'The North Water' by Ian McGuire is a brutal and violent novel set in the 19th century aboard a whaling ship, the Volunteer, on a voyage to the Arctic Circle. The story follows a disgraced Irish surgeon, Patrick Sumner, and a ruthless harpooner named Henry Drax, as they navigate through a journey filled with murder, rape, robbery, and other brutalities. The writing style is described as vivid, gritty, and darkly brilliant, capturing the harsh realities of life at sea during that period.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings for The North Water include graphic violence, sexual assault, murder, animal cruelty, and themes of human depravity.
From The Publisher:
Now an AMC+ original miniseries event starring Colin Farrell and Jack O'Connell! A nineteenth-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
One of The New York Times Book Review's 10 Best Books of the Year, and named a Best Book of the Year by The Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Publishers Weekly, and The Chicago Public Library
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.
National Bestseller
Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize
Winner of the RSL Encore Award
Finalist for the Los Angeles Book Prize
Ratings (10)
Incredible (3) | |
Loved It (2) | |
Liked It (2) | |
It Was OK (2) | |
Hated It (1) |
Reader Stats (28):
Read It (9) | |
Want To Read (11) | |
Not Interested (8) |
1 comment(s)
Ian McGuire can write very well, he has a way that draw you into a story. I wouldn't call it flowery beautiful but rather harsh and intense. However it was to gruesome and down right uncomfortable at times. I had hoped for a Moby Dick like adventure that was little more extreme. But this was to much for my taste.
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The North Water?
About the Author:
Ian McGuire grew up near Hull, England, and studied at the University of Manchester and the University of Virginia in the United States. He is the cofounder and codirector of the University of Manchester's Centre for New Writing. He writes criticism and fiction, and his stories have been published in Chicago Review, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. The North Water is his second novel.
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