The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym Book

Poe's only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket is not your average 19th-century adventure tale like those of Jules Verne or Robert Louis Stevenson. Instead, it's a type of tale which acts as a forefather for many tales to come and it's a hell of a weird ride.

The narrative introduces Augustus and our narrator, Arthur Gordon Pym. The first chapter tells a drunken adventure of these two boys. Not sure why that chapter is there, but it's there.

The next couple of chapters tells one of the best sea adventures I've read in a long time! As Augustus and his father decided to set sail for open ocean, Pym decides to join them anonymously with help of his friend.

Well, things went south quickly on that ship.


Filled with scenes of macabre, bloodletting and survival, those initial chapters were beautifully crafted by Poe. I especially loved the scene with the ghost ship. They were daunting and my imagination went wild there!

But then the story changes direction. Instead of sticking with the crazy atmosphere the story created in the initial chapters, Poe switches to an exploration and speculative narrative which reminded me of Jules Verne stories. It seems like Jules Verne was really influenced by this style. Verne was a lifelong fan of Poe and he even wrote a sequel to this novel in later years.

Anyways, we are now chilling with Pym and his gang in a new ship and they decide to explore the unexplored Antarctic region. They find a mysterious Island populated by a tribe of black (Even their teeth are black). The Island itself is a wonder as it is filled with undiscovered flora and fauna.

This part reads like Arthur Conan Doyle's novel, the lost world. The previously undiscovered land with strange natives and bizarre environments? That's Doyle right there.

Now, this is a work that clearly inspired many writers. Even HP Lovecraft connects this story with his own novella, At the Mountains of Madness. But as a novel, the narrative suffers from inconsistent story and styles. To be honest, after the 13th chapter, the story sacrificed its momentum and failed to gain it back. So I'm thinking 5 stars for the first half and 2 stars for the rest.

Also, the ending was ... What was the ending? It felt like one of those weird deaths we hear about in news: The ones where people die abruptly as they were typing a senta