Rating: 
Summary: A Big Book
Review: I read this novel with great pleasure. In this age of post-modernist spareness, it is delicious to read a big thick book with a plot and many characters. I did indeed feel that I was transported into another world, and I like it when a book can do this for me. I did, however, have some difficulty with the basic premise of the novel. Although it's years since I read Moby Dick, Ahab's mythic shadow is still present in my mind. I cannot, even suspending all disbelief, imagine him as a domestic creature in any way. Ahab as a lover is beyond my imaginative capacities. Appparently, not so for Naslund. In the end, though, I just could not be convinced that Ahab would be at all interested in a hearth (even if shared with the adventurous, sensual Una) and this hampered my full enjoyment of the novel. The same goes for Ishmael--a husband? I think not. Ishmael is a wanderer and always will be for me. While the plot of Moby Dick is nowhere near fresh in my mind, its mythic imprint remains, and though Naslund's book is very pleasurable, interesting, and yes, a great deal easier to read, I can't really see it as a companion to Melville's work. I suspect many who have not read Melville will read it and enjoy it, but on a deep, spiritual level, it doesn't seem much related to the classic. Even so, I highly recommend the book. I learned lots from it and had plenty of new images created in my mind as a result of reading it. The plot can be rather pat in places, but there are lovely scenes which are quite fantastical (the protagonist's journey through the forest with a dwarf, the idyllic life at an island lighthouse, and some wonderful descriptions of food!)--these scenes, rather than the main character and her romances will remain with me.
Rating: 
Summary: Perfect!
Review: Brilliant! Now we know who Ahab really was. Ms. Naslund should win the Pulitzer for this one!
Rating:
Summary: An incredible read
Review: This book demands to be read slowly, to be savored. The main character, Una, is Ahab's perfect match--a strong, intelligent, independent woman capable of love, but not bound by the shackles of feminine servitude. Una engages in life with the same intensity as Ahab's obsession with Moby Dick. I believe this book will become part of the canon. The text enthralls with its rich, sensual, learned and luxurious language. The plot kept me riveted. Naslund has created a masterpiece--a must read! Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: To the reader from St. Louis
Review: To the reader from St. Louis -- there are far, far easier ways to make a buck (romances, espionage novels, mysteries) than writing AHAB'S WIFE, and to suggest that as Naslund's modus operandi is laughable!
Rating:
Summary: Magnificent. Uplifting.
Review: Ms. Naslund has presented us with a gem ... the character of Una, a female protagonist that is unapologetically intelligent, passionate, strong and independent. The story will "ring true" to all who have journeyed into the valley of suffering and shaken the bony hand of the devil that resides within each of us. Moreover it is a story of redemption, of joy found in the face of adversity, of forgiveness extended from one flawed soul to another. I read the entire book in two nights, and wanted to go back to the first page almost as soon as I'd turned the last. It is without question one of the finest books I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: A glorious winter read
Review: That recent spate of imagined sequels to classics-"Mrs. DeWinter," "Cosette," whatever-they-were-called sequels to Jane Austen-were generally less than successful, which makes it all the more surprising that the least likely of them should be such a success. Mrs. Ahab? Are you kidding? Sena Jeter Naslund creates a very plausible relationship between her protagonist Una and Moby-Dick's pursuer, and very, very wisely makes it just one element in Una's life. "Mrs. Ahab" takes Una from her home in the Kentucky wilderness to a New England lighthouse, to sea on a whaling ship, to a fine home in bustling Nantucket. She deals with the hot button issues of the day in elegant detail, and makes Una's involvement in the abolitionist movement, the rise of Transcendentalist thought, and the age's fascination with the natural sciences believable and logical.Perhaps Naslund's greatest achievement is to create a protagonist who is bold, headstrong and passionate without making her seem like a 1990's woman decked out in a crinoline. Una is as modern as a woman of the 1830's and 40's would be. The author's historic research goes far beyond knowing what people wore and ate: we are shown how they regarded the remarkable advances being made in their time, and how they considered their world. Candace Siegle
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful story of southern heart and Yankee spirit.
Review: This author compliments Melville with her expansion of a minor character in one of America's great pieces of literature. Re-reading MOBY DICK takes on new meaning because the reader has retrospectively experienced a broad and deep view of the lives of Melville's characters. Set in the simplicity and vibrancy of Kentucky and Massachusetts, AHAB'S WIFE creates vivid, powerful scenes of a woman's journey through life's troubled waters, peaceful vistas, bitter isolation, family strife, religious doubts, physical hardships, heartfelt friendships, intellectual wonderment, broken hearts and mended spirits. Love of life prevails in this novel which inspires the reader to greater levels of strength, endurance, hope and, finally, to the peace and harmony gained through trust in a loving heart. Having lived in both Kentucky and Massachusetts, I feel as though Una's spirit touches not only my heart, but where I live and my understanding of those who have lived the history about which Sena Jeter Naslund so beautifully and accurately writes. This southern writer has an enduring Yankee spirit.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: With a brisk pace and a stunning evocative power that ranks it up there with 'The Triumph and the Glory' and 'Blue at the Mizzen', this exceptional novel fulfilled all of my expectations from beginning to end. It was one of the best books I've read in the last year, a book well worth your consideration.
Rating:
Summary: A Banquet of Language
Review: "I want to eat the language." I replied, 'and feel it with my fingers." So said Una, about Keats. And so say I about Sena Jeter Raslund's banquet of words and ideas. Her rich, juicy prose brings to life not only her characters, but the period and places in which they lived. At once, we have the inner life of a girl, grown to woman, and a sweeping, violent story of the sea. We meet characters who lived, and some created. All seem real. We live with Una in a cabin in the wilds of Kentucky, a lighthouse isolated from land, and an elegant town home in Nantucket. Naslund, as well as Una, loves the language, searching for the one word to express what she means. In doing so, Naslund brings Una to us: ripe, vivid, and eloquent. Naslund lets us know Una, and those who surround her. The mad Kit, the escaping slave Susan, Robben the wood carver, and her beloved friend the Judge. We know Maria Mitchell and her obsession with finding a comet, Uncle Torchy and Aunt Agatha, and perhaps, surprisingly, Captain Ahab himself. We know the sea and stars and the grains of sand at 'Sconset. Before all, we know Una, a woman unafraid of herself and her feelings, who follows dreams and faces consequences. And if we are fortunate, we leave Una, knowing just a bit more about ourselves.
Rating: 
Summary: Why Do We Support These Types Of Books?
Review: I just don't understand this. Ahab's wife? What? And she's been married before and since? Wow. That certainly degenerates our classic obsessor even more. What is with all these books trying to spin off other things that were better. Dune: House of Atreides? Doctor Who: Interference? Casablanca: As Time Goes By? Young Indiana Jones: Treasure of the Peacock's Eye? What's wrong with keeping the integrity of the originals by not taking revisionist approaches to that which inspired you. Why does everything need "Further" and "Missing" adventures. To make a buck? This was Moby Dick. Where will this madness end?!!
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