Rating: 
Summary: A thoughtful, elegant page-turner
Review: A fictional ship, The Narwhal, heads up to Greenland and the Canadian Artic to search for the remains of John Franklin and his crew. It is the mid-1800's. The civil war has not yet begun, and no one knows whether there is an open artic ocean. The story is narrated by Mr. Wells, the ship's naturalist and the commander's future brother-in-law. He is a flawed 19th century gentleman who struggles to reclaim his life and to understand what he has experienced.This book is a page-turner in the best sense of the word. I stayed up late three nights in a row because I wanted to know what happened. More than that, I felt my own life slip away as I joined the crew of the Narwhal, so convincing was Barrett's portrayal. Isn't that why we read fiction? Perhaps one more reason: to see our world differently when we close the covers. This book satisfies that demand as well. It is nourishing, thought-provoking and beautifully written. One of the best modern American novels in recent years.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and haunting
Review: Although this starts out a little slow, the story is
fascinating. I found Barrett's style and imagery wonderful.
For example, Erasmus, a naturalist, loses his toes and
then compares walking on his shortened feet to the sensation
of walking like a deer on hooves. The characters are described so well that they really
come alive. The science and geography are wonderfully
researched, and the story is so well told! Weeks later
I still find myself thinking about passages from this
book. The book is full of beautiful, insightful paragraphs
and a story self-discovery (from people of various cultures)
that I really enjoyed.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful Voyage
Review: As pointed out by others, this novel does a good job giving a reasonably accurate picture of the arctic but does a lousy job of developing characters or an entertaining story line. Given these facts, there is no reason to read this novel. Rather, pick up a book that describes actual arctic explorations and you will get a more detailed and accurate picture of the arctic. Read what Nansen saw and did, read about the Kane expedition (for real), or read a survey of arctic expeditions such as Fergus Fleming's Ninety Degrees North. But don't read this weak story. It has nothing to add.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't Read a Novel -- Read the Real Thing
Review: As pointed out by others, this novel does a good job giving a reasonably accurate picture of the arctic but does a lousy job of developing characters or an entertaining story line. Given these facts, there is no reason to read this novel. Rather, pick up a book that describes actual arctic explorations and you will get a more detailed and accurate picture of the arctic. Read what Nansen saw and did, read about the Kane expedition (for real), or read a survey of arctic expeditions such as Fergus Fleming's Ninety Degrees North. But don't read this weak story. It has nothing to add.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful Voyage
Review: Barrett is a fantastic writer who doesn't get nearly enough of the reading public's attention, possibly because she is often classified as a great "science" writer (as opposed to simply a great writer, period), perhaps scaring away people who think science writing is going to be dull and unrelated to their lives. (Perhaps, too, people are still unused to reading "science" and "adventure" stories written by a woman?) In any case, "Voyage" was a wonderful book -- I can only echo previous reviewers' accolades of it. That said, I did feel that the story faltered a bit as it neared the ending. Initially I think Barrett did a fine job of showing the complexities of these characters, but after a certain point I felt the story became a bit "cartoonish" in separating out who was evil (those who exploited others in order to grab all the fame they could get, or, like Lavinia, were simply too self-absorbed to see anyone else's point of view) and who was good (those who wanted to rescue Tom, who modestly didn't want to be in the spotlight but only wanted to explore knowledge for knowledge's sake). This was disappointing because the main theme that had been emerging was that facts often get muddled with fiction; it's impossible, in the end, to clarify what really happened against what was written about what happened. As such, it seemed that Barrett would have been better served by making every character a little more evenly both faulty and sympathetic, to evoke that ambiguity. All the same, though, I very much enjoyed reading "Voyage" and definitely look forward to seeing more of Barrett's works.
Rating: 
Summary: loved it but...
Review: I am in agreement with much that has already been said.I too was mesmerized by this book. Best of all it has set me wondering about what really know of history.This is a very post modern suggestion and asking this question in the form of a novel makes it so much richer. I am a big fan of anything to do with evolutionary theory and enjoyed the way the book dipps into this history. My only criticism is the disappointing ending it seemed rushed and anti-climactic the story/writer seemed to have run out of energy and just let it trail off.
Rating:
Summary: Chilling in More Ways than One
Review: I chose the book because it features a 19th-century arctic sea adventure and its toll on a small crew who have to face its challenges. I was not disappointed. Amidst ship life with its own chain-of-command protocols and other policies/procedures, the crew's battle with the arctic elements was starkly portrayed and interesting. And even more interesting were the relationships, betrayals, and loves along the way. I was really drawn into this narrative. The characters face physical and emotional challenges that make you wonder how you would have fared.
Rating: 
Summary: I really liked it
Review: I know I am going to get blasted for saying so but I just couldn't stay awake long enough to finish this book. Its not the books fault I found the book itself to be quite good the audio vrsion is awful. I know its my own fault for not reading it and maybe someday I will but the narrator just bored me to death(which is odd because normally George Guidall does a very good job). My impression-From what I heard(that is listened to on audio) the charecters are there preety much as an afterthought. I couldn't keep Eraumus or any of the others striaght in my head and I wasn'tabut to write little notes to myself to remember how the charecters were. So.. Read the book, don't get the audio version
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: I picked up this book at a local book store because it was offered as a remainder at bargain price and it simply looked so great: a beautiful cover suggestive of nostalgia as well as mystery, and an equally beautiful interior embellished with 19th century engravings. A must-have: but what kind of a must-have I only realised after reading it. This truly is one of the best novels I have read in years. As a historical novel it is on a par with the works of Rose Tremain or A.S. Byatt. It strikes a perfect balance between, on the one hand, well researched detail concerning the hype for arctic exploring and blind hero-worship that struck the mid-19th century bourgeoisie, and amazingly refined character study on the other hand. The clash of personalities between the humane and intelligent scientist who suffers from a chronic inability to take decisive action, and the blindly ambitious man of action who never stops to think about anything, generates tremendous tension (as well as physical danger). It is the classical conflict between id and ego, or Apollo and Dionysos if you like, but transplanted into a surprising context, and explored with great psychological subtlety. And around this dramatic core the women, left at home worrying, and the Eskimo's, lost in a world they don't understand and that doesn't understand them, open up different, equally surprising and sometimes also comical perspectives on the proceedings. Fortunately Barrett is a wise enough writer not to make anyone the winner or looser in the end: all have won, and all have lost.
The backdrop to all this are the arctic regions of Canada, which I had feared might prove a somewhat monotonous and bleak scenery, which they are anything but. On the contrary, Barrett, through the pen of her main character, is able to describe the strange beauties of these places so seductively that next she had me seeking out atlases and books of photographs on the arctic. Actually the scenery becomes far more than scenery, it is an active part of the drama, almost like a character in itself.
Furthermore, while never piling it on too thickly, the author keenly exploits the adventure novel aspect of people setting out on a long journey, on no more than skimpy pretexts and at considerable danger to their lives, to discover places in a time when there still were places left to discover. That they mostly did so to attain their `fifteen minutes of fame', guided by no more than a vague (and from our perspective pretty ridiculous) notion of heroism, or by some side-tracked scientific interest, makes the pursuits of these people all the more touching as well as baffling.
A great book - don't miss it!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but not a success
Review: The subject matter of The Voyage of the Narwhal is exceedingly interesting, and Ms. Barrett's meticulous research comes through beautifully during the descriptions of the Arctic wilderness and the historical expeditions that either came before or were going on concurrent with the fictional one of the Narwhal. But unfortunately, the subject cannot overcome the almost amateurish character exposition and the uneven dialogue. Barrett is never comfortable letting a character's actions speak for themselves, instead rushing to bludgeon the reader with thesis statement sentences at the end of nearly every exchange. It's depressing. Also, the last fifty or so pages of the book are something of a train wreck, as the conclusion of the action is a motley assortment of different and equally unsatisfying plotlines contorting together to form an ending.
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