A review by elenajohansen
The Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett
3.0
I've always been interested both in science and in the history of science, so a book following the voyage of an arctic expedition in the 1850's, even if it's fictional? Yes, please.
And while I was captivated by the details of survival in the arctic, by the forming friendships and rivalries of the crew, and the constant troubles that assaulted them on the journey, then the journey was over--halfway through the book.
The entire middle section was a directionless morass of personal misery for the (arguably) main character Erasmus, and only when the assumed-dead Zeke returned home with two of the natives who saved him (a mother and her son) to tell a fantastic story of his survival, did the story pick up any speed again.
Then it's a parable of racism, when the only way Zeke has to make any money from the badly botched journey is to put on a traveling show exhibiting the natives, and everyone else in his family is basically horrified by it (though his wife is more jealous of the time they take up than horrified by his treatment of them.) Erasmus, with a little help from the few friends he still has, rescues the boy after his mother dies of fever, and returns him home, because while they may be white Americans in the 1850's and casually racist about a lot of stuff (and they are!) even they know what Zeke is doing is cruel and wrong.
And then it's over.
I enjoyed the writing style, I enjoyed the science, I enjoyed the characters for the most part. I'm a little mystified by the plotting and pacing, because everything really does fall apart in the middle. Even if Erasmus is depressed and directionless, it didn't mean the arc of the narrative had to be.
And while I was captivated by the details of survival in the arctic, by the forming friendships and rivalries of the crew, and the constant troubles that assaulted them on the journey, then the journey was over--halfway through the book.
The entire middle section was a directionless morass of personal misery for the (arguably) main character Erasmus, and only when the assumed-dead Zeke returned home with two of the natives who saved him (a mother and her son) to tell a fantastic story of his survival, did the story pick up any speed again.
Then it's a parable of racism, when the only way Zeke has to make any money from the badly botched journey is to put on a traveling show exhibiting the natives, and everyone else in his family is basically horrified by it (though his wife is more jealous of the time they take up than horrified by his treatment of them.) Erasmus, with a little help from the few friends he still has, rescues the boy after his mother dies of fever, and returns him home, because while they may be white Americans in the 1850's and casually racist about a lot of stuff (and they are!) even they know what Zeke is doing is cruel and wrong.
And then it's over.
I enjoyed the writing style, I enjoyed the science, I enjoyed the characters for the most part. I'm a little mystified by the plotting and pacing, because everything really does fall apart in the middle. Even if Erasmus is depressed and directionless, it didn't mean the arc of the narrative had to be.