The North Water

A Novel

De: Ian McGuire

Narrado por: John Keating

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

A 19th-century whaling ship sets sail for the Arctic with a killer aboard in this dark, sharp, and highly original tale that grips like a thriller.

Behold the man: stinking, drunk, and brutal. Henry Drax is a harpooner on the Volunteer, a Yorkshire whaler bound for the rich hunting waters of the arctic circle. Also aboard for the first time is Patrick Sumner, an ex-army surgeon with a shattered reputation, no money, and no better option than to sail as the ship's medic on this violent, filthy, and ill-fated voyage.

In India, during the Siege of Delhi, Sumner thought he had experienced the depths to which man can stoop. He had hoped to find temporary respite on the Volunteer, but rest proves impossible with Drax on board. The discovery of something evil in the hold rouses Sumner to action. And as the confrontation between the two men plays out amid the freezing darkness of an arctic winter, the fateful question arises: Who will survive until spring?

With savage, unstoppable momentum and the blackest wit, Ian McGuire's The North Water weaves a superlative story of humanity under the most extreme conditions.

©2016 Ian McGuire (P)2016 Macmillan Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

" The North Water...is a great white shark of a book - swift, terrifying, relentless and unstoppable." ( The New York Times)

"Riveting and darkly brilliant.... The North Water feels like the result of an encounter between Joseph Conrad and Cormac McCarthy in some run-down port as they offer each other a long, sour nod of recognition." ( The New York Times Book Review)

"[An] audacious work of historical suspense fiction.... It's the poetic precision of McGuire's harsh vision of the past that makes his novel such a standout...absolutely transporting." (NPR's Fresh Air)

Gratuitous vulgarity

The story was engaging and generally well written when not caught up in dialogue. Although I can appreciate that the dialogue might have been accurate to the time and place, the endless slinging of expletives was totally unnecessary and detracted from, rather than added to the tale.

Bravo, Bravo, Bravissimo!

Bravo to John Keating for his outstanding performance of the multiple dialects in this novel. His narrative performance is one of the best I have heard, and ramped up the appreciation of this great adventure. Ian McGuire is a gifted writer with unbridled imaginative energy, sharp and confident writing, bold and crushing. The writing is tight, gritty, and dense, and there is no fluff. Every sentence is doing heavy lifting. This is a gritty, mean, stark, and stinking story. There is a lot of rank smells and noises, depravity, greed, ignorance, filth, and McGuire describes it to its basics. The Audible performance lends such great appreciation of he novel, as I read along while reading, as I usually do. But I can see this performance as very entertaining while driving on a long trip, Keating is such a great story-teller. I highly recommend this novel. I can see it landing on recommended or even required reading lists in the future, it is so finely hewn as a piece of imagination and writing. Read it, and/or listen to it. There are some great characters and Keating makes it all worthwhile in handling all the dialects.

Loved it!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

YES! Great story, fascinating characters.

What other book might you compare The North Water to and why?

Moby Dick

Have you listened to any of John Keating’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Excellent

If you could take any character from The North Water out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Drax....hah....you have to read the book to find out.

Quite the Tale

Well paced. Excellent dialogue. Thoughtful and even a bit wistful. Flawlessly narrated. May not be for the faint of heart, but it captured the harshness and brutality of both nature and man in a realistic and captivating manner.

Bennett Gaev

Very Gruesome

Don't listen to this if you've just eaten or are squimish, but Otherwise good book