While other whalers go South, they are going North.
The Yorkshire whaler named the Volunteer is on its way to the Arctic Circle to hunt for whales. He will grow enormous from the feasting, he will expand to fill the empty sky.” When he is thirsty, he will drink his own blood when he is hungry, he will eat his own flesh. He will not die he tells himself, not now, not ever. ”There is no sin left now, there is only the blood and the water and the ice there is only life and death and the grey-green spaces in between. It’s a great read and I highly recommend it. The ending felt a bit abrupt, but that could just be because I didn’t want the story to end. I hope to forget Henry Drax some day (the most evil character I’ve come across in contemporary literature in a long time), but I doubt I’ll ever forget Patrick Sumner - the more morally complex and relatable character, the one who keeps the reader’s hope and interest afloat in a very dark and cold world. (Maybe darkly witty is a better description it’s definitely not a comedy.) (Think of a Jack London story on steroids.) The unremitting gore in this novel is so vividly described and the vernacular of the characters is so completely foul that it eventually becomes humorous. His style is deeply influenced by the authors he studied, but feels more modern and muscular. According to his Goodreads bio, Ian McGuire has a PhD from UVA where he focused on American Realism and it shows in his writing.
The North Water: A Novel is a shining example of contemporary literary realism.
I also loved it for its total lack of postmodern gimmickry. I loved it for its outward exploration of the Arctic world and for its more inward moral and psychological explorations. I loved it for its highly suspenseful story and well-researched and seamlessly-blended historical detail. I loved it for the author’s laser-focused descriptive writing and realistic character development. This novel contains foul language, horrific gore, rape, murder, animal cruelty, and other examples of total moral bankruptcy and I absolutely loved it.
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