Sena Jeter NaslundRezensionen

Too long, too full of rambling thoughts, especially on the part of the very self-centred main character. Too self-indulgent on the part of the author. And dreary.

3-1/2 stars. Dreamlike.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS
(Print: October 3, 2006; 978-0060825393; William Morrow; First Edition; 560 pages)
*Audio-CD:2006; 9780061230653; HarperCollins Publishers; duration 11:00:00 (10 discs); Abridged.
(Digital: Yes)
(Film: Not that I know of).

NOTE: (I'd been keeping an Excel list of CD's, Prints, and Cassettes as I read/listened, that I am now adding here, so that I have all of the materials I have already "read" in one place. I did not do a “Summary/Evaluation” of them at the time, so , depending on how well memory serves in each case, evaluations here will probably be especially sketchy.)

SERIES
N/A

SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
How I picked it: It was a book on CD available at the Newport Beach Friends of the Library book sale. I like history, so purchased it.
What it’s about: The life of Marie Antoinette.
What I thought: I found it educational and liked that it treated her as a character I could have sympathy for.

AUTHOR:
Sena Jeter Naslund::
“"Sena Jeter Naslund (born June 28, 1942) is an American writer. She has published seven novels and two collections of short fiction. Her 1999 novel, Ahab's Wife, and her 2003 novel, Four Spirits, were each named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.[1][2] She is the Writer in Residence at University of Louisville[3] and the Program Director for the MFA in Writing at Spalding University in the same city.[4] In 2005, Governor Ernie Fletcher named Naslund Poet Laureate of Kentucky.[5][6]" __Wikipedia.

NARRATOR:
Burney, Susanna:
“Susanna Burney is an actress, known for The Ward (2010), F.E.A.R. Extraction Point (2006) and F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault Recon (2005).” __IMDb

GENRE:
Fiction; Historical Fiction

LOCATIONS:
France

TIME FRAME
18th Century

SUBJECTS:
Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI, Austria, France

DEDICATION
For my beloved daughter Flora Kathryn Naslund

SAMPLE QUOTATION:
From Chapter One ”Act One” “An Island in the Rhine River, May 1770”
“Like everyone, I am born naked,
I do not refer to my actual birth, mercifully in hidden in the silk folds of memory, but to my birth as a citizen of France-citoyenne, they would say. Having shed all my clothing, I stand in a room on an island in the middle of the Rhine River–naked. My bare feet occupy for this moment a spot considered to be neutral between beloved Austria and France. The sky blue silk of my discarded skirt wreaths my ankles, and I fancy I am standing barefooted in a puddle of pretty water.
My chest is flat as a shield, marked only by two pink rosebuds of nipples. I refuse to be afraid. In the months since I became fourteen, I’ve watched these pleasant rosebuds becoming a bit plump and pinker. Now the fingers and hands of my attendants are stretching toward my neck to remove a smooth circlet of Austrian pearls.
I try to picture the French boy, whom I have never seen, extending large hands toward me, beckoning. What is he doing this very moment, deep in the heart of France? At fifteen, a year older than myself, he must be tall and strong. There must be other words than tall and strong to think of-to describe him, to help me imagine and embody his reality.”

RATING:
4 stars.

STARTED-FINISHED
9/17/2010 - 10/29/2010

slavery,rape, homosexual rape, incest and much more. It was clever and well written but did not leave me feeling satisfied

Told mainly from Dr. Watson's point of view after Sherlock's death (his real one, years after the falls). Very touching in some areas. I enjoyed the retelling of part of the detectives life.

Sena Jeter Nauslund (how I would love to know the etymology of that name) has written a book worthy of its inspiration in Ahab’s Wife. Beautifully written, though some of the ponderings by Una (the wife) as she develops her spirituality remind me of the elven songs in Tolkien - long and wavering and tempting to skip.
That said, this is an amazing life description of a girl who lived unafraid. Like Ahab, she thrusts herself in places, builds skills so she can handle life’s twists, strengthens herself against misfortune, opens herself to joy.
Nausland describes life at a lighthouse so beautifully I wanted to pack up my life and move there immediately.. She describes whale hunting in its gruesome detail, draws the heart-rending aspects of mental illness without glancing away.
Now of course I must re- read Moby Dick. I feel that this book provides a humanity to Ahab, and makes me wish for more. And hey bravo for a book that describes the life of women in this time.
Una is a bit tooooo perfect for me, so open and forgiving and tolerant. It seems unlikely at that time. But I was so willing to suspend disbelief and trust in the story and it was beautiful.

Captain Ahab,Moby Dick, and Ishamael are three of the most well known characters in American literature. One of the things I most liked about this take on the tale was the way several real life people were included in Una Ahab's telling of the story. Four of these names were instantly recognizable to me. Three of them are writers who are required reading I'm many schools; i.e. Henry James, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. But there were three characters who whose names I didn't actually recognize, all three were close friends of Una; and there was just something about the passion in which the author described them that made we wonder. So I googled them, and it turns out yes, they were actual historical figures. Margaret Fuller the first full time American female book reviewer and strong women's rights. Maria Mitchell the first person to discover a comment using a telescope. And Phebe Folger Coleman an acclaimed poet and artist. I think it says a lot about history is taught in our schools. For far too long women have not been getting the recognition they deserve for the accomplishments they have made. I said earlier there were four names I recognized instantly. The fourth was Frederick Douglass. He had only a minor role in this novel but the accolades the author bestowed upon him make it clear of the vital and very influential role Douglass played in the fight against slavery. So how is it that the President of this nation does not know of the importance of Frederick Douglas ? Answer, he lived his entire life in that ivory tower and is totally out of touch with the People. We The People deserve better that that !

More interesting than Moby Dick.

3.5 stars. I really knew nothing about Marie Antoinette. So, I'm glad I read this. People say this account paints her in a positive light, but through most of the book, I can't say I felt that way.

Ahab's Wife was the first book I read by Naslund. While the first chapters of this new book did not engage me as quickly as Ahab's Wife, I pressed on because of the power of Naslund's writing style.

As a musician, writer, and novice painter, this book is a powerful read. Naslund has insights not only into the artistic processes of the painter, musician, and writer, she expresses depths of spirit that resonate deeply with my spiritual side. As an older woman, it was more difficult to read the stories of the aged women, and yet, here too she has important insights on the struggles and vulnerabilities one must face as one ages. Excellent read!

Here's what I wrote about in 2008 about this read: "Liked this. Fictional account of the wife of Captain Ahab (of Moby Dick fame)."

This is a fictional account of Marie Antoinette’s life, as she moved from being a princess in Austria to the queen of France before the French Revolution overthrew the French monarchy.

I listened to the audio and it just didn’t draw me in much, so since I was often distracted, I did miss much of it. I have read only one or two other books on Marie Antoinette. I found some of the vocabulary used in the book a bit… “pretentious”? I can’t think of a good word – “high-falutin’”? (LOL!) I suppose pretentious works. That certainly didn’t help get me more interested. I am still rating it ok, as it did pick up a bit toward the end during the Revolution. I did find interesting what happened to Marie and Louis’ son and daughter after their parents were put to death. I likely did read of that previously, but I had forgotten.

It's amazing how much I learned reading this book. There was very little I knew about Marie Antoinette, the French throne, the Austrian throne, and the political intrigue between the two.

This book was ok. I kinda felt it went on and on.

Una is drawn to water... whether the rivers of Kentucky or the Atlantic Ocean. This saga covers her full life, including a marriage to Ahab of Moby-Dick. Vivid writing, if at times verging on over-wrought (I smelled a romance novel trying to emerge! Ugh...) The first part of the book kept me reading... from her life under her religious zealot father to the lighthouse (one of my fav periods) to life aboard a whaling ship and wrenching shipwreck... Una's latr life in Nantucket, awaiting Ahab's return was for this reader boring and too philosophical. I agree with other reviewers who said they felt Una was too enlightened for her era and thus, in the end, unbelievable.

Sometimes alternating chapters between past and present can be a rich experience, but in this book it falls flat. Especially the contemporary tale seems contrived and over sentimental. I would have been a lot happier with a historical novel just about Elisabeth Vigee- LeBrun,

I am at a loss to understand what the author was trying to say with the story.

Lucy is recently widowed and while dealing with the grief of losing her scientist husband she is approached by a scholar who knew her husband to smuggle some ancient writing out of Egypt.

Lucy is not a Lara Croft, yet she is plunged into intrigues that are worthy of a superhero. She now holds both this ancient secret, and the last of her husband's work. Both of which apparently threaten the "literalists" those whose interpretation of the scripture does not accept any argument or judgment. Some reviewers said the characters representing those, especially the Rabbi who was portrayed most clearly, were mere caricatures, but they served as representative bad guys, both religious and secular defendants of old mindsets and ideas.

In the course of trying to outsmart this old guard, Lucy is stranded in a place she calls Eden, located somewhere in Mesopotamia. And there is an Adam there who is also stranded for his own different reasons.

I kept reading to find out what is going to happen, while thinking at the same time that the novel took on too many strands of subjects without dealing with any of them properly. There are elements of coming to terms with grief, recognizing that what you know of your partner might not be their true substance, the role of art in the evolution of thought and humanity, and the tension between religion and spirituality. In the end it boils down to one question, is the quest for truth of ultimate importance or should we just be happy with believing whatever gives us comfort?

This I think was the take-home question for Lucy and the single pivoting point where her character developed. I am not sure about the rest.

The book still merits three stars for its thought provoking ideas and discourse. The story itself was lost between magical realism and an interpretation of a near-reality in a not-so-distant future.
I was not sure whether to suspend disbelief for the magical realism of it, or shake my head dismissively at the poor interpretation of reality. I ended up lost between the two options, suspended myself, like the guy on the orange parachute (what was HIS point anyway ?) .

This extremely thorough but fictionalized account of the life of Marie Antoinette was just ok for me.
The dialogue felt dry and the pace was too slow.
Also some of the internal dialogue was just odd. The entire birth scene of Madam Royale is just ludicrous.
I've had natural childbirth. It's not at all dreamy. It's painful and hardwork.
I'd definitely read another book by this author.

Sena Jeter Naslund creates a spell-binding novel out of a few mournful lines from Moby-Dick to create something new, beautiful, and tragic at once. I felt that the story of Una, Ahab's wife, was vastly interesting and took on a life apart from being tied to Ahab--this was one of the greatest strengths of the novel.

This is a four-star book that had some serious WUT moments that made me LOL. I don't want to spoil them, especially since this is a beautiful book and quite an interesting story of a woman's life in the early nineteenth-century United States. But a few unfortunate wink-wink moments pulled me out of the narrative and felt just a bit too smugly meta for my taste.

Should you read it? Yes. Just don't get too let down by some of the silly writing choices that occur later in the novel.

I found this very engaging. Una, Ahab's wife is of course the main character and we follow her through her life and the traumatic events. Starting with early teenage years with her struggles with her religious father, her older teenage years where she finds her independence at the expense of her family and her own safety. She certainly went through tragic and devastating events and it was very cringeworthy at many times, although engrossing. The final epilogue wrapped the story perfectly where I was ready to close the cover after a great journey with Una. Definitely recommend but not for the light of heart!

The spin-off of Ahab and Moby Dick seems like the gimmick to grab readers who might not give a saga from old New England a read otherwise. This book tries to capture ALL of life from its time period, from living in rural Kentucky with a strict religious father to life in an old fashioned lighthouse island to whaling to transcendence to abolition to new star gazing and further. Was there such clutches of broad-minded (for the era) people who were scientists, non-religious, same-sex tolerant abolitionists who had survived traumatic ship wrecks and marriage to madness? It feels a little 21st century worldview to me, as well as over-filled with drama. The life's work or pet project of its author, perhaps, or perhaps that's my 21st century literary bias and this book is simply trying to introduce Moby Dick and his time period to a new audience. I guess it depends on your own interests.

Interesting historical allusions. Great read.

Novel, fiction, inspired by Moby Dick½

Opening line: Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last.

Melville’s classic Moby Dick contains perhaps three or four sentences that reference Ahab’s wife – “… not three-voyages wedded – a sweet, resigned girl…” – but those brief references were enough to inspire Neslund to write this tome.

Una is a marvelous character: intelligent, forthright, adventurous, eager to learn, ready to work, open to new ideas, questioning of the status quo, tenacious, principled, loyal and loving. Neslund takes her from her childhood in Kentucky, raised in a remote cabin near the Ohio River, by a God-fearing man who will beat the Lord into his daughter if necessary, and a devoted mother who will ensure her child’s safety, to her later years in Massachusetts. Along the way she encounters a wonderful cast of colorful characters – from her Aunt and Uncle, to the young men she is courted by, to the sailors / whalers she comes to admire, and the neighbors who form her “family” in Nantucket and ‘Sconset (including Mary Starbuck, wife of Ahab’s first mate).

Neslund fills the novel with details of life in 19th century America:. the difficulties of a winter in a small Kentucky cabin, the excitement (and terror) of sailing on a whaling vessel, the tragedy of slavery, the joy of intellectual pursuits, the dangers of childbirth, and the quiet peace of a happy home.

But make no mistake, the story is Una’s, first and foremost.

Sena Jeter Naslund took a brief reference in Moby Dick (which you don't need to read first) to the wife of Captain Ahab, and created an entire (historical fictional) life for that character. Una Spenser is a little too modern for the era, in my opinion, but that gave the author the opportunity to bring up all the causes and concerns of the day (for example, religion - Quakers, Unitarians, Universalists) and have Una interact with various famous people of the early- to mid-1800s (Frederick Douglass, Maria Mitchell, etc.), primarily on Nantucket island. The first half of the book, about Una's life on an island lighthouse near New Bedford, and her decision to disguise herself as a cabin boy to follow two men she admires onto a whaling ship, is more interesting. The second half of the book, after she marries Captain Ahab, really drags, and could have been shortened considerably (the book is 666 pages as a trade paperback), particularly after the death of Ahab is confirmed.½