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eowyns_helmet's review against another edition
5.0
Spectacular read, especially on a steamy day. No book in my memory captures the sensory funk of 19th life and whaling ships like McGuire. The story is a tense, page-turning adventure, beautifully written, that follows a disgraced surgeon as he signs on to a former whaler meant to sink in the frozen Arctic. Questions of good and evil, redemption, and the kind of casual violence of former times animate this gripping read. You won't find a single truly likeable character -- except for the sanguine, doomed Swedenborgian philosopher Otto -- but you root for the surgeon as he bumbles his way toward a small sliver of redemption.
pentlacj's review against another edition
3.0
I really wanted to love this book... the setting, the synopsis, all the glowing reviews. I still enjoyed it, but I didn't get as much satisfaction as I hoped. I appreciated the pace, narrative, and setting, but the philosophical aspects didn't click with me and often felt forced (though I did think often of how the hell I'd survive day after day surrounded by snow and ice). Overall, I'd recommend as an intriguing work of historical fiction.
katiealex72's review against another edition
5.0
Just as good as the first time I read it. You need a strong stomach though.
yellowishresin's review against another edition
5.0
The prose, while stark, crude, and full of brutality, is beautiful and sonorous. Normally, I am put off by such graphic depictions of violence, but here it helps create an atmosphere of darkness that encircles even you. And while the novel is bleak, it never gives into that bleakness---it is almost a parable for what happens when you do.
On the surface it appears pulpy: a murder-mystery, themes of man v. nature, good v. evil (each represented in a rival man-so tired). But it nevers falls into tropes and archetypes. Its characters are not lessons and its bears don't stand for untamed nature, they are just bears (with "soup bowl" like paws).
On the surface it appears pulpy: a murder-mystery, themes of man v. nature, good v. evil (each represented in a rival man-so tired). But it nevers falls into tropes and archetypes. Its characters are not lessons and its bears don't stand for untamed nature, they are just bears (with "soup bowl" like paws).
aaronreadabook's review against another edition
2.0
Gory and disgusting for the sake of it. None of the characters were very sympathetic so it took the jeopardy out of the story, which was just interesting enough to keep reading. Might work better in the upcoming BBC TV show if they flesh out the characters.
jjmann3's review against another edition
4.0
"Life will not be puzzled out, or blathered into submission; it must be lived through, survived, in whatever fashion a man can manage."
I found The North Water a thoroughly astonishing story; chalk full of grit, suffering, and death. Not for those with queasy stomachs.
I found The North Water a thoroughly astonishing story; chalk full of grit, suffering, and death. Not for those with queasy stomachs.
nora_rue's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
reginamea's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0