Ahab's Wife

Let me report one more thing about Moby Dick-- it sticks in your head long after you've set it down, like the last not-quite-dead-yet echo of a bell that's been rung. I'm adding one more idea to my theories about why it's part of the canon-- the book that one remembers after reading is in some ways a better book than the one you read.

That, in turn, leads me to think that a gifted writer would feel a strong urge to...ummm...revisit Melville's work, to retell the story, to rering that bell in a way that might be a bit more clear and pure and stirring.

And that, in turn, leads me to Sena Jeter Naslund's book.

This is a work that may well be a true one-of-a-kind. It is in no way a sequel to MD; in fact, the bulk of it stands as more of a prequel. And Naslund doesn't just revisit Melville's characters; she reimagines many of them, including Ahab himself. I'm not deeply bothered by that-- Melville didn't exactly draw these characters in deep and subtle shades to begin with. But while, for example, Starbuck seems much the same, Ahab himself is given a whole new range of motivation and psychology that makes Naslund's Ahab considerably different from what some acquaintances of Melville's Ahab may have imagined.

It's not strictly necessary to have read Melville's work to read this one, though having done so allows one to recognize many connections that she has included. Some are minor connections-- shared bits of whaling lore, a small back story for Pip-- and some require more of the reader-- at one point the main character encounters Nathaniel Hawthorne (though he is not named), dressed as Rev. Hooper ("The Minister's Black Veil") and sharing a quote from himself which Melville has also quoted in the "preface" to MD.

Hawthorne is not the only historical figure to appear. Our heroine also becomes a confidant of Margaret Fuller and meets (and apparently influences) Frederick Douglass.

But Naslund is more interested in the literature than the history-- she transposes the oil industry of Western PA by a decade or two in order to get some dramatic effect.

The work is packed with story. The opening line announces that stuff is going to happen: "Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last." A wide range of characters, a life wild and full of adventure, a main character who is unapologetically driven by self, unexpected twists of accident and misdirected impulse-- yet all wrapped up in well-crafted, thoughtful and beautiful prose.

It is not hard to see why this work won so many awards-- it's deserving of them. Despite its literary ambitions and achievements, it is a fun and moving read, accessible and rewarding.