Rating: 
Summary: A Great Poe Story
Review: A Great Poe Story"The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym of Nantucket" is a devilish tale about a young sea-loving man by the name of Arthur Gordon Pym. He becomes a stowaway onboard a ship by the name of Grampus. This gravely error causes the mutiny of the Grampus, the stranding of the Grampus at sea, and the death of his friend, Augustus. I believe this story is a wonderful spine-tingling tale by the popular author Edgar Allan Poe. This story would be a wonderful addition to anyone's horror story collection, especially anyone who loves Edgar A. Poe's gruesomely good stories of horror and mystery.
Rating: 
Summary: A Wonderful Sailor's Tale
Review: Arthur Gordon Pym was a young man who had dreams of great adventure. He defied his family and stowed away on board a whaling ship. Doing this lead him into all sorts of exciting adventures. He confronted things like mutiny, near starvation, and altercations with different cultures. I'd have to say that this story is "classic Poe". If you are a fan of Poe's short stories, you'll definitely like this book. I only had a few problems with the story. There were times that the story dragged, but this is far outweighed by the times that the story was very exciting, and I couldn't put the book down. I won't go into the ending, but it left me unsettled. I found that the explanatory notes were very helpful. I'm not a great scholar on any level, nor will I ever claim to be. The explanatory notes were very simple to understand, and it helped me understand portions of the story that caused confusion, particularly the end.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Sailor's Tale
Review: Arthur Gordon Pym was a young man who had dreams of great adventure. He defied his family and stowed away on board a whaling ship. Doing this lead him into all sorts of exciting adventures. He confronted things like mutiny, near starvation, and altercations with different cultures. I'd have to say that this story is "classic Poe". If you are a fan of Poe's short stories, you'll definitely like this book. I only had a few problems with the story. There were times that the story dragged, but this is far outweighed by the times that the story was very exciting, and I couldn't put the book down. I won't go into the ending, but it left me unsettled. I found that the explanatory notes were very helpful. I'm not a great scholar on any level, nor will I ever claim to be. The explanatory notes were very simple to understand, and it helped me understand portions of the story that caused confusion, particularly the end.
Rating:
Summary: A Rare and Fantastic Adventure
Review: From the beginning when our hero finds himself in the dark coffin like hiding place in the hold of a ship sailing to Antartica to the bizzare ending ,Poes genius takes us on an incredible and horrific adventure.Even if you are not a horror fan you should give this excellent novel a try.
Rating:
Summary: thoroughly enjoyable
Review: I haven't yet ruled out the possibility that I'm simply an oddball, but I assume every boy goes through a sort of Poe mania at some stage, at least I did. In fact, I got so bad around 5th grade that, having torn through the stories and poems, I was even reading biographies about him. But somehow, even with all of that, I think I had missed this longer work. I'm sorry I did, because while this wildly overstuffed adventure is enjoyable now, I would have really loved it as a kid. When Arthur Gordon Pym stows away on a whaling ship, he little dreams that he'll encounter tyranny, mutiny, biblical storms, cannibalism, shipwreck...and Poe's just getting warmed up. I've read that he cobbled together this semi-novel from several shorter pieces he'd written. It has a somewhat uneven feel to it; episodic, even disjointed. And as the episodes are piled one on top of the other it becomes a tad much. But it is always fun, often thrilling, and the mayhem that lurks on the surface guards layer upon layer of allegory and allusion. As you read you find yourself saying, "Hey, Melville borrowed that scene and Jack London got that idea here and Lovecraft cadged this plot..." If you have any doubts about how influential a literary figure Edgar Allan Poe was, this melodramatic masterpiece will put them to rest. More importantly, you'll thoroughly enjoy yourself. GRADE: A-
Rating:
Summary: Poe's only novel.
Review: Poe's only novel relates the adventures of young A. G. Pym who, with the help of a friend, becomes a stowaway on the whaling ship Grampus. While he is hidden, a mutiny occurs and Pym finds himself isolated. With two friends, he is able to overcome the violent mutineers only to be left adrift in a gale. They are rescued by another ship and set sail to find the South Pole. In this fanciful half of the novel, the South Pole contains a warm ocean surrounded by an icy barrier and is populated by an unusual people. The novel is filled with allegorical detail and has influenced a number of other writers. I recommend it highly to any serious student.
Rating:
Summary: An American Classic. A Horror Classic.
Review: Poe's only novel reminded me of Gogol's "Dead Souls," in that, in both, the story seems to take a weird turn toward the end and shuts down rather oddly. Gogol's excuse is that he became a fire-breathing convert to Christianity midway through writing his book, and so had no use for the book's initial cynical tone (instead we get a character rant on in socio-religious mode for awhile). I don't know what Poe's excuse is, but the effect of his end-of-story turn is remarkable, and I won't spoil it for you (unlike other reviewers below - warning!). There is a vivid, dreamlike, unsettling quality to the whole book, and (with the exception of a few dull pages of sailing life detail - not unlike "Moby Dick," but with nowhere near as much page-filling excess) there is rip-roaring action from start to finish. Poe's yarn is full of incident, and every bit of it counts. So at midnight, lock the door, sit back, put your feet up, and soak up this book in the dim light of your hurricane lamp. It's, after all, one of many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore!
Rating:
Summary: An American Classic. A Horror Classic.
Review: Poe's only novel reminded me of Gogol's "Dead Souls," in that, in both, the story seems to take a weird turn toward the end and shuts down rather oddly. Gogol's excuse is that he became a fire-breathing convert to Christianity midway through writing his book, and so had no use for the book's initial cynical tone (instead we get a character rant on in socio-religious mode for awhile). I don't know what Poe's excuse is, but the effect of his end-of-story turn is remarkable, and I won't spoil it for you (unlike other reviewers below - warning!). There is a vivid, dreamlike, unsettling quality to the whole book, and (with the exception of a few dull pages of sailing life detail - not unlike "Moby Dick," but with nowhere near as much page-filling excess) there is rip-roaring action from start to finish. Poe's yarn is full of incident, and every bit of it counts. So at midnight, lock the door, sit back, put your feet up, and soak up this book in the dim light of your hurricane lamp. It's, after all, one of many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore!
Rating:
Summary: So you want to go out to the sea?
Review: This is the dark narrative of the misadventures of a young man from New England. Pym has a big illusion of going to the sea, and so, secretly, he embarks in a ship. But the ship suffers a mutiny on board, led by ruthless and cruel men. After several days of storms and hunger, there is a shipwreck. The three survivors are rescued by another ship, whose crew is in search for the South Pole. Many adventures follow, and the end of the book is really horrifying. Beyond the plot, the importance of this novel is in the anguished and hair-rising mood it conveys. The relatively realistic beginning becomes a sort of magical horror gradually. It's like some Verne novel told in a hallucinated tone, feverish, tense, absolutely Poe. It will keep you constantly in tension, without pauses nor calm episodes, crossing the border of sanity.
Rating:
Summary: A disturbing tale of shipwreck and savagery
Review: This story, Poe's only novel, is an endurance test for both reader and characters. I believe it was originally serialized, and reads like a collection of incidents rather than a complete story. However, it is a captivating tale, astounding in it's detail and casual horror. Arthur Gordon Pym was born under an unlucky star. He survives in the most inconceivable circumstances, from a drifting, overturned hulk to the frozen waters of the Antarctic. Each page turned piles more horror in his path, described with a growing clinical distance. Pym himself becomes more desensitized to each incident, until he views the irrational with a casual curiosity. The language is beautifully detailed, and some feel this story is the inspiration for "Moby Dick." Altogether, a delightfully disturbing story. One of the best I have read.
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