From the Bookshelf of The Roundtable…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
No group discussions for this book yet.
What Members Thought
3.5 stars, rounded up for its sheer exuberance.
The North Water is certainly not for the faint-hearted. It tells the tale of the ill-fated voyage of a whaling ship in the 19th century. It is violent and shocking in places, with plenty of blood, guts and lurid descriptions of bodily fluids. The body count is pretty high. It is certainly not my usual read, but nevertheless I found it thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining. I am slightly perpelexed by its inclusion on the Man Booker longlist, as it c ...more
The North Water is certainly not for the faint-hearted. It tells the tale of the ill-fated voyage of a whaling ship in the 19th century. It is violent and shocking in places, with plenty of blood, guts and lurid descriptions of bodily fluids. The body count is pretty high. It is certainly not my usual read, but nevertheless I found it thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining. I am slightly perpelexed by its inclusion on the Man Booker longlist, as it c ...more
I just spent my free morning trudging gamely and willingly to the end of this novel, which attests to its rubbernecky paint-by-numbers appeal.
While the novel is about as literary as the latest Dean Koontz novel it does what it does very well. Much of its fascination for me was in the effluvial, nearly loving detail of what might under certain circumstances come out of human bodies. Blood from slit throats, blood from bullet-shot guts, blood from the stump after a limb is chewed off by a bear, p ...more
While the novel is about as literary as the latest Dean Koontz novel it does what it does very well. Much of its fascination for me was in the effluvial, nearly loving detail of what might under certain circumstances come out of human bodies. Blood from slit throats, blood from bullet-shot guts, blood from the stump after a limb is chewed off by a bear, p ...more
4.5 stars
This story is very harsh, and gory in parts.
I come from a city that used to be a whaling port, so the realistic parts, about catching and then dealing with whales, were not something I found difficult to read. Other people might find these parts quite disgusting. For this reason, I would not recommend this as an audio book. When you are reading it, it's relatively easy to skim through these and other gory parts, if you wish to.
It's a well structured book and an interesting storyline. ...more
This story is very harsh, and gory in parts.
I come from a city that used to be a whaling port, so the realistic parts, about catching and then dealing with whales, were not something I found difficult to read. Other people might find these parts quite disgusting. For this reason, I would not recommend this as an audio book. When you are reading it, it's relatively easy to skim through these and other gory parts, if you wish to.
It's a well structured book and an interesting storyline. ...more
This is not a humorous book *at all*, and yet I found myself laughing anyway, mostly in disbelief at just how far into *gritty* it is willing to go. If there is a way to fit some *visceral* description of bodily fluids into a scene, the author will find a way. If I, reading along, started to get "redshirt anxiety" about any character or animal...they were probably gonna get it with all the dignity of a slasher movie before the scene was over.
The North Water is a gripping book. The characters are ...more
The North Water is a gripping book. The characters are ...more
Oct 17, 2016
Erika
marked it as to-read
Jan 16, 2023
S.L. Berry
marked it as to-read
