Final Thoughts #19

This was one of my favorites. Thanks Karen for turning us on to it. It would not have meant as much if I didn't drudge through Moby-Dick. I was fascinated that another author could expand the story of MD to the extent that she did.

The reflections back to other classics was interesting too. I felt that our literature journey is so worth it if other authors refer back to them.

Are we like Emerson and the other poets and authors mentioned in the book. We understand and have experienced the other pieces of literature.

One that was so funny was when Aunt Agatha took Pilgrim's Promise on an intimate picnic to talk about their new arrival and to answer any questions that a young lady might have. I thought that this was a journey to womanhood and Pilgrim's Promise was a spiritual journey. That was very well done. It would have meant nothing otherwise.

Yeah for our group. I have grown in this adventure with both of you.

I'm glad you liked it, Marti. I remember being very satisfied when I finished it! I feel like we have all benefited from being in the group. It is cool to see references to the books we hav read and actually know what the author or person speaking is talking about! I usually skin over segment in novels that make allusions to greaat reading, when I know nothing about it!
i am tackling Uncle Tom and enjoying it quite a bit. It has been referred to recently on the news with regard something or another in today's politics, but i am only about 12 chapters into it!

Hopefully Kelley will enjoy it too, having read MD first and then Ahab's Wife second. She loved Uncle Tom's Cabin, and it moves right along with Ahab.

Guess what. Uncle Tom's and Ahab's Wife both have slaves that cross the Ohio River to get to freedom. Talk about good timing.

I did enjoy Ahab's Wife quite a bit, and I really felt like it added another side to the madness of a man that we really didn't know anything about in reading Moby Dick.

I also enjoyed how well the author's writing style flowed with that of Melville's. The story and it's references all seemed realistically tied to the other book.

Ishmael made the book for me. I enjoyed the journey through her life, but just sat back and took it for what it was worth with Ishmael.

He was the only survivor of the Pequod and in a way Ahab comes back to Una.

Maybe Ahab/the sea was calling her in the beginning of the book and Ishmael brought it back to her. It could be a silly thought.

It was kind of interesting to have that bit about the slaves crossing the Ohio to freedom and kind of cool to read a similar time period and wha was 'going on' in different parts of the country during that time. I felt like Ahab was more of a man in ahabs wife even though he isn't 'in' the book much. He was not really a man in Moby Dick but something else.