The Jonah Man

By Henry Carlisle

Book Overview

Carlisle's classic novel of the sea is back in print--a fictional retelling of the famous 19th-century shipwreck of the Essex, the inspiration for Melville's Moby Dick. A fine and harrowing portrayal of a man confronted by a conflict of moralities.--The New Yorker.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312242077
• ISBN13: 9780312242077
• Release Date: August 2000
• Publisher: Griffin
• Length: 260 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.8" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

The Jonah Man

This is an excellent book, little-known, which should have a resurgence now that a nonfiction treatment of the same events, Heart of the Sea, is a bestseller. Told as a reminiscence from the point of view of Captain Pollard, The Jonah Man is primarily a character study, but doesn't lack for gripping action. The slightly distanced tone doesn't describe the horrors of months in an open boat graphically, but the mood comes across effectively nonetheless. After surviving shipwreck and near starvation, Pollard's real ordeal comes when he must face his fellow Nantucketers. Though I was a little confused as to the exact nature of the epiphany he experiences in the end, I found the book to be an interesting study of individualism, guilt and redemption. Here and there character dialogue and thoughts seemed a little too psychoanalytic to be period, but it was a minor flaw.

Tight plotting, excellent characterization

The Jonah Man is up there in my top 5 books read over the last decade. On the surface it's a great story line that keeps you turning the pages; but it also is a brilliant study on guilt and the toll guilt can take on a life. I highly recommend it!