I waffled between 4 and 5 stars for this book for a long time until I just said "eff it" and cleared the rating. A 5 star rating system is sufficient enough sometimes, but it's also reductionist to the point of absurdity. If I give this 4 stars and A Step from Heaven 5, does that mean I think A Step From Heaven is a better book? One that I enjoyed more? Technically better? I don't know. But this is a digression that has nothing to do with Ahab's Wife, so I'll stop. :P

Ahab's Wife is a big book, in many senses of the word big. It's physically long at 700 pages, but it's also got some big ambitions. Ahab's Wife is a feminist (feminine?) companion to Moby Dick, just as sprawling and philosophical. Naslund took one snippet from Moby Dick (a mention of Ahab's young wife and child) and build a heroine full of compassion and adventure.

I loved Una. I loved that this was not a story of a woman waiting for her husband to return, but the story of her entire life. She was not defined by Ahab, as the title suggests. Even the opening line reveals Naslund's true focus: "Ahab was not my first husband, nor my last." Ahab does not even appear for hundreds of pages, this is Una's story. Una is passionate, curious, and kind. This story was just as epic and sprawling as any of the great American narratives, but also so feminine. Una chops off her hair and joins a whaling ship, but never has to leave her femininity behind. She sews, she loves, she is kind. I particularly liked how Una's philosophical musings of the way of the world were often expressed through her sewing. Women's pasttimes have often been denigrated as unimportant in the grand scheme of things, it was very refreshing to see Naslund embracing the opposite.

This book has so much going on it, I could write thousands more words and still have tons to say. It's beautifully written--some passages so lyrical they made my head spin to wonder how Naslund dreamed them up. The characters are interesting and the setting and time fully realized. Sure, I could see some saying it bloated or self indulgent, but in my bratty way, I don't even care much. This is the kind of book I always wished had been written. I will proudly put it next to my copy of Moby Dick (which I feel I must reread now!)