Quote:
Originally Posted by Bookpossum
I am 75 pages in and have just reached the chapter where the ship is attacked by the whale. I have the feeling that Philbrick had so much information on whaling and life in Nantucket that he had to cram it all in, rather than having, say, one chapter to set the scene and then addressing the main topic. However, what was becoming a bit tedious for me could well be absolutely fascinating for others.
My initial impression is that I would not describe Philbrick's style as literary, but more like journalism. As we discussed a while ago when reading the book on the Dowager Empress, it is often hard to pick how a non-fiction book will turn out until we actually try it. But again, that is only my feeling part way into the book.
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I finished the book a few days ago. As a nonfiction book I thought it was a great read. I don't have any particular interest in New England or sailing and so I was pleased at how much I enjoyed it. I was unfamiliar with the tale of the whaleship Essex so I don't feel like it is in the American psyche. However I live in the Western United States and for me it is the survival story of the Donner Party that was mentioned several times in the book which is more familiar. I am surprised at how motivated I feel to reread
Moby Dick since I did not like it very much when I read it in school.
I agree with most of your points. I think it was a little more narrative than journalism, especially once it got to the event and survival chapters. However, I too had higher expectations for its literary style based on various reviews and its awards. I thought some of the best imagery was not in the author's own words but in the quotations from his sources. One such example was Melville's description of the Galapagos Islands.
I found a list of criteria for literary nonfiction which I like, and I will post it over the weekend. I agree with some descriptions that group nonfiction into the personal and the journalistic. I think that as a club where we struggle is with nonfiction that falls into the latter category. It seems that with the personal there is more opportunity for a literary style of writing because the author is portraying an experience that they have lived (e.g. travel or memoirs) and so the imagery seems more creative and the story has an added dimension of personal exploration and analysis. However it seems more challenging with the journalistic to capture that right essence (e.g. biographies or history) because the author is relying on third-party sources. For nonfiction it is important to maintain the integrity of the facts presented and it seems that this also adds another challenge to the journalistic side. There have been reports of several personal nonfiction books in recent years that have been found to contain an element of embellishment for effect.