Call Me Ishmaelle

De: Xiaolu Guo

Narrado por: Isabel Adomakoh Young

“Ambitious, brave, and strange.” —Philip Hoare, author of Leviathan

From the NBCC-winning author, a subversive, rollicking, and feminist retelling of Moby Dick through the eyes of one inimitable woman.

I must work on a ship as a man…Yes, I must seek a new life, more adventurous than that of my fellows on this desolate salt marsh. I must find freedom on the seas.

One of the most acclaimed Chinese-born writers of her generation, Xiaolu Guo is the National Book Critics Circle Award–winning author of Nine Continents and a Granta Best Young British Novelist. In Call Me Ishmaelle, Guo turns Herman Melville’s masterpiece on its head with a modern feminist, diasporic sensibility.

1843. Ishmaelle is born in a small village on the stormy Kent coast where she grows up swimming with dolphins. After her parents and infant sister die, her brother, Joseph, leaves to find work as a sailor. Abandoned and desperate for a life at sea, Ishmaelle disguises herself as a cabin boy and travels to New York. Years later, as the American Civil War breaks out, Ishmaelle boards the Nimrod, a whaling ship led by the obsessive Captain Seneca, a Black free man of heroic stature who is haunted by a tragic past. Here, she finds protectors amidst the bloody male violence of whaling and discovers a mysterious bond between herself and the white whale who claimed Seneca’s leg.

Built on the bones of Melville’s classic, Call Me Ishmaelle is a dynamic new tale, imbued with a diverse, swashbuckling crew—from a Polynesian harpooner to a Taoist Monk—and a powerful exploration of human nature, gender, man’s place among the animals, and the nature of home.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Isabel Adomakoh Young narrates this inventive retelling of Melville's classic with a controlled, attentive authority that suits both the maritime setting and the story's revisionary themes. Ishmaelle, a young girl from the Kent coast, disguises herself as a cabin boy aboard the whaling ship Nimrod, where she serves under the driven Captain Seneca on the hunt for a white whale. Young handles shifts in age, gender, and geography with clarity, allowing rhythm and pacing to do much of the work. Young is particularly effective in scenes aboard the ship, when she uses a steady cadence to ground moments of danger, laboring, and uneasy fellowship, and she gives Ishmaelle a measured sense of urgency."

"Isabel Adomakoh Young narrates this inventive retelling of Melville's classic with a controlled, attentive authority that suits both the maritime setting and the story's revisionary themes. Ishmaelle, a young girl from the Kent coast, disguises herself as a cabin boy aboard the whaling ship Nimrod, where she serves under the driven Captain Seneca on the hunt for a white whale. Young handles shifts in age, gender, and geography with clarity, allowing rhythm and pacing to do much of the work. Young is particularly effective in scenes aboard the ship, when she uses a steady cadence to ground moments of danger, laboring, and uneasy fellowship, and she gives Ishmaelle a measured sense of urgency."

Fascinating and engaging story

I really enjoyed listening to this - it was really surprising and interesting how Ishmaelle changed and learned more about herself throughout the story. Also, the characters were so unique. The narrator did a fantastic job too.