Rating: 
Summary: truly enjoyable
Review: While many have already commented on this book, I felt compelled to add my thoughts. I didn't expect to like this novel when suggested for my book group. But then I began and was immediately hooked. I did briefly get bogged down but once passed it realized that this reflected life- sometimes it is a bit boring and monotonous. Then I was completely engaged and read nearly 400 pages in three days while caring for 3 children under age 6 round the clock! Yes, this novel does have some seemingly amazing instances of meeting/interacting with 'celebrities' but I enjoyed these, didn't find them highly unlikely in this area of country and also helpful for readers to place the time and issues better. To those who seem to disbelieve that Una could be so educated without having been 'formally schooled' I am surprised. Home schooling was the prominent education for many in those days, especially women. Why, many of our Presidents and other notable minds in the United States were homeschooled. Her mother and aunt were clearly raised on literature as they then educated Una. I enjoyed this book very much and recommend it to all.
Rating: 
Summary: a good if not long winded read
Review: Ahab's Wife suffers from being perhaps a little too long. I had to struggle to finish the final quater of the book because it seems to lack a certain dramatic impact, especially when compared to the rest of the book. However, in general, this novel is still a fabulous read. I found it epic in scope and extremely poignant. I loved Naslund's initial premise - placing a woman with 20th century morality and "modern" fears, desires, loathings and hopes in the middle of the 19th century just as the age of industrialisation was dawning. We are witness to not only Una's incredible adventures but also her uncanny ability to rise above the social restrictions of the day and develop a wonderfully liberal, tolerant and free thinking attitude towards life. The novel reads like an ocean going sailing ship, swaying and flowing gacefully across the sea. And the cast of characters are truly eclectic: From intelligence and sexual ambiguity of Una's fellow sailors Giles and Kit to the staunchly seaman like Captain Ahab. Naslund introduces to many memorable people. Naslund also raises some delightfully "modern" issues: Cannibalism, the nature of sexuality, single parenthood, feminism and the state of the man and his psyche in a time when the individual was becoming increasingly aware of his position in the universe. Although the length is an issue this is still a fine novel which certainly packs a wallop and it surely begs a sequel. Michael Leonard
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, just too long
Review: This is a huge, ambitious, captivating novel that suffers from its length. After reading every word raptly for 400 pages (the sections on the lighthouse island and on board the ships were amazing) she really lost me for the final couple hundred pages. Superfluous characters abounded (Robben? David Poland? Maria Mitchell? Even Frannie had totally lost her appeal). Superfluous plot devices abounded (the move to 'Sconset, and almost all that happened there). Characters were thrown in only to be killed off before we have a chance to care. It is as if Naslund fell so in love with this story that she couldn't bear to climb out of it--but it would have benefitted from an earlier conclusion. That said, this book did that rare job of drawing me in completely to the world it created, so much so that it stayed in my head at night after I had closed the book. Vivid, beautifully political, perfectly graphic, sensual--a damn good read for the first several hundred pages. One more complaint--she didn't mention Melville in the Acknowledgments. Come on, Sena, you took the whole basis for the novel from him! Don't you think he deserves that much?
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I read this book for the first time this summer. I loved the imagery the words created and the story told from a woman's point of view. Even though there is no great adventure going on, I had a hard time putting the book down.
Rating:
Summary: Abridged audio version may be better?
Review: I have read several of the other reviews here and noted that, for many, the book was over long and could have benefited from some more severe editing. Perhaps, then, for once an abridged version is an improvement.
I did not read the unabridged text, but made an exception to my usual rule and listened to the abridgement (approx. 6 hours running time). I found it fascinating and beautifully written. The characters were finely drawn, despite the shortening of the content, and the book felt complete, not chopped up or episodic, as happens so often with abridged versions.
The reader, Maryanne Plunkett, was excellent, making it sound as though the protagonist was actually telling the tale.
I particularly enjoyed some of the "sideline" elements of the book, such as the references to Unitarianism and Universalism (I am a UUer) and to Maria Mitchell, one of my historical heroes.
All in all, I enjoyed the book and think it might be just the ticket for those wanting to taste the flavor of the original without wading through all seven courses.
Rating: 
Summary: Gazing at 5 stars
Review: I just finished this tremendous work of literary art and couldn't wait to tell someone how great it is.
I've never read a book that moved and enlightened me in quite the same way as Ahab's Wife. It has everything: spirituality, adventure, intellect, social commentary, history, humanity, and even a touch of humor. In some ways, it's the intelligent woman's counterpart to the famous Melville novel (definitely a guy story). On the other hand, there's so much more to Una than simply being the wife of a whaling captain. Given that she marries Ahab halfway through the 600-plus pager, you realize this is no ordinary 19th century housewife you're dealing with. The first line tips you off, "Ahab was not my first husband nor my last." As that marriage came to its inevitable end, (most of us know what happens to Ahab even if you haven't read Moby Dick) it becomes suspenseful as you wonder which of the fascinating men she has met becomes her 3rd spouse. Isaac Starbuck, the "gaoler"? The Judge? Rodden, the woodcarver? David, the midget bounty hunter turned abolitionist? You won't believe who it is. A surprising and deeply satisfying turn of events ends the story, but not the life, of this remarkable woman.
Rating:
Summary: A Slow Journey Superbly Told
Review:
Una Spenser narrates her life from a childhood in Kentucky to an upbringing in Nantucket to life aboard a whaling ship and all of her marriages in-between. But Ahab's Wife is less of tale of events and more a tale of a young woman's spiritual journey. So readers should not expect a twist-turning plot or cliff-hanging suspense. Rather the reader should expect a creative tale richly told.
I would have given Ahab's Wife 5-stars but I thought author Sena Jeter Naslund's prose was a little heavy-handed. I just feel that written prose should be like perfume where a little is intriguing but a lot becomes overpowering. I thought Ms Naslund's prose-rich writing made for a rather slow read. Enjoyable but slow. If you have the time Ahab's Wife would make a rewarding effort.
Rating:
Summary: More Than Ahab's Wife
Review: I earned my MA in English, and I must admit, I managed to escape without reading _Moby Dick_. But there's something alluring about _Ahab's Wife_ that kept me reading, as much as the book annoyed me because of its attempts to encompass the whole of 19th century experience. The story of the lighthouse Una (certainly she represents both "one" and "everywoman") and her ordeal on board the Sussex draws us in: she seems to have insight that comes from the double life she leads. When she emerges a woman, settles in Nantucket, and starts running into people like Margaret Fuller, though, I became a bit impatient. This is a big book, and there are some compelling threads in Naslund's tapestry, provided you ignore the overt philosophizing (which the book does much more effectively when it's not pounding you over the head with it but considering it through the eyes of the characters). I may almost need to read _Moby Dick_ for the sake of completeness.
Rating:
Summary: one et the same
Review: Una is a classic hero in the sense that she is everyman, universally processing the larger themes of humanity within her circumstances. the details are richly told, et it would be easy to lose oneself in the superficial tale of a woman from another time et another place. But that would be missing the forest for all of the trees. Read this slowly if you need to, but do digest. Reading this book is your own journey, not a life-altering new age pseudo-experience, but that rare art of self-examination et enjoyment.
Rating:
Summary: Moby Dick's Red Tent
Review: I love the idea of looking into the lives of women through a popular history that ignores them. It gives the book a flavor with which one is familiar but the textures are all different. Though ultimately a little long, and some of the more spiritual portions seemed unrealistic and self absorbed, the Story of Una's life, of contemporary sensibilities in Old New ENgland make for wonderful reading; a true companion for all of its 688 pages.
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