The Seal Wife: A Novel

Book Description

Stunning, hypnotic, spare, The Seal Wife is the masterly new novel by Kathryn Harrison, “a writer of extraordinary gifts” (Tobias Wolff). Set in Alaska in 1915, it tells the story of a young scientist’s consuming love for a woman known as the Aleut, a woman who never speaks, who refuses to reveal so much as her name.

Born and educated in midwestern cities, Bigelow is sent north by the United States government to establish a weather observatory in Anchorage. But what could have prepared him for the loneliness of a railroad town with more than two thousand men and only a handful of women, or for winter nights twenty hours long? And what can protect him from obsession—obsession with a woman who seems in her silence and mystery to possess the power to destroy his life forever, and obsession with the weather kite he invents, a kite he hopes will fly higher than any has ever flown before and will penetrate the secrets of 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 convention. As she brilliantly reimagines the terrain of the Alaskan frontier during the period of the First World War, Harrison, a “master of her material” (Mary Gordon), also evokes early efforts to chart the weather and reveals the interior realm of the psyche and emotions—a human landscape that, in its splendor and terror, is profoundly and eerily reminiscent of the frozen frontier and the storms that scour its face.

Customer Reviews:

Wanted more about THE relationship, less about his work........2006-08-07

Passionate and beautifully written, but when the book veered from the relationship between the protagonist Bigelow and the Aleut woman it was not quite as compelling for me. I found all the characters fascinating - how could you not with Harrison's rich earthy descriptive storytelling, but I couldn't sustain interest in his work - and that takes up a good deal of the book.

Early 20th Century Life & Meteorology In Anchorage - Superb Prose!.......2005-09-19

Bigelow Greene, a twenty six year-old meteorologist from the Midwest, is hired by the Weather Bureau in 1915 and sent to the frontier boomtown of Anchorage, Alaska, to set up an observation station. Unfortunately, due to the department's new budget, the young man barely earns a living wage. He must find additional work to survive life in the harsh Arctic climate, where below freezing temperatures and 20 hour-long winter nights present a major challenge to one's sanity. "The Alaskan sun remains unknowable, every day a new prank, pulling along its bows and parhelia and other odd, errant optical paraphernalia, too lazy and distracted to achieve altitude, rolling along the tops of mountains, infusing the icy fog with a strange and sullen greeny glow." In his solitude, Bigelow sees all matter of surreal phenomena from his observatory windows which he would have never before called weather. He questions whether he can survive here. He doesn't think he has mastered the "required optimism" to do so. Descriptions of the physical world, like the one above, provoke one to wonder whether the landscape is depicted from a real life perspective or from an emotional one, a reflection of Bigelow's inner world?

There is a woman, called the Aleut, who lives in a frame house on the mud flats outside of Anchorage. Bigelow becomes obsessed with her. He finds her beautiful. He visits her. They drink tea, share meals, have sex. She bathes. He watches. They never talk. He knows nothing about the woman, about her life, her history, not even her name. Although he speaks to her, he never knows whether she understands him. However, she allows him to watch her "as intently, as much and as long, as he wants and the reason for this comes to him one night. She is self-possessed. She possesses herself." This makes him want her all the more. She becomes necessary to him. Then, one morning, she is gone. And he is shattered.

Bigelow, begins to drink and look for sexual pleasure with other women, mostly local prostitutes, to ease his pain. He is devastated by the Aleut's disappearance. He temporarily becomes involved with a shopkeeper's daughter, who sings, but is unable to speak. She stammers so violently that she communicates only through written notes. However, his fixation with the missing Inuit woman continues and follows him into his dreams. An introverted, sensitive man, Bigelow does not fit in with the coarser men from town and so he is left virtually alone.

The young scientist originally accepted his low paying job because it would give him the opportunity to prove a meteorological theory he had long been obsessed with. He hypothesizes that a great current of air sweeps in a circular fashion from the poles to the equator and back again, causing the air high over the poles to be warm, and the air over the equator cold. His dual obsessions with the meteorological project and with the Aleut woman continually vie for first place in his mind and with his energy. He designs and constructs an enormous kite to take temperature readings thousands of feet above the earth, which will enable him to prove his theory. The kite and his documentation also serve to distract him from his emotional pain and loneliness. The narrative focuses as much on Bigelow's inner obsession with the Aleut woman, as on his professional passion for charting the weather, with "recording a narrative that unfolds invisibly to most people." Unbeknownst to Bigelow, his newfound success with the kite has made a name for him in Anchorage as a scientific innovator. No matter how successful his work is, however, he finds no peace of mind.

"The Seal Wife," is a finely detailed, well-researched historical fiction that concerns the development of scientific technology before WWI, turn-of-the-century Alaska, and the growth of one man's character. Kathryn Harrison's language is richly metaphorical, especially when she describes the Alaskan landscape as seen through Bigelow's eyes. Her characters, especially the women, are of mythological proportion, more archetypical than three dimensional, and extremely mysterious - although I find Bigelow to be quite realistic. I am a big fan of Ms. Harrison's and while this is an excellent novel, I do prefer her more contemporary work.
JANA

an elemental love story.......2005-07-07

This deceptively simple novel seems to be cut from the cloth of Jack London stories and Eskimo folklore. A meditation on desire, courtship, human aspirations and man's relationship to the natural world, this story has similarities to the Jane Campion film, "The Piano"--which also centers around a mute female and a big, obvious symbol. In "The Seal Wife", the looming symbol is the scientist Bigelow's huge weather kite, which almost seems like it has (Wilhelm) Reichian overtones.

Main character Bigelow is a dreamer adrift in a wilderness town populated with coarse frontiersmen, and a few women. He loses himself in his work, and in his pursuit of a mysterious, silent Aleut woman who seems as out of place in the 1915 Anchorage settlement as Bigelow himself. The story takes on mythic overtones when the woman disappears for a long period, as enchantresses often do in fairy tales. There are hints that the Aleut may represent an animal spirit which has taken on human form. On another level, she seems to represent the need of Bigelow, a weather scientist who has his 'head in the clouds', to connect and become 'grounded' by an elemental, earthy and sensual woman.

A novel like this lives or dies by the grace of its descriptive language, and Harrison is masterful with details. There are many beautiful, impressionistic passages. The story itself is purposefully gauzy, and some readers who like less style and more plot may find themselves wondering, "where's the beef?"

I found this book more satisfying than "Gould's Book of Fish"--which also attempted to mix science and psychological symbolism. I found it drier and less original than something like Rachel Ingalls' "Mrs. Caliban". (For a much wilder take on gender and shapeshifting, try Peter Beagle's extended short story, "Lila the Werewolf"...)

I look for Kathryn Harrison to do even better than "The Seal Wife" in the future.

An Intense, Compelling Read.......2002-11-14

Kathryn Harrison's The Seal Wife is quite an intense read. It is the story of Bigelow Greene, a young man who moves to Alaska in 1915 to establish a weather station. He becomes obsessed with a silent Aleut woman he becomes sexually involved with and when she mysteriously disappears, his world, and perhaps his sanity begin to crumble. He becomes involved with another silent woman and his simple life grows more and more complex. The brutal Alaskan landscape serves as an excellent backdrop for this novel and its language. The Seal Wife is certainly not for the faint of heart--Bigelow is obsessed with sex and Harrison is not afraid to delve deeply into that obsession. If you can take that, try this intense read. It's hard to put down.

EXTREMITIES AS DEFINING FORCES..........2002-10-16

Extremities define - they map out the boundaries of continents and nations, of worlds, and of our bodies. There are several extremities at work in Kathryn Harrison's novel - and the unforgiving Alaskan weather is one of them. The central character, a meteorologist named Bigelow, is sent to Anchorage in 1915 in order to begin recording weather data for the US government. He is at first excited by the prospect - both by its frontier location and by his potentially pioneering work - but he soon falls prey to forces beyond his control, both in his heart and in his physical environment.

Bigelow finds himself both physically and emotionally hammered by the isolation enforced upon him by his surroundings. He thinks he is prepared for the time-toppling 20-hour winter nights and the seemingly endless days of the summer months - he soon finds that he is sinking deeper and deeper into loneliness. He finds a bit of solace in the company of a native woman - known simply as the Aleut woman, her name never being revealed to either the reader or Bigelow - and he becomes more and more obsessed with her silence. She never speaks a word to him - the only noises he ever hears from her are her quiet moans during sex. Rather than being driven away by this, he is drawn more and more to her because of it. When she suddenly disappears - without an explanation of where she's going or when or if she'll return - his life is thrown into chaos.

He soon finds another woman with whom he becomes infatuated - she sings, accompanying the silent films that are shown periodically in a tent, projected onto a sheet. She is as mysterious as the Aleut woman - it takes quite a bit of detective work on Bigelow's part for him to discover her name and where she lives. When he does manage to meet her, he is struck by a strange parallel to the Aleut woman - this girl is also silent, except for her songs. She communicates with him by way of a pencil and paper, and lets him know that she can't speak - she can sing, but only the words written by others. She cannot even use song to communicate her own thoughts.

... I think that Harrison has endowed both of them with a lot of character and, in their own ways, a lot of things to say. This is particularly true of the Aleut woman - for a character that never utters a word (none of her thoughts are ever presented, either), this reader came away with a deep sense of her personality. She is a uniquely strong character - she lives her life as she chooses, and no one (especially Bigelow) is going to dictate what she should or shouldn't do. The method he finally finds of communicating with her, of touching her on a deeper level, is a memorable one - I'll leave it for the potential reader to discover what that is.

Bigelow himself is a less-than-admirable character, albeit a sympathetic one - meaning that I didn't necessarily like him as a person, or approve of his methods of dealing with those around him, but that I could understand how extenuating circumstances (as well as what was revealed of his upbringing) had formed him into the person depicted here on these pages.

Overall, I found the book to be compelling and entertaining - and I thought the style with which Harrison composed the novel was perfect for the story and setting. The author has a great gift for images: `God exhaling clouds of geese' (p.224); and `Like a key, the thought of her eluding him turns in his flesh' (p. 29). This is great writing.

Book Description

"Eccentric short stories, which frequently give everyday life a loopy twist."- The Book Magazine

"What other writer could make you start laughing halfway down the first page of a story about a man putting on a sweater? Thurber maybe, a long time ago."-Damon Knight, author of Humpty Dumpty, An Oval

Thirty-three fantastic, surreal stories in the mode of Donald Barthelme or Mark Leyner.

Customer Reviews:

Thin stories that left me cold.......2002-11-23

Well, this chap has imagination, I have to admit that. But I was totally unmoved by the charachters or the stories. This is what's wrong whit those Roald Dahls-like authors: they are so intent at startling their readers that they forget everything else, like interesting personnages and a plausible story. Some stories, as usual, runs too short, as they're hurrying to their almost invariably UNPLEASANT finale. I was very disappointed. If you want something really good, read Vandermeer's Book of Ambergris.

Quality Collection!.......2002-07-14

Hi. Meet Me in the Moon Room contains many fine stories, a few brilliant stories, a couple of workman-like stories, some fablistic creations, and less than it's fair share of skippable stories. More good than bad; more great than horrible. Vukcevich is quirky, smart, and lives in Oregon but his mind races across the galaxy. If you read this, you read quality.

I give it four stars because there are some clunkers, but you might give it five stars because the clunkers are few and far between.

No planet like Planet Ray.......2001-10-03

Planet Ray is a unique force on the verge of discovery.

Here's a collection of funny, sweet, original, and wise stories.

Lucky is the reader who stumbles from dark onto a story where a paper bag is the metaphor for a troubled marriage, where a missile silo is a refuge, where a strange disease carries people further away from each other than they could have dreamed.
Ray Vukcevich writes like the love child of Oscar Wilde and Emily Dickenson. Or maybe I mean Thornton Wilder and Emile Zola. It boggles the mind to think about the combinations, only in a good way. Just like the book.

Great writing.......2001-09-15

It made me laugh, It made me cry. It scared me. It was inspiring. As someone said on the cover there is no other planet like planet Ray. I strongly recommend this book for fans of good writing.
I look forward to Mr. Vukcevich's next book.

Buy This Book Now..........2001-09-06

Ray V.'s stories are original, intelligent, charming, honest, funny and poignant -- all at the same time. He must be multi-tasking :)

Average customer rating:

Over forty works of short fiction

Sheckley at his best

Robert Sheckley, R.I,P,

The Masque Of Manana
Robert Sheckley
Manufacturer: Nesfa Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Sheckley, Robert | ( S ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Short Stories | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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Mindswap

ASIN: 1886778604
Release Date: 2005-08-01

Product Description

This volume contains the major short science fiction of Robert Sheckley.

Customer Reviews:

Over forty works of short fiction .......2007-03-12

Over forty works of short fiction by Robert Sheckley pack a presentation spiced with the science fiction artwork of Bob Eggleton, making MASQUE OF MANANA a 'must have' for any Sheckley fan and many a newcomer. From 'Squirrel Cage' to 'Seventh Victim', this gathers many writings from the 1950s through later years and represents a notable retrospective any serious science fiction holding must have.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Sheckley at his best.......2006-06-06

I think Robert Sheckley is one of the most underrated writers in US. The rest of the world loves his books, while in US most of his publications are out of print. Check this book out. while the stories are fun, they also make you think about lots of things in very unusual ways.

If I could I would give him ten stars out of five.

Robert Sheckley, R.I,P,.......2005-12-18

Robert Sheckley, who died at the age of 77 on Dec. 9, 2005, was something very rare in science-fiction -- a very good satirist. In his case, he covered the Dark Side. He wasn't ha ha laugh-out-loud funny, the way Keith Laumer was at his best. He wrote, for example, stories about people getting divorces by shooting each other. Somehow, he made it amusing. The 45 stories in this volume are of uniformly high quality. It doesn't contain all the stories I like, but it'll do for now.

Book Description

HERE'S A COOKBOOK THAT CAN HELP YOU WRITE YOUR OWN SUCCESS STORY!

For years, Weight Watchers has been helping people around the world lose weight and maintain healthy lifestyles. With Simply Delicious, they've even done the hardest part for you: finding healthy, delicious foods to eat. Follow their mouth-watering, easy recipes and you'll have a blueprint for an eating plan that fits within the renowned Weight Watchers Winning Points® program.

With chapters devoted to the way you and your family eat today, Simply Delicious will give you entrees, side dishes, and desserts that really satisfy. Even better, each recipe is 8 POINTS® or less per serving and contains nutritional information. Many recipes take a mere 20 minutes to prepare. Simply Delicious also includes easy tips and substitutions to make sure these recipes fit into your busy schedule. Inside you'll find tasty treats such as:

Asian Sesame Noodles
Oven Roasted Salade Niçoise
Banana Raisin Bread Pudding
Chicken & Broccoli Pizza
Beef Tenderloin and Arugula Toasts
Mediterranean Roast Chicken

...and many, many more delicious recipes!

Customer Reviews:

Good.......2007-07-26

I really like the book. There are very good recipies in it. I did not like some of the ingredients. Some ingredients are hard to find in the stores.

ALOT of meat recipes.......2007-06-27

I was hoping for more vegetarian dishes, or at least things that were easily adaptable. Instead the meat dishes are really meat with a few other things, not like casseroles.
If I had to do it again, I would purchase the comfort food recipe book instead.

Everything's A Treat.......2007-06-08

I am a woman of few words and as such I'll simply say "delicious". Each recipe is better and more exciting than the last. If you're trying to watch your weight and still enjoy good food...this is the cookbook for you.

Delicious and Fun.......2007-05-13

A great companion to the Weight Watchers point system diet. I have used it many times. The recipes are tasty and easy to follow. It really lives up to it's title. I highly recommend it to anyone on this or any diet.

Great low point recipes!!.......2007-05-07

This cookbook has some wonderful solutions when you're short on points! You will be sure to fall in love with some recipes.

Only downfall - there aren't any CORE recipes!

Average customer rating:

Essential for all serious foodies.

Elizabeth David Classics: Mediterranean Food, French Country Cooking, Summer Cooking
Elizabeth David
Manufacturer: Biscuit Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Mediterranean | European | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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Simple French Food

ASIN: 0964360063

Customer Reviews:

Essential for all serious foodies........1999-01-02

This is a classic and the publishers who reprinted this edition of three of the authors titles are to be commended for such an attractive edition. A must for any literate food lover.

Elizabeth David's Classics: Mediterranean Food; French Country Cooking; Summer Cooking

Average customer rating:

Elizabeth David's Classics: Mediterranean Food; French Country Cooking; Summer Cooking
Elizabeth David
Manufacturer: J Norman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0906908035

Book Description

This book is indeed a "first." A few rubber tins have made cameo appearances in past publications but this is the premier book exclusively about rubber containers-most of which have never been pictured before. Try this on your coffee table and you'll have a fun conversation piece-a trifle naughty but respectable! You and your friends can share hours of enjoyment getting to know about one of the hottest collectibles ever to hit the antique advertising scene! Buying Remember Your Rubbers! can save you money, perhaps many times the price of the book. You'll learn which brands are rare and which are not. You'll know enough not to spend a fortune on a "Deans Peacocks" (the "Prince Albert of rubber tins") as well as not to pass on a one-of-a-kind like the "Rainbow," both incidentally from the same company!

Customer Reviews:

must for graphic designers and Xmas giftgiving!.......1998-10-22

I saw this book at a small party and immediately orderd six copies. Christmas gifts for my folks and a hard-to-shop-for couple. The tins and packages are beautifully shot and reproduced. As a designer I actually am finding it to be a resource for great retro design and color combinations. There you have it... some really diverse reasons to purchase this wonderful book!!!

Historical, colorful, informative, and fun to read!!!.......1998-06-29

Interesting to find that this is the first book of its kind on the history of condoms and their packaging. Not only does it contain information the average person would never have guessed, it is useful to those into the history of graphic design. The tins are miniatue works of art in themselves, regardless of what they contained! The down to earth style of the text is easy on the reader as well. All in all a great bargain - the hardcover of the book in itself is worth the price of admission!

This is the best & only source for condom container prices!.......1998-06-18

I could not believe the quality of this hardback book. Many pricing guide books for collectibles are printed on newsprint, and they are paperback as well. This book is top class all the way! I hope these guys keep coming up with revised additions, as new and yet undiscovered condom tins and boxes surface. Bravo!!!

a great book with lots of full-color pictures and history.......1998-06-02

When I received this book, I was thrilled to see that it was filled with full-color pictures of the condom packages. In fact, 90 percent of this book is pictures, with fascinating bits of history comprising the other 10 percent. It's very difficult to find much information on historical birth control, and this is the first book I've seen dedicated to condoms. It even includes information on "chemical prophylactics" (all I could think after reading this section was "ow, ow , ow"). A great book!

hello G.K. Elliott here (co-author).......1998-04-24

as you might guess i have nothing but good thing to say about our book. you can e- mail me any questions. we are allso looking for any information avaiable as we are thinking of starting a news letter. we might even autograph your copy!

Average customer rating:
Small Endearments: Nineteenth Century Quilts for Children and Dolls, Second Edition (Hobbies - Needlework & Quilting)
Sandi Fox
Manufacturer: Thomas Nelson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Textiles & Costume | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1558533133

Book Description

"A delightful book. Highly recommended." - Library Journal. With more than 250 illustrations, this book examines the history and images of quilts made for children and dolls. Indexed.

Book Description

Who and what is a Jew? Is there any common denominator between an ultra-Orthodox rabbi of an Israeli North African community and a Berkeley academic of the Movement for a Secular and Humanistic Judaism? Do Jews the world over convergre and emphasize their unity or do they share contrasting concepts of collective identity? Part I of this book presents a systematic discussion of Jewish identities in this era of (post)modernity. The opportunity is offered by a set of invaluable texts, which appear in Part II. These texts about Jewish identity were invited, in 1958, by Ben-Gurion from 50 intellectuals - rabbis, writers, scientists and lawyers -, from the Diaspora and Israel, representative of the principal streams of contemporary Jewish thought.

Customer Reviews:

Excelente Libro........2003-05-03

Es fascinante, es tan entretenido el libro que lo lei solo en tres dias y es mas de 300 paginas, la forma de escribir, te mantiene entretenido, que mas se le puede pedir a DON FRANCISCO (REY de las COMUNICACIONES y del MARKETING) .... 100% Interesante.

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