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bookslurp's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
dlberglund's review against another edition
2.0
I thought this book was too melodramatic, and I didn't identify with the main character. I too easily look at his character weaknesses (I won't go as far as to call them flaws...) and feel distanced from his experience. I don't feel satisfied with the ending, though I can't think of what would have made me satisfied. I was lacking in book choices at the time, and it kept me occupied enough that I didn't put it down, but I wouldn't echo the rave reviews that were on the back cover.
misslezlee's review against another edition
I really enjoyed this book. It had a turn of the century Northern Exposure sensibility.
joyllywood's review against another edition
4.0
Bleak, interesting with insight into selfish obsession
kelic's review against another edition
3.0
Synopsis- A stunning and hypnotic novel, The Seal Wife tells the story of a young scientist and his consuming love for a woman known as Aleut. In 1915, Bigelow is sent to establish a weather observatory in Anchorage, Alaska, and finds that nothing has prepared him for the loneliness of a railroad town of over two thousand men and only a handful of women, of winter nights twenty hours long. And nothing can protect him from obsession-both with a woman, who seems in her silence and mystery to possess the power to destroy his life forever, and with the weather kite he designs to fly higher than any kite has ever flown before, a kite with which Bigelow plans to penetrate and know not just the sky but the heavens.
A novel of passions both dangerous and generative, The Seal Wife explores the nature of desire and its ability to propel an individual beyond himself and outside conventions. Harrison brilliantly re-creates the Alaskan frontier during the period of the first World War and in lyrical prose explores the interior landscape of the psyche and human emotions - a landscape eerily continuous with the splendor and terror of the frozen frontier, the storms that blow over the earth and its face.
Review- I first read Kathryn Harrison's [b:A Thousand Orange Trees|46570|A Thousand Orange Trees|Kathryn Harrison|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387721032l/46570._SY75_.jpg|1768694] and was bowled over by her prose, her female protagonists and her treatment of the corporeal. Her mesmerising prose carried on in [b:The Binding Chair|208210|The Binding Chair|Kathryn Harrison|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389658365l/208210._SY75_.jpg|2034047]. Another fantastic exploration of the role of women and their bodies in society. So I had real hopes for this...Her prose is still fantastic but I just lacked any connection to any of the characters.
The mc, Bigelow, is weird. He's essentially a nonviolent stalker. I didn't like him and we had to spend all of the novel together.
The main female protagonist says nowt in the entire novel. This would be okay if we got a little inkling into her. But she's just a massive mystery. It doesn't help that her entire persona is portrayed through the eyes of the creepy weirdo. But everyone we meet is seen through Bigelow's eyes and because he is aloof and detached outside of his own obsessions we don't really get to know any of them.
I bought this book 13 years ago from a charity shop in Jersey. I kept putting it off. Sadly, it's not been worth the wait.
Rating - Two and a half disappointed by the silence stars (rounded to three). ⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Devoured the book, couldn't put it down.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Really liked it, consumed within days
⭐⭐⭐ - Enjoyed a fair bit, better than average
⭐⭐ - Meh
⭐ - Absolute drivel
A novel of passions both dangerous and generative, The Seal Wife explores the nature of desire and its ability to propel an individual beyond himself and outside conventions. Harrison brilliantly re-creates the Alaskan frontier during the period of the first World War and in lyrical prose explores the interior landscape of the psyche and human emotions - a landscape eerily continuous with the splendor and terror of the frozen frontier, the storms that blow over the earth and its face.
Review- I first read Kathryn Harrison's [b:A Thousand Orange Trees|46570|A Thousand Orange Trees|Kathryn Harrison|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387721032l/46570._SY75_.jpg|1768694] and was bowled over by her prose, her female protagonists and her treatment of the corporeal. Her mesmerising prose carried on in [b:The Binding Chair|208210|The Binding Chair|Kathryn Harrison|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389658365l/208210._SY75_.jpg|2034047]. Another fantastic exploration of the role of women and their bodies in society. So I had real hopes for this...Her prose is still fantastic but I just lacked any connection to any of the characters.
The mc, Bigelow, is weird. He's essentially a nonviolent stalker. I didn't like him and we had to spend all of the novel together.
The main female protagonist says nowt in the entire novel. This would be okay if we got a little inkling into her. But she's just a massive mystery. It doesn't help that her entire persona is portrayed through the eyes of the creepy weirdo. But everyone we meet is seen through Bigelow's eyes and because he is aloof and detached outside of his own obsessions we don't really get to know any of them.
I bought this book 13 years ago from a charity shop in Jersey. I kept putting it off. Sadly, it's not been worth the wait.
Rating - Two and a half disappointed by the silence stars (rounded to three). ⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Devoured the book, couldn't put it down.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Really liked it, consumed within days
⭐⭐⭐ - Enjoyed a fair bit, better than average
⭐⭐ - Meh
⭐ - Absolute drivel
mslaura's review against another edition
4.0
Ratings (1 to 5)
Writing: 5
Plot: 4
Characters: 5
Emotional impact: 4
Overall rating: 4.5
Writing: 5
Plot: 4
Characters: 5
Emotional impact: 4
Overall rating: 4.5
pussreboots's review against another edition
5.0
The Seal Wife is one of the most beautiful books I've ever read. I just finished it and I wish there was more to read! It's a rather minimalist book with short chapters and sparse dialogue. It uses vignettes to pull the story along. As the book is mostly from inside Bigelow's mind, a self defined loner who is in Anchorage to forecast and study the weather, the book's minimalism beautifully captures the experience of being alone among others, an observer given time to absorb the surroundings and think about things.
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