deepakchecks's review against another edition
4.0
In the year 1859, the Greenland whaling ship The Volunteer is setting sail to the north waters to capture whales. This was period where whaling was a lucrative, although dangerous business, as whale oil was extensively used as a fuel for lighting and industrial purpose.
We are introduced to two main protagonists. Drax, a harpooner, is the evil-incarnate. He makes small fights in the bar to get drink, kills a shetlander with whom he has an argument , and also attempts hits a black boy unconscious before raping him. Sumner, other the other hand appears gentlemanly. After his stint in India and before getting hold of his uncles land, he has some time to spend and he decides to server in the Voyager as a surgeon.
There are a host of other characters who accompany them in their trip. While attempting to kill seals, Sumner accidentally falls to water and has a near-death experience, whil Drax on the other hand kills a polar bear and thus appears formidable. Sumner while treating a cabin boy, Joseph Hannah, figured out that he was sodomised and once this news spreads out, Hannah is found killed.
Sumner insists of examing Drax and identifies him as the culprit, after which in a fit of rage, Drax kills the captain, but is then taken prisoner. To add to this drama, the ship hits an iceberg and crashes, leaving the crew in a precarious position. The last sections look at the various survival methods employed by the survivors and how they manage to escape their perilous fate.
The unforgiving landscapes, the whale/seal hunts and other period characteristics are beautifully and effectively described and amidst this setting, the writer conjures a battle between good and evil. Riveting read.
We are introduced to two main protagonists. Drax, a harpooner, is the evil-incarnate. He makes small fights in the bar to get drink, kills a shetlander with whom he has an argument , and also attempts hits a black boy unconscious before raping him. Sumner, other the other hand appears gentlemanly. After his stint in India and before getting hold of his uncles land, he has some time to spend and he decides to server in the Voyager as a surgeon.
There are a host of other characters who accompany them in their trip. While attempting to kill seals, Sumner accidentally falls to water and has a near-death experience, whil Drax on the other hand kills a polar bear and thus appears formidable. Sumner while treating a cabin boy, Joseph Hannah, figured out that he was sodomised and once this news spreads out, Hannah is found killed.
Sumner insists of examing Drax and identifies him as the culprit, after which in a fit of rage, Drax kills the captain, but is then taken prisoner. To add to this drama, the ship hits an iceberg and crashes, leaving the crew in a precarious position. The last sections look at the various survival methods employed by the survivors and how they manage to escape their perilous fate.
The unforgiving landscapes, the whale/seal hunts and other period characteristics are beautifully and effectively described and amidst this setting, the writer conjures a battle between good and evil. Riveting read.
thebooktrail88's review against another edition
5.0
1800s: A ship sets sail for the Arctic with a killer on board….
Visit the locations in the novel here - The North Water Booktrail
The ship - The Volunteer – even the name sounds hopeful, spirited, a journey into a new land. However the bowels of the ship are dark and dank, the smells and sense of being closed in, trapped, like a moving prison with the worse of humanity right beside you is more of the reality.
Sumner has even experienced the Siege of Delhi in India so is used to man’s brutality and the extent to which a man can stoop, but what he finds on the Volunteer is worse that even he imagines.
Pure evil is on the ship – the stinking,stale and sordid floating mess that is reaching the icy -cold depths of the Arctic. The men on board survive as best they can but where can you go if evil is right beside you and there is no where to escape?
Whaling involves violence and capturing animals but the real violence and horror is on the ship. Men are the worst animals of all and when it becomes clear why the ship is there, and all other boats have left the area, a sinking hellhole is the middle of nowhere becomes the scene for unimaginable horror.
Visit the locations in the novel here - The North Water Booktrail
The ship - The Volunteer – even the name sounds hopeful, spirited, a journey into a new land. However the bowels of the ship are dark and dank, the smells and sense of being closed in, trapped, like a moving prison with the worse of humanity right beside you is more of the reality.
Sumner has even experienced the Siege of Delhi in India so is used to man’s brutality and the extent to which a man can stoop, but what he finds on the Volunteer is worse that even he imagines.
Pure evil is on the ship – the stinking,stale and sordid floating mess that is reaching the icy -cold depths of the Arctic. The men on board survive as best they can but where can you go if evil is right beside you and there is no where to escape?
Whaling involves violence and capturing animals but the real violence and horror is on the ship. Men are the worst animals of all and when it becomes clear why the ship is there, and all other boats have left the area, a sinking hellhole is the middle of nowhere becomes the scene for unimaginable horror.
jasonfurman's review against another edition
5.0
The North Water was completely absorbing, I read most of it in one sitting. The nautical setting is familiar from everything from Herman Melville through Patrick O'Brian, but all of it refracted through a brutality and crudeness and hardness that is more akin to Cormac McCarthy. The plot is relatively simple: a whaling voyage heading to the North Water around Greenland (because by the time the book takes place, in 1859, the whales are scarcer and need to be followed further). The ship brings together a motley group united largely in their vulgar language, manners, and hardness--although with what ultimately end up being two opposing poles of an animal-like, force-of-nature evil against a deeply flawed but ultimately good person. The plot develops slowly at first but then increasingly comes together as the book rapidly propels itself forward. While the characters are not complex, their interiors are largely concealed, and they do not really evolve, they are epic enough to make up for all of that. And the writing makes you feel like everything else you have read in these genres--including Moby Dick--was whitewashing the truth of how people think and speak and feel in these situations. A really important addition to the genre of nautical novels and excellent by any yardstick.
colinmcev's review against another edition
5.0
Raw, gritty, harsh, and brilliant. This book is not for the squeamish, but I loved every second of it; I simply couldn't put it down. A brutal tale of struggle and survival, Ian McGuire brings to life a vivid and barbarous story with a brilliantly minimalist writing style. I was so grateful that McGuire didn't waste words on tiresome descriptions of maritime routines, period clothing, or 19th century English cities. Instead, McGuire's descriptions are brief and candid, and yet the few words he does use conjure such a clear picture that it feels like you can not only see the unforgiving arctic setting in your mind, you can almost taste it and smell it. Again, a warning: these images aren't for the faint-hearted. Brutal murders, gruesome surgeries, sexual crimes, and vicious animal attacks are unflinchingly portrayed here, but not for the sake of sensationalism or aggrandizement. Rather, it's a powerful realist portrayal of a human nature and a sometimes dark and violent world.
The hero, Patrick Sumner, and the villain, Henry Drax, are as rich and memorable as any two characters I've read in recent memory. The two appear in some ways polar opposites in terms of morals and motivations, but as the novel progresses, the ways in which they are surprisingly similar become more and more apparent. They are survivors in a palce where survival is the best one can expect. The narrative almost never leaves the perspective of one of the two men, and it's particularly interesting when McGuire delves into the mindset of Drax. Although clearly a sociopath, he is far from stupid, showing frightening shrewdness in executing his crimes and using the prejudices and weaknesses of those around him to his advantage. He's not a man who thinks or considers, he simply acts on his instinct and, just as often, homicidal impulses. "The law is just a name they give to what a certain kind of men prefer," he says. "If they hang me, they will hang me 'cause they can, and 'cause they wish to do it. They will be following their own inclination as I follow mine."
I feel like I've hardly read a description or review of this book that hasn't compared it to the works of Cormac McCarthy and to Moby Dick, and that seems appropriate enough. Ian McGuire is in good company being compared to writers like McCarthy and Melville, and he deserves to be there.
The hero, Patrick Sumner, and the villain, Henry Drax, are as rich and memorable as any two characters I've read in recent memory. The two appear in some ways polar opposites in terms of morals and motivations, but as the novel progresses, the ways in which they are surprisingly similar become more and more apparent. They are survivors in a palce where survival is the best one can expect. The narrative almost never leaves the perspective of one of the two men, and it's particularly interesting when McGuire delves into the mindset of Drax. Although clearly a sociopath, he is far from stupid, showing frightening shrewdness in executing his crimes and using the prejudices and weaknesses of those around him to his advantage. He's not a man who thinks or considers, he simply acts on his instinct and, just as often, homicidal impulses. "The law is just a name they give to what a certain kind of men prefer," he says. "If they hang me, they will hang me 'cause they can, and 'cause they wish to do it. They will be following their own inclination as I follow mine."
I feel like I've hardly read a description or review of this book that hasn't compared it to the works of Cormac McCarthy and to Moby Dick, and that seems appropriate enough. Ian McGuire is in good company being compared to writers like McCarthy and Melville, and he deserves to be there.
oceanhearted's review against another edition
2.0
booker prize longlist 2016
made me wish i was re-watching (not reading, key distinction!) amc's critically acclaimed the terror season one. it's not a bad book, and maybe this is of my own fault, but i do think that its
1) strongly-advertised man booker longlist (which mystifies me, by the way, i am not sure what makes this booker-worthy)
2) comparisons to moby dick ("how good moby dick could've been if it were this level of visceral/violent/etc" - firstly i will not take this moby dick slander, secondly the only similarity they have are that they are set upon whaling ships - a little confounded at how the author, in the interview included in my copy, compares the central antagonist to the titular whale in its role as a "villain" specifically)
3) description (this book is more than the clash between the protagonist/ship's crew and the central antagonist, which i think does a disservice to the book in the expectations it sets up)
can mislead potential readers and perhaps gives it a little more hype than it deserves. again, not a bad book at all! it's a perfectly fine thriller, and the one thing my covid-addled brain was able to digest in its dire urge to read. i'm just not certain how much it veers literary as the author intends it to.
other general comments - it is definitely not for the squirmish (both in the visceral and depravity sense - i think to marlon james' quotes on portrayal of violence); it is very strong on plot and very straightforward on prose (ymmv on whether that's a plus point); i could enjoy the character motivations, although i think they could have been better tied back to the plot progression, there isn't very satisfying payback in this regard; it is engaging despite its flaws and serves its purpose well enough as a thriller.
made me wish i was re-watching (not reading, key distinction!) amc's critically acclaimed the terror season one. it's not a bad book, and maybe this is of my own fault, but i do think that its
1) strongly-advertised man booker longlist (which mystifies me, by the way, i am not sure what makes this booker-worthy)
2) comparisons to moby dick ("how good moby dick could've been if it were this level of visceral/violent/etc" - firstly i will not take this moby dick slander, secondly the only similarity they have are that they are set upon whaling ships - a little confounded at how the author, in the interview included in my copy, compares the central antagonist to the titular whale in its role as a "villain" specifically)
3) description (this book is more than the clash between the protagonist/ship's crew and the central antagonist, which i think does a disservice to the book in the expectations it sets up)
can mislead potential readers and perhaps gives it a little more hype than it deserves. again, not a bad book at all! it's a perfectly fine thriller, and the one thing my covid-addled brain was able to digest in its dire urge to read. i'm just not certain how much it veers literary as the author intends it to.
other general comments - it is definitely not for the squirmish (both in the visceral and depravity sense - i think to marlon james' quotes on portrayal of violence); it is very strong on plot and very straightforward on prose (ymmv on whether that's a plus point); i could enjoy the character motivations, although i think they could have been better tied back to the plot progression, there isn't very satisfying payback in this regard; it is engaging despite its flaws and serves its purpose well enough as a thriller.
areader09's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this book quite a lot. It's well written and has a host of interesting. The author does a good job of painting a vivid picture of life on whaling ship in the mid 19th century. I thought the author did a good job a teasing out a little bit what the true purpose of the whaling voyage was without trying to play it up like it's supposed a major twist.
The adventure is fast paced and features host of interesting characters, almost all of whom are completely morally bankrupt. Who would have thought that an opium addicted, dishonorably discharged ex soldier would be so likable and relatable.
As other reviewers have noted, the book doesn't hold back in its descriptions of activities of all kinds. I don't mind the discussions of hunting/fighting/medical issues because that is to be expected on a whaling ship and among men who are trapped with little to do but drink, hunt, and fight. I suppose I could have done with less discussions of certain other bodily functions, but it does add to the grimy and dank atmosphere. And for that reason, I find the lurid descriptions ok. It's a 19th century whaling ship. It's not supposed to be a neat and tidy and sanitized environment. The grim description helps build the environment.
I also like the scene at the end of the book with the bear at the zoo. It dovetails back nicely to the bear he cared for on the boat. I like to think he is thinking about that little bear cub, the adult bear that saved his life when he took its life, and everything he saw and lost on that voyage.
All in all, a good, well written read.
The adventure is fast paced and features host of interesting characters, almost all of whom are completely morally bankrupt. Who would have thought that an opium addicted, dishonorably discharged ex soldier would be so likable and relatable.
As other reviewers have noted, the book doesn't hold back in its descriptions of activities of all kinds. I don't mind the discussions of hunting/fighting/medical issues because that is to be expected on a whaling ship and among men who are trapped with little to do but drink, hunt, and fight. I suppose I could have done with less discussions of certain other bodily functions, but it does add to the grimy and dank atmosphere. And for that reason, I find the lurid descriptions ok. It's a 19th century whaling ship. It's not supposed to be a neat and tidy and sanitized environment. The grim description helps build the environment.
Spoiler
I like how Sumner's experience in India, particular with the young boy who helps him after he is ambushed helps to, in my opinion, explain why he cares so much about helping and getting justice for the cabin boy.I also like the scene at the end of the book with the bear at the zoo. It dovetails back nicely to the bear he cared for on the boat. I like to think he is thinking about that little bear cub, the adult bear that saved his life when he took its life, and everything he saw and lost on that voyage.
All in all, a good, well written read.
nicnactack's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed the book but was disturbed by the likness to Dan Simmons The Terror. A far better and more interesting novel