The North Water

A Novel

By: Ian McGuire

Narrated by: 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

Critic reviews

" 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)

Fiction for men

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

The author brilliantly creates a world you can nearly inhabit

Who was your favorite character and why?

The deplorable but resilient Drax. Who will be left in his wake?

What about John Keating’s performance did you like?

Amazing performance with accents tilted just enough to carry you onto the ship and ice

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The men gathered in the tent burning the last vestiges of wood

Any additional comments?

Will listen to this one again

strong in words as in tension, absorbing

What made the experience of listening to The North Water the most enjoyable?

The performance of the reader was magnificent and the description and choice of words very precise (although I not always knew all of them - as a non native English reader)

What did you like best about this story?

The unexpected turns and twists of the story

Which scene was your favorite?

Many different once. For example: In the captain Brownlee's office when Sumner asks to be allowed to examine Drax or when they catch the polar bear cub. I was fascinated how the writer described smells and sounds.

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

I think the only one I would feel safe is Patrick Sumner

A "Man's Man" Book

Women and Ladies will find this repulsive of language, description, jargon and assault. That said, this is compelling writing, historical fiction and heroism under fire. The surgeon is dragooned into a mid 19th century whale ship fitted out with the worst of humanity: Read Psychopaths in small quarters. But the plot and style draw you in to adventure writing, the horror of a singular profession and prose colored with a broad, expressionist brush. This is the literature equivalent of German Expressionist painting. It is brutal in scope and yet fine in insight.

Good but too graphic

I like reading both non fiction and fiction writing about men and ships in the cold, unforgiving regions both north and south. I feared at first that this book was going to be a re-telling and simplification of Moby Dick, but even though there were a few similarities, the story stands on its own. It is a good story, and I liked the narrator, but some of the graphic detail was too much. Yes, I know it’s a ship of hardened seamen and the coarse talk is to be expected, but some of the detail of violence and bodily functions seemed unnecessary. Would I recommend this book? Yes, with a caution about the graphic content.

The North Water

is a rare gem in contemporary literature. I can only hope the other books are half as good.

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