I loved the first part of the book, the almost oniric imagery, the sense of longing and despair of a man condemned to slowly watching his purpose in life slip through his fingers. I confess I got lost sometimes during the second part, and the poems, though beautiful, lacked the emotional grip they had in the first part, almost as if the bar was set too high. Nevertheless, it was quite an interesting and fun read. ( )

I received this book from LibraryThing Early reviewers in exchange for an honest review When I first received this book from the author, it was said to be a retelling of the Melville classic Moby Dick in a style reminiscent of T.S. Eliot’s epic poem The Wasteland. That really piqued my interest to say the least. I was not disappointed! This is a book that doesn’t tell the story of Ahab and the White Whale so to speak, but tears away the skin, and gets down to the soul of the story. Author Frank Prem has written a beautiful epic poem that investigates the relationship between the mariner and his prey, the white whale. It delves deeper than the famous story ever did, examining how each character has defined the other’s life. This is a wondrous, and very powerful take on the old classic Moby Dick; it is written beautifully as an epic poem, and I will most definitely read it again, and possibly again after that, in the hope of gleaning additional aspects that have eluded me on first reading. read my full review on The Thugbrarian Review blog at: https://thugbrarianreview.wordpress.com/2024/04/03/new-fiction-poetry/ ( )

It was not to my tastes. There were some clever turns of phrase, but conceptually I felt lost and I was unable to visualize the premise described in the book blurb. I liked the use of stanzas and line breaks to create visual as well as verbal imagery. But overall I felt like I was trying too hard to understand what was going on and I didn't enjoy the experience. ( )

I enjoyed this, having read Moby-Dick recently enough. Questions arose about all the things that Herman Melville couldn't have known. As in, did he know how whales sleep? Did he know that whales sang? I have not read much poetry, and none of T.S. Eliot, so surely this book would have been richer having done so. I take the chances to read poetry that I get (such as when it's featured on the inside of transit vehicles instead of ads), and winning this as part of the Early Reviewers was a chance I leapt at, and I'm all the better for it.