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Ahab's Wife by Sara Jeter Naslund
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Ahab's Wife (edition 1999)

by Sara Jeter Naslund, Maryann Plunkett (Reader)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
3,4481193,703 (4)1 / 225
The adventures of Una Spenser who went to sea disguised as a cabin boy. Shipwrecked, she marries one of the survivors, then falls in love with Captain Ahab, a man obsessed with a white whale. She becomes involved in fighting slavery and in women's rights.
Member:Mosieodo
Title:Ahab's Wife
Authors:Sara Jeter Naslund
Other authors:Maryann Plunkett (Reader)
Info:Audioworks (1999), Edition: Abridged, Audio Cassette
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:Novel, Moby Dick

Work Information

Ahab's Wife or, The Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund

  1. 51
    Moby Dick by Herman Melville (ecleirs24)
    ecleirs24: Cause this novel is based upon a passage from Mobi Dick......
  2. 00
    We, the Drowned by Carsten Jensen (spiphany)
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Group TopicMessagesLast Message 
 Awful Lit.: Ahab's Wife4 unread / 4Fourpawz2, August 2015

» See also 225 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 119 (next | show all)
slavery,rape, homosexual rape, incest and much more. It was clever and well written but did not leave me feeling satisfied ( )
  cspiwak | Mar 6, 2024 |
Sena Jeter Nauslund (how I would love to know the etymology of that name) has written a book worthy of its inspiration in Ahab’s Wife. Beautifully written, though some of the ponderings by Una (the wife) as she develops her spirituality remind me of the elven songs in Tolkien - long and wavering and tempting to skip.
That said, this is an amazing life description of a girl who lived unafraid. Like Ahab, she thrusts herself in places, builds skills so she can handle life’s twists, strengthens herself against misfortune, opens herself to joy.
Nausland describes life at a lighthouse so beautifully I wanted to pack up my life and move there immediately.. She describes whale hunting in its gruesome detail, draws the heart-rending aspects of mental illness without glancing away.
Now of course I must re- read Moby Dick. I feel that this book provides a humanity to Ahab, and makes me wish for more. And hey bravo for a book that describes the life of women in this time.
Una is a bit tooooo perfect for me, so open and forgiving and tolerant. It seems unlikely at that time. But I was so willing to suspend disbelief and trust in the story and it was beautiful. ( )
  Dabble58 | Nov 11, 2023 |
Captain Ahab,Moby Dick, and Ishamael are three of the most well known characters in American literature. One of the things I most liked about this take on the tale was the way several real life people were included in Una Ahab's telling of the story. Four of these names were instantly recognizable to me. Three of them are writers who are required reading I'm many schools; i.e. Henry James, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. But there were three characters who whose names I didn't actually recognize, all three were close friends of Una; and there was just something about the passion in which the author described them that made we wonder. So I googled them, and it turns out yes, they were actual historical figures. Margaret Fuller the first full time American female book reviewer and strong women's rights. Maria Mitchell the first person to discover a comment using a telescope. And Phebe Folger Coleman an acclaimed poet and artist. I think it says a lot about history is taught in our schools. For far too long women have not been getting the recognition they deserve for the accomplishments they have made. I said earlier there were four names I recognized instantly. The fourth was Frederick Douglass. He had only a minor role in this novel but the accolades the author bestowed upon him make it clear of the vital and very influential role Douglass played in the fight against slavery. So how is it that the President of this nation does not know of the importance of Frederick Douglas ? Answer, he lived his entire life in that ivory tower and is totally out of touch with the People. We The People deserve better that that ! ( )
  kevinkevbo | Jul 14, 2023 |
More interesting than Moby Dick. ( )
  mykl-s | May 28, 2023 |
Here's what I wrote about in 2008 about this read: "Liked this. Fictional account of the wife of Captain Ahab (of Moby Dick fame)." ( )
  MGADMJK | Sep 28, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 119 (next | show all)
Naslund, the author of four previous books of fiction, is most successful here sentence to sentence, where her gift for pleasure shines. Her Una is a deep and wayward creature, undaunted by convention, whose descriptions are dense with a languid and sensual interest in the world. Unlike Ahab, Una can wait. She is not driven; for her, the world is enough.
 

» Add other authors (3 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Sena Jeter Naslundprimary authorall editionscalculated
Wormell, ChristopherIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Epigraph
One must take off her fear like clothing; One must travel at night; This is the seeking after God. --Maureen Morehead, "In a Yellow Room"
Dedication
In Token Of My Admiration and Affection This Book Is Inscribed To John C. Morrison
First words
Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last.
Quotations
A dart tipped with pleasure and feathered with pain passed through me.
How could I … become blind? What trajectory intended for me, determined by me, could include the subtracting of sight from the sense of me?
And I thought I would not tell… Though it left me a liar, it left me having placed a higher value on Charlotte’s happiness than on my own clean conscience. But was it not arrogance in me that made me think I knew best in the matter, that my hand at the stopcock had the wisdom to regulate the flow of truth?
Sometimes my mother and I stood and looked at our faces together in the oval mirror she had brought with her from the East. … Thus, elegantly framed, my mother and I made a double portrait of ourselves for memory, by looking in the mirror.
…I have ever feared the weathervane in me. Sometimes I point toward Independence, isolation. Sometimes I rotate – my back to Independence – and I need and want my friends, my family, with a force like a gale. … I do not count myself fickle, for I have much of loyalty in me, but I am changeable.
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The adventures of Una Spenser who went to sea disguised as a cabin boy. Shipwrecked, she marries one of the survivors, then falls in love with Captain Ahab, a man obsessed with a white whale. She becomes involved in fighting slavery and in women's rights.

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