?? There’s no way Poe could have experienced for himself the Antarctic first-hand, can I chill? Can’t I be more understanding within the context of that which this book was written?
Nope, can’t do it.
Well. The racism.
Also the long devulsions into maritime specifics were just so boring. And it's terribly inconclusive, I understand why Jules Verne felt the need to write a continuation.
Also the long devulsions into maritime specifics were just so boring. And it's terribly inconclusive, I understand why Jules Verne felt the need to write a continuation.
I enjoyed this book until it reached the final chapter. The ending of the book leaves much to be desired as it doesn’t really end so much as it seems that Poe just lost interest in actually finishing the book. The ending left me throughly confused and disappointed.
2.5 stars.
Latitude longitude.
Having read a few short stories of Poe before jumping into this, I had to say I was excited and had high expectations, and in the first few chapters they were more or less met. But then reading onward was so frustrating that I on several occasions considered putting the book back on the shelf. The story so many times takes a backseat to useless information and maritime babble in paragraphs of hellish length, it feels as though it forgets that there is a story to be told. Are the technicalities of stowage and the nesting of penguins and albatrosses really so important to Gordon Pym's narrative? I myself found the answer to be a hard "no".
I can not recommend this novel unless you have a deep thirst for reading Poe, in which event I would recommend focusing on his short stories instead.
Latitude longitude.
Having read a few short stories of Poe before jumping into this, I had to say I was excited and had high expectations, and in the first few chapters they were more or less met. But then reading onward was so frustrating that I on several occasions considered putting the book back on the shelf. The story so many times takes a backseat to useless information and maritime babble in paragraphs of hellish length, it feels as though it forgets that there is a story to be told. Are the technicalities of stowage and the nesting of penguins and albatrosses really so important to Gordon Pym's narrative? I myself found the answer to be a hard "no".
I can not recommend this novel unless you have a deep thirst for reading Poe, in which event I would recommend focusing on his short stories instead.