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Book Review of Ahab's Wife: Or, The Star-gazer: A Novel (P.S.)

Ahab's Wife: Or, The Star-gazer: A Novel (P.S.)
kbockl avatar reviewed on + 27 more book reviews


A complex and multi-layered story that kept me reading greedily until the final page. Naslund imagines the woman who would marry Moby Dick's Ahab, and gives her a lively history that outshines that of the captain himself. The rich historical detail and honest characters gave the novel great depth.

We meet the title character as a young girl and follow her through her life on the frontier, at a lighthouse keeper's cottage, on a whaling ship and as the wife of the venerable Ahab, but that marriage is only a small part of the story.

The moment I finished the book I wanted to read everything else Naslund had written.