Ahab's Wife: Or, The Star Gazer
Sena Jeter Naslund
"Ahab's Wife I found out about I believe while browsing discounted remainder hard covers that were nonetheless sort of prominently displayed. I loved Moby Dick; I had a feeling that this book, Ahab's Wife, might appeal to some other sides of me - even other sides of me that were - or that are much better developed here in my early thirties.
What's unique, or at least very unusual about this particular novel is that it gives you the feeling of being an historical novel, not only set in a time period, but it gives you the feeling about being about a real person, a real historical character, by virtue of its tight connection with Moby Dick.
Perhaps as I read it, I felt that it could have been somewhat shorter. I've heard similar comments about Moby Dick and many other 500- to 1000-page or longer novels. It felt a little bit self-indulgent at times. But it's funny, I think that as soon as I say that, as soon as I realized that I have that feeling about the book, I realized that's actually a statement in favor of how well written the book is, because it actually gives you the feeling that this person actually existed and actually wrote this book.
I would give Ahab's Wife five stars, particular because it puts itself into a genre that existed many, many years ago. It really seems to stand as a 19th century work of literature, even though it was written at the very end of the 20th century, and that's a very unusual kind of achievement."
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