Sep 25, 2001 07:20 AM
2857 Views
I emailed MS and asked for this book to be added to the list last week when I was only half way through reading it. I wanted to be able share it as soon as I finished.
I came upon Ahab's Wife while browsing in the local Barnes and Noble. Ahab, readers will recall, is the famous captain of the Pequod who seeks the great white whale in Moby Dick. Ms. Naslund indicates the inspiration for Ahab's Wife comes from a short passage in Moby Dick where Ahab refers to his young wife back in Nantucket. This book is much more than a view of Ahab on land, it is the saga of a woman who for a relatively short part of her life is the wife of Ahab.
Una Spenser, the main character in the story was born and raised to the age of twelve by her parents in Kentucky. Her father becomes increasingly abusive as Una resists his attempts to force her belief in his fundamentalist view of God. Una's mother is concerned enough to send her off to Martha's Vineyard to live with her sister and family in their lighthouse. There Una learns much of the sea and whaling. Her aunt's family being very accepting of differences, she is free to think and explore as she wants. At sixteen, disguised as a boy, she sets sail as a cabin boy on a whaling ship. Several things happen during this trip that have a profound effect on her future-including a chance encounter with Ahab. As the story unfolds Una becomes aware of and involved in some of the major social and political issues of the times (mid 1800's). There is so much to this tale ranging from high adventure to romance to tragedy. To be specific about any more would spoil the unfolding of the story for readers.
In Ahab's Wife Ms. Naslund has succeeded at integrating fictional characters created by another author realistically. In addition to Captain Ahab himself, Tashtego, Starbuck and Dagoo play improtant roles in the story. The tender side of Ahab seems at first surprising but also very believable. The book is very accurate historically with occasional encounters with historical figures from the time as well as accurate descriptions of the whaling industry and New Bedford and the islands at that time.
Ahab's Wife is one of those books that you will read into the night when you should be going to sleep because you can't put it down. It is a book that compels you to read every word and not skip along the descriptions.
For those who didn't read or didn't like Moby Dick, don't dismiss this book. Ahab's Wife is a very different book and the story is whole on it's own.
Ahab's Wife won several awards when initially published in 1999 including being named one of Time Magazine's top five novels for the year.
