the NORTH WATER

Ian McGuire’s second novel is as dark as it can get, yet somehow the author’s story has occasional breaks in the clouds. How did he do that? Even the protagonist, Patrick Sumner, who is normally a somber and gloomy individual portrays hope and optimism at the story’s bleakest times. This takes writer skills that are unrivaled. I’ve read darker novels, such as Cormac McCarthy’s Outer Dark (see my review of 3/1/2013), but somehow I enjoyed the few breaks in the gloom with McGuire’s novel...while still experiencing Cormac’s terror. Surprisingly (since it’s a new novel), Goodreads.com rates McGuire’s novel as the sixth best whaling novel ever written. Which novel is first? You know the answer is Herman Melville’s 1851 novel Moby Dick which was a readers lesson in perseverance. I tried to find faults in McGuire’s novel but couldn’t, which is a rare statement from me. Alrighty then, let’s get a taste of the story.

The year is 1859. The whaling ship Volunteer and its sister ships are off from Yorkshire to the north waters of the Arctic Circle on a commercial whaling trip. The owner of the ships, Mr. Baxter, confers with the Volunteer’s Captain Brownlee before they ship out. Does Brownlee have orders from Baxter other than harpooning whales? Mr. Baxter hires an ex-British Army surgeon, Patrick Sumner, as the ship’s medic. What is Sumner hiding from the crew about his recent discharge from The British East India Company during the Indian Soldiers Rebellion of 1857? Was he released Honorably? What is he hiding in his locked military footlocker aboard the ship? Am I asking too many questions? (just throwing out some teasers). The next crew member of note is the nasty harpooner Henry Drax, who believes in no laws except his own. The First Mate is a Mr. Cavendish, who the Shetlander crew deem worthless. Mr. Baxter says, “Cavendish is a great turd and whoremonger, it’s true, but he will do whatever he’s told to.” The Second Mate is a Master Black. Then we have the two other harpooners, Otto and Jones-the-whale. The main characters are kept to a handful, which is to my liking.

As they sail out towards the north waters, Our protagonist, Patrick Sumner, thinks to himself, “ By and large it will be an easeful, perhaps a mildly tedious, sort of time, but God knows that is what he needs after the madness of India: the filthy heat, the barbarity, the stench. Whatever the Greenland whaling is like, he thinks, it will surely not be anything like that.” Really! Think again (Haha). On the way to the whales, the ship stops on Jan Mayen Island to kill seals for their blubber and skins. Sumner almost dies as he falls in the icy waters and isn’t rescued for three hours. He suffers some frostbite and while he is comatose, he dreams of what happened in India. After Sumner recovers, a cabin boy appears at his room complaining of stomach pain. It’s actually butt pain. Sumner realizes that a seaman sodomized the boy, but the boy will not talk. The wrong man is accused and put in chains after the cabin boy is found dead in a empty cask. Who killed the boy? The stage is set...what happens next?

Otto, the harpooner, has a dream. He tells Sumner, “You will be killed by a bear - when the rest of us are already dead,” Otto says. “Eaten, swallowed up somehow,” “You are a good fellow, Otto, but what you are saying is folly”, Sumner tells him. “We’re not in danger anymore. Set your mind at ease and forget the f***ing dream.” Will the dream be a reality? Sorry, I’ll stop my review here, so you can buy your own copy of this thriller to enjoy. I have to say that this was the fastest 255 pages that I’ve ever read. (I love that irregular verb). Which means what? Yes, I loved this novel! I highly recommend this novel.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: My favorite nautical novel is Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island (see my review of 8/23/2016). If you read my long review, you know that I loved the novel. By the way, if you want to know more about Robert Louis Stevenson read Nancy Horan’s Under the Wide and Starry Sky (see my review of 3/15/2014)...it was a fabulous historical novel.

So what did Goodreads.com think of Treasure Island? The following is their teaser: “The most popular pirate story ever written in English, featuring one of literature’s most beloved “bad guys,” Treasure Island has been happily devoured by several generations of boys-and girls-and grownups. Its unforgettable characters include: young Jim Hawkins, who finds himself owner of a map to Treasure Island, where fabled pirate booty is buried; honest Captain Smollett, heroic Dr. Livesey, and the good-hearted but obtuse Squire Trelawney, who help Jim on his quest for the treasure; the frightening Blind Pew, double-dealing Israel Hands, and seemingly mad Ben Gunn, buccaneers of varying shades of menace; and, of course, garrulous, affable, ambiguous Long John Silver, who is one moment a friendly, laughing, one-legged sea-cook...and the next a dangerous pirate leader.”