The North Water
Author: Ian McGuire
Published by: Scribner
Pages: 342
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★★
Published by: Scribner
Pages: 342
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★★
A ship sets sail with a killer on board…
1859. A man joins a whaling ship bound for the Arctic Circle. Having left the British Army with his reputation in tatters, Patrick Sumner has little option but to accept the position of ship’s surgeon on this ill-fated voyage.
But when, deep into the journey, a boy is discovered brutally killed, Sumner finds himself forced to act. He soon learns he faces an evil greater than he has encountered at the siege of Delhi, in the shape of Henry Drax: harpooner, murderer, monster…
As the true purpose of the ship’s expedition becomes clear and despair descends upon the crew, the confrontation between Sumner and Drax will play out in the terrible darkness of the Artic winter.
1859. A man joins a whaling ship bound for the Arctic Circle. Having left the British Army with his reputation in tatters, Patrick Sumner has little option but to accept the position of ship’s surgeon on this ill-fated voyage.
But when, deep into the journey, a boy is discovered brutally killed, Sumner finds himself forced to act. He soon learns he faces an evil greater than he has encountered at the siege of Delhi, in the shape of Henry Drax: harpooner, murderer, monster…
As the true purpose of the ship’s expedition becomes clear and despair descends upon the crew, the confrontation between Sumner and Drax will play out in the terrible darkness of the Artic winter.
My thoughts:
Ian McGuire’s novel is about the dying days of Hull’s whaling industry in the late 1850s and takes readers on a journey of brutal violence breaking out between desperate men on a doomed whaling expedition into the Arctic. It is a brutal, unsettling, and savage
tale of darkness. It is a daring tale of men struggling against Mother Nature and each other, with a villain so evil that he’s sure to resonate in the reader's mind long after setting this one aside.
The story opens violently. Henry Drax, a harpooner, has signed on for a six-month voyage on a Greenland whaler, the Volunteer, which is presently being trimmed and packed in harbour. Drax is a brute, and within the first chapter he has killed a Shetlander who has crossed him in a bar. Next, he beats unconscious and rapes a young boy. He continues to behave on board as he has done on shore.
Henry Drax is by far the most evil character I’ve come across in contemporary literature in a long time, yet there's way more to this book than just Drax.
The most interesting person, for me, was Patrick Sumner, who is a more morally complex and relatable character, the one who keeps the reader’s hope and interest afloat in a very dark and cold world. Sumner is a former army surgeon who has been wounded in the siege of Delhi. He signs on as ship’s surgeon, claiming that he wants six months work before he comes into property in Ireland.
The Volunteer, owned by Baxter and captained by Brownlee, takes on only part of its crew in Hull and the remainder join at Lerwick. And then it's basically just one horrible thing after another.
The book is incredibly well-researched with extraordinary detail and descriptions of the cold, violence and cruelty.
I was especially impressed by the author’s descriptive writing and realistic character development. Yes, it’s extremely dark. But this is also a highly suspenseful story with plenty of atmosphere and historical detail.
I was continuously intrigued by its outward exploration of the Arctic world as well as its more inward moral and psychological explorations. I liked the ending very much, and the conclusion is satisfying despite it feeling perhaps a little abrupt.
All in all, The North Water is an extremely gruesome and bleak Victorian adventure story, set on a whaling ship in 1859. Whales are butchered, men betray one another and die. Ice crushes everything in its way, from the skin to the soul. The novel is gripping and engrossing even if at most times truly gruesome.
Reading this is a brutal undertaking, but well worth your time.
Thanks again to the publisher, author, and Tandem Collective for providing me with a copy of this paperback in exchange for an honest review.
Overall reaction:
Ian McGuire’s novel is about the dying days of Hull’s whaling industry in the late 1850s and takes readers on a journey of brutal violence breaking out between desperate men on a doomed whaling expedition into the Arctic. It is a brutal, unsettling, and savage
tale of darkness. It is a daring tale of men struggling against Mother Nature and each other, with a villain so evil that he’s sure to resonate in the reader's mind long after setting this one aside.
The story opens violently. Henry Drax, a harpooner, has signed on for a six-month voyage on a Greenland whaler, the Volunteer, which is presently being trimmed and packed in harbour. Drax is a brute, and within the first chapter he has killed a Shetlander who has crossed him in a bar. Next, he beats unconscious and rapes a young boy. He continues to behave on board as he has done on shore.
Henry Drax is by far the most evil character I’ve come across in contemporary literature in a long time, yet there's way more to this book than just Drax.
The most interesting person, for me, was Patrick Sumner, who is a more morally complex and relatable character, the one who keeps the reader’s hope and interest afloat in a very dark and cold world. Sumner is a former army surgeon who has been wounded in the siege of Delhi. He signs on as ship’s surgeon, claiming that he wants six months work before he comes into property in Ireland.
The Volunteer, owned by Baxter and captained by Brownlee, takes on only part of its crew in Hull and the remainder join at Lerwick. And then it's basically just one horrible thing after another.
The book is incredibly well-researched with extraordinary detail and descriptions of the cold, violence and cruelty.
I was especially impressed by the author’s descriptive writing and realistic character development. Yes, it’s extremely dark. But this is also a highly suspenseful story with plenty of atmosphere and historical detail.
I was continuously intrigued by its outward exploration of the Arctic world as well as its more inward moral and psychological explorations. I liked the ending very much, and the conclusion is satisfying despite it feeling perhaps a little abrupt.
All in all, The North Water is an extremely gruesome and bleak Victorian adventure story, set on a whaling ship in 1859. Whales are butchered, men betray one another and die. Ice crushes everything in its way, from the skin to the soul. The novel is gripping and engrossing even if at most times truly gruesome.
Reading this is a brutal undertaking, but well worth your time.
Thanks again to the publisher, author, and Tandem Collective for providing me with a copy of this paperback in exchange for an honest review.
Overall reaction:
