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The Whale: A Love Story
A rich and captivating novel set amid the witty, high-spirited literary society of 1850s New England, offering a new window on Herman Melville’s emotionally charged relationship with Nathaniel Hawthorne and how it transformed his masterpiece, Moby-Dick
In the summer of 1850, Herman Melville finds himself hounded by creditors and afraid his writing career might be coming to an end—his last three novels have been commercial failures and the critics have turned against him. In despair, Melville takes his family for a vacation to his cousin’s farm in the Berkshires, where he meets Nathaniel Hawthorne at a picnic—and his life turns upside down.
The Whale chronicles the fervent love affair that grows out of that serendipitous afternoon. Already in debt, Melville recklessly borrows money to purchase a local farm in order to remain near Hawthorne, his newfound muse. The two develop a deep connection marked by tensions and estrangements, and feelings both shared and suppressed.
Melville dedicated Moby-Dick to Hawthorne, and Mark Beauregard’s novel fills in the story behind that dedication with historical accuracy and exquisite emotional precision, reflecting his nuanced reading of the real letters and journals of Melville, Hawthorne, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and others. An exuberant tale of longing and passion, The Whale captures not only a transformative relationship—long the subject of speculation—between two of our most enduring authors, but also their exhilarating moment in history, when a community of high-spirited and ambitious writers was creating truly American literature for the first time.
In the summer of 1850, Herman Melville finds himself hounded by creditors and afraid his writing career might be coming to an end—his last three novels have been commercial failures and the critics have turned against him. In despair, Melville takes his family for a vacation to his cousin’s farm in the Berkshires, where he meets Nathaniel Hawthorne at a picnic—and his life turns upside down.
The Whale chronicles the fervent love affair that grows out of that serendipitous afternoon. Already in debt, Melville recklessly borrows money to purchase a local farm in order to remain near Hawthorne, his newfound muse. The two develop a deep connection marked by tensions and estrangements, and feelings both shared and suppressed.
Melville dedicated Moby-Dick to Hawthorne, and Mark Beauregard’s novel fills in the story behind that dedication with historical accuracy and exquisite emotional precision, reflecting his nuanced reading of the real letters and journals of Melville, Hawthorne, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and others. An exuberant tale of longing and passion, The Whale captures not only a transformative relationship—long the subject of speculation—between two of our most enduring authors, but also their exhilarating moment in history, when a community of high-spirited and ambitious writers was creating truly American literature for the first time.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 14, 2016
113 people are currently reading
2892 people want to read
About the author
Mark Beauregard
9 books62 followersMark Beauregard is a professor in the Humanities Department at Western New Mexico University. He has lived in many places throughout the United States and Europe and currently resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 252 reviews
July 26, 2016
Never in my WHOLE LIFE did I expect to be breathlessly swept along like if they don't kiss I am going to die over Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne, but here we are.
March 28, 2016
While reading the letters and journals of Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and their contemporaries, I became swept up in the joys and struggles that these great writers lived through while they were creating their masterpieces. Melville's relationship with Hawthorne is one of the most important in American literature, and I wrote THE WHALE: A LOVE STORY to capture the excitement, intensity, and profound affection that they shared. I hope you enjoy reading it!
July 15, 2016
The plot attracts your attention from the very beginning till the last page. The turmoil of the human soul and the effect of love on it is a mystery, and Mark is trying to solve the mystery of love and how it affects the tender soul of Melville and produce Moby Dick and how Hawthorne was a catalyst.
A catalyst that motivated Melville to dive into his soul and cause pain to everyone around him so he can find some form of salvation in the wilderness of the Berkshires.
One of the best historical novels I have read in the last few years. And I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a love story and ponder some questions about souls and hearts.
A catalyst that motivated Melville to dive into his soul and cause pain to everyone around him so he can find some form of salvation in the wilderness of the Berkshires.
One of the best historical novels I have read in the last few years. And I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a love story and ponder some questions about souls and hearts.
January 17, 2019
Never in a million years did I think that something would make me want to pick up Moby Dick again, but alas I was wrong. This complicated love story of Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne will definitely make you think. Although for me, there was too much talking and not enough kissing.
May 9, 2019
bbbbiiiiiIIIITTTTTCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHH
January 1, 2017
I am a sucker for fictional recreations of writerly lives, and Beauregard’s painstaking reconstruction of the doomed trajectory of the ‘affair’ between Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the best I have ever read.
It joins a select pantheon that includes Arctic Summer by Damon Galgut (about E.M. Forster), The Typewriter's Tale by Michiel Heyns and The Master by Colm Tóibín (both about Henry James), and A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin (about an ageing Sherlock Holmes reflecting on his life).
What struck me in particular is how funny The Whale: A Love Story is; Beauregard has a fine sense of the absurd, propelled in part by the mammoth intellects he is depicting here. What is also immensely interesting is the depiction of the publishing industry in these writers’ times, where international copyright and piracy were hugely troublesome issues.
Given Melville’s reputation, it is exceptionally heart-breaking to read about the titanic struggle that went into writing Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, and its initial critical rejection, which plunged the author into a deepening spiral of debt and despair.
Both authors were at their creative peaks when they met though, and Beauregard raises fascinating questions about the link between creativity and passion, and how The Muse for one can be a devil for another. Or an albatross around the neck. He also delves deep into the subtext of Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, and gives fascinating insight into this multifaceted masterpiece.
And then there is unrequited love. Beauregard tackles the issue of the attraction between the two authors with boldness and delicacy. There is no undue sentiment here or melodrama, which only serves to heighten the emotional impact. Exquisitely rendered, and a privilege to read.
It joins a select pantheon that includes Arctic Summer by Damon Galgut (about E.M. Forster), The Typewriter's Tale by Michiel Heyns and The Master by Colm Tóibín (both about Henry James), and A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin (about an ageing Sherlock Holmes reflecting on his life).
What struck me in particular is how funny The Whale: A Love Story is; Beauregard has a fine sense of the absurd, propelled in part by the mammoth intellects he is depicting here. What is also immensely interesting is the depiction of the publishing industry in these writers’ times, where international copyright and piracy were hugely troublesome issues.
Given Melville’s reputation, it is exceptionally heart-breaking to read about the titanic struggle that went into writing Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, and its initial critical rejection, which plunged the author into a deepening spiral of debt and despair.
Both authors were at their creative peaks when they met though, and Beauregard raises fascinating questions about the link between creativity and passion, and how The Muse for one can be a devil for another. Or an albatross around the neck. He also delves deep into the subtext of Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, and gives fascinating insight into this multifaceted masterpiece.
And then there is unrequited love. Beauregard tackles the issue of the attraction between the two authors with boldness and delicacy. There is no undue sentiment here or melodrama, which only serves to heighten the emotional impact. Exquisitely rendered, and a privilege to read.
August 22, 2022
It’s impossible to know exactly how people interacted at a moment in history, but it’s fascinating to speculate. Beauregard does a splendid job here reconstructing the relationship between Herman Melville and his man-crush, Nathanial Hawthorne, based on their letters and known interactions. The historical record does provide tantalizing clues (Moby Dick is dedicated to Hawthorne). But — I was not convinced.
Melville in this imagining came across as lost and desperate. Was living together and discarding their families ever really an option for these two guys? It would have been a fatal scandal amounting to career and social suicide. Also straight men, the literate ones, were gushy and emotional in their letters so it is hard for me to know how much can be read into their loving and effusive language.
All in all I don’t know what it was like, navigating bromance or same-sex attraction in the mid-1850s. I can't even imagine. I know the modern closet, but not the deeper dark closet of 1850, when the “love that dare not speak its name” did not yet even have a name.
I do know, however, that in his later years Melville dwelled on the innocent beauty of the radiant but doomed seaman, Billy Budd, Foretopman.
Rounded up to 4 stars, because Beauregard does work within the known framework, instead of speculating wildly. The m/m romance version of this story remains to be written.
Melville in this imagining came across as lost and desperate. Was living together and discarding their families ever really an option for these two guys? It would have been a fatal scandal amounting to career and social suicide. Also straight men, the literate ones, were gushy and emotional in their letters so it is hard for me to know how much can be read into their loving and effusive language.
All in all I don’t know what it was like, navigating bromance or same-sex attraction in the mid-1850s. I can't even imagine. I know the modern closet, but not the deeper dark closet of 1850, when the “love that dare not speak its name” did not yet even have a name.
I do know, however, that in his later years Melville dwelled on the innocent beauty of the radiant but doomed seaman, Billy Budd, Foretopman.
Rounded up to 4 stars, because Beauregard does work within the known framework, instead of speculating wildly. The m/m romance version of this story remains to be written.
March 25, 2017
I became aware of this novel about a month ago while perusing the internet for content analyzing the complex relationship between Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Let's just say I was ecstatic beyond expression when I learned of The Whale: A Love Story's existence. For years now I have been intrigued by the two author's passion and regard for each other. There is absolutely no doubt that Herman Melville was madly in love with Nathaniel Hawthorne and that Hawthorne loved Melville in his own right; but the question I have been turning over in my brain all these years is whether Hawthorne ended their attachment because he strictly loved Melville in a platonic sense, or if he ended it because he felt a desire and passion towards Melville that society and his own conscience would not allow him to act upon? Mark Beauregard has not only answered this question, but he has convinced me wholeheartedly that the latter must be the truth.
Beauregard brought these historical literary figures who lived and died many years ago back to life within the book's pages, crafting an equally beautiful and heart-wrenching narrative of love, friendship, and obsession that grasps the reader and refuses to let go even after the final page has been turned. Beauregard depicts two of the greatest writer's to come out of the flourishing 19th century literary scene in the most vulnerable and human way, as if he has peered into the past and witnessed the innermost characteristics of their souls. Beauregard stayed as true to historical fact as he could with the information that has been preserved, and he filled in missing details in the most alluring and wonderful way. The romance between the two men was brilliantly crafted and deeply moving, and the rest of the novel's characters were so well written and added so much depth to the story. Not only should fans of Melville and Hawthorne like myself read this book, but anybody in general who loves a good story.
Beauregard brought these historical literary figures who lived and died many years ago back to life within the book's pages, crafting an equally beautiful and heart-wrenching narrative of love, friendship, and obsession that grasps the reader and refuses to let go even after the final page has been turned. Beauregard depicts two of the greatest writer's to come out of the flourishing 19th century literary scene in the most vulnerable and human way, as if he has peered into the past and witnessed the innermost characteristics of their souls. Beauregard stayed as true to historical fact as he could with the information that has been preserved, and he filled in missing details in the most alluring and wonderful way. The romance between the two men was brilliantly crafted and deeply moving, and the rest of the novel's characters were so well written and added so much depth to the story. Not only should fans of Melville and Hawthorne like myself read this book, but anybody in general who loves a good story.
June 30, 2016
Maybe this was a mistake reading this after finishing Michael Shelden's non-fiction work MELVILLE IN LOVE investigating the private yearnings and escapades of Herman Melville while writing MOBY DICK in 1850 while living in The Berkshires. Maybe. Yeah. Okay. YES. Big Mistake.
While Shelden researched and basically proved that Melville was involved with a married woman neighbor during his Berkshire experience, this is a fictional account of Herman Melville's passion for Nathaniel Hawthorne, which is used as his inspiration for his monomaniacal goal in writing his whaling epic. This is monotonous, redundant, and ridiculous. The author wants us to believe that Melville wanted just more than friendship from the neighboring fellow author and obsessed on it endlessly. The reader is plunged into the fevered mind of Melville and we learn a lot about how much he was mesmerized by Hawthorne's beautiful golden brown hair. This goes on forever and is buffeted by inane letters they wrote to each other. It is filled with philosophical speeches and discussions of Puritan attitudes, adultery, love for the same sex, and makes Melville out to be a nut job and resemble a self involved smitten high school girl.
Having been acquainted with the historical figures and others in the world of Melville at this time (by reading the previous book) it was frustrating to see how the assessment and characterization of the same were opposite to real history or just did not exist in this fictional telling. Melville obviously had a great affection for his friend, which is proven through their real written communication, but this fanciful droning story is to be avoided.
While Shelden researched and basically proved that Melville was involved with a married woman neighbor during his Berkshire experience, this is a fictional account of Herman Melville's passion for Nathaniel Hawthorne, which is used as his inspiration for his monomaniacal goal in writing his whaling epic. This is monotonous, redundant, and ridiculous. The author wants us to believe that Melville wanted just more than friendship from the neighboring fellow author and obsessed on it endlessly. The reader is plunged into the fevered mind of Melville and we learn a lot about how much he was mesmerized by Hawthorne's beautiful golden brown hair. This goes on forever and is buffeted by inane letters they wrote to each other. It is filled with philosophical speeches and discussions of Puritan attitudes, adultery, love for the same sex, and makes Melville out to be a nut job and resemble a self involved smitten high school girl.
Having been acquainted with the historical figures and others in the world of Melville at this time (by reading the previous book) it was frustrating to see how the assessment and characterization of the same were opposite to real history or just did not exist in this fictional telling. Melville obviously had a great affection for his friend, which is proven through their real written communication, but this fanciful droning story is to be avoided.
August 22, 2016
Mark Beauregard’s The Whale: A Love Story is the novelization of the unfulfilled romantic longing between Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne during the short time they lived near one another in Massachusetts from 1850-1851.
During this time, Melville was pursued by creditors and lived off of loans from his father-in-law. His writings yield lackluster profits, and he struggled financially. He met Nathaniel Hawthorne at a picnic and was instantly captivated, falling in love that spiraled into obsession. Melville craved a life beyond his grasp - fame as a novelist, a house far beyond his means, a desire for an unavailable lover.
Beauregard suggests his desperation is paralleled in the story of Moby Dick. Ahab is chasing an unattainable goal for revenge; but, as Hawthorne explains in a letter to Melville, this lust for revenge is not for the loss of his leg, but for the loss of his heart. Beauregard skillfully incorporates actual correspondence between the two men, showing the agony of Melville’s unrequited longing and Hawthorne’s suppression of his desire for Melville.
The Whale: A Love Story blends historical accuracy and speculation of the level of admiration between these two literary icons. The fiery urgency of Melville and the agonizing denial by Hawthorne makes for a tale of woeful desperation. This book humanizes the authors who were writing at the dawn of American literature. It made me view Moby Dick with a new perspective and understand the honesty and manic intensity behind the pursuit of the whale. Highly recommended.
During this time, Melville was pursued by creditors and lived off of loans from his father-in-law. His writings yield lackluster profits, and he struggled financially. He met Nathaniel Hawthorne at a picnic and was instantly captivated, falling in love that spiraled into obsession. Melville craved a life beyond his grasp - fame as a novelist, a house far beyond his means, a desire for an unavailable lover.
Beauregard suggests his desperation is paralleled in the story of Moby Dick. Ahab is chasing an unattainable goal for revenge; but, as Hawthorne explains in a letter to Melville, this lust for revenge is not for the loss of his leg, but for the loss of his heart. Beauregard skillfully incorporates actual correspondence between the two men, showing the agony of Melville’s unrequited longing and Hawthorne’s suppression of his desire for Melville.
The Whale: A Love Story blends historical accuracy and speculation of the level of admiration between these two literary icons. The fiery urgency of Melville and the agonizing denial by Hawthorne makes for a tale of woeful desperation. This book humanizes the authors who were writing at the dawn of American literature. It made me view Moby Dick with a new perspective and understand the honesty and manic intensity behind the pursuit of the whale. Highly recommended.
abandoned
October 1, 2023DNF @ 43%
This is one of those books where it's hard to pull the dnf trigger because I so want it to be good, and there are little flickers here and there. But damn it, the way he's writing Melville is just not believable to me, and I'm not enjoying it, and I'm too old to be wasting my time reading novels I'm not enjoying. It's not even the time reading it really, it's the time that I could be reading that I don't because I'm not enjoying the things I supposedly am reading and the reluctance to pick them up results in my letting that time slip away while I distract myself online.
I could be reading actual Melville instead. Or a Melville biography. Which I already own. I'm sure I'd get a bigger dose of whatever drug has been keeping me reading this so far out of reading that, or his letters.
:(
This is one of those books where it's hard to pull the dnf trigger because I so want it to be good, and there are little flickers here and there. But damn it, the way he's writing Melville is just not believable to me, and I'm not enjoying it, and I'm too old to be wasting my time reading novels I'm not enjoying. It's not even the time reading it really, it's the time that I could be reading that I don't because I'm not enjoying the things I supposedly am reading and the reluctance to pick them up results in my letting that time slip away while I distract myself online.
I could be reading actual Melville instead. Or a Melville biography. Which I already own. I'm sure I'd get a bigger dose of whatever drug has been keeping me reading this so far out of reading that, or his letters.
:(
December 21, 2017
I found this torture to read, though I appreciate the author's attention to historical detail. I didn't care for Melville as a character or narrator. I also didn't buy this as a legitimate interpretation of Melville and Hawthorne's letters, and I was very willing to be convinced. Three stars because it's probably just a matter of taste. (Dinged down to 2 stars on 12/21/17 because I remember this as the worst book I read this year, and I had rated a bunch of other books I actually enjoyed three stars. It's no Morrissey's Autobiography, but it's not great either.)
March 16, 2017
Everything I could ever have hoped for or wanted from a love story between Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville. Repressed puritan moral restraint. Obsessive passion without dramatic action. So much love. This is first romance novel that I fully loved. And a great palate cleanser between heavier works.
This book made me want to read Hawthorne and Melville's entire works in full searching it for any hint that the theory of this book could be true. If the premise of a romantic relationship between these two literary giants appeals to you at all, I can promise you that this book does not fail to deliver. It is everything you could hope for and you should definitely read it.
This book made me want to read Hawthorne and Melville's entire works in full searching it for any hint that the theory of this book could be true. If the premise of a romantic relationship between these two literary giants appeals to you at all, I can promise you that this book does not fail to deliver. It is everything you could hope for and you should definitely read it.
September 24, 2021
gay fan fiction about herman melville just made me sob
August 9, 2019
Mark Beauregard relies upon careful research and a bit of imagination to tell the story of Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne, two writers who meet and become close friends during the time Melville is grappling with the writing of his novel Moby Dick. Because both men were writers, there is much written evidence---letters, diaries---to draw upon. Scholars have always known that Melville and Hawthorne inspired each other and became close, but Beauregard goes further and makes their relationship a love story. It feels true and believable, with Melville, with his experiences in the South Seas and his daring in writing, as the pursuer, and Hawthorne, with his emphasis on sin in his wiring, the reluctant lover.
It's a perfect side for a Moby Dick entree.
It's a perfect side for a Moby Dick entree.
August 5, 2022
5 stars only cuz i enjoyed the emotional toil it took on me. im not gonna be very critical.
also @nhi you should read this it has a very, very pathetic man.
also @nhi you should read this it has a very, very pathetic man.
May 5, 2025
Perhaps, Herman reasoned, my obsession with Hawthorne has been governed entirely by my need for an obsession - any obsession - to feed the creation of my monomaniac captain.
To love and to create are tightly interwoven. But to love someone, and to create something for that person, is the greatest act of devotion and destruction imaginable.
It is filled with definitions of things one might find at sea. 'The Maelstrom: This dreadful whirlpool is so violent that everything which comes near it, is drawn in and dashed to pieces.' That might also be the definition of Melville.
That is what this book is. I don't know if I liked it because it was good or because it was the kind of love story that some part of me has been waiting to read for a long time, but the way Herman Melville loves Nathaniel Hawthorne has me completely floored. I don't think I can sum it up any better than Hawthorne himself does in the quote above, except, perhaps, with some choice descriptions assigned to Melville himself:
And he realized with a shock that he needed to see Hawthorne not to dispel the rumors of Jeanie Field and not to confirm his most ardently felt emotions: he needed to see Hawthorne because only Hawthorne could make him real.
He began to feel his love for Hawthorne as a hatred of God.
But love him he does. That isn't a spoiler, and the more I think about it, the more I realize that this is not the kind of book where spoilers really matter. Melville loves Hawthorne - madly, hopelessly, all-consumingly - and that is really all that this book is about. Most of the included letters are real. MOBY DICK is dedicated to Hawthorne. And Melville's love is the ultimate creation, confession, punishment, and utter ruination.
"If I told you I loved you, Herman, it would change nothing."
"If you told me you loved me, Nathaniel, it would change everything."
"No. Nothing would change. I would still be leaving for West Newton with my family. And you would still be staying in Pittsfield with yours."
"Everything would change for me."
I can't say I enjoyed all (or even most) of my time spent inside Melville's feverish thoughts, where everything is twisted up in dark spirals of love, obsession, and creation. This love story, though, may just be one of the best I've ever read.
This was farewell, and as a parting concession from the Fates, Melville would be allowed to present Hawthorne with all of his love and obsession and despair bound in leather. Hawthorne would carry away Herman's soul, set in type.
March 17, 2024
Just as incredible the second time around.
Original review:
I cannot for the life of me come up with cohesive thoughts about this book, so this is me giving up.
One rational thing I will say is: although there is historical evidence of the Melville-Hawthorne thing and the book features actual letters, I always approach these types of works as if they were nothing but fiction and I would recommend doing the same. Understanding things for what they are is crucial to our enjoyment of them, imho. Clearly, the aim of this book is not to be a biography, a historiographic essay, or an academic study, but rather to be a solid, compelling piece of fiction. And what a fucking solid, compelling piece of fiction this is.
Original review:
I cannot for the life of me come up with cohesive thoughts about this book, so this is me giving up.
One rational thing I will say is: although there is historical evidence of the Melville-Hawthorne thing and the book features actual letters, I always approach these types of works as if they were nothing but fiction and I would recommend doing the same. Understanding things for what they are is crucial to our enjoyment of them, imho. Clearly, the aim of this book is not to be a biography, a historiographic essay, or an academic study, but rather to be a solid, compelling piece of fiction. And what a fucking solid, compelling piece of fiction this is.
June 24, 2016
This was something of an unexpected treat. I usually enjoy books about writing or writers so I went into it with a pretty positive attitude, but I wound up liking it more than I thought I would. The writing sparkled, especially in dialog, and reality notwithstanding the picture of Melville as obsessive, lovesick, consumed by his own quest for a white whale - Hawthorne as well as the completion of his novel - was expertly drawn.
September 7, 2016
This is a wonderful chucklefest of literary delight. The author has created the often-questioned, often-implied romance between Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville in exquisite detail, and I just grinned and grinned all the way through. It's touching, sad, happy, funny, surprising ... all the right things at all the right times. I will never look at Moby-Dick or The House of the Seven Gables the same way again. Highly recommended.
June 21, 2016
Disappointing. I wanted more of Melville & Hawthorne working in Moby Dick, & less of Meville's emo pining & poor life decisions.
August 3, 2019
this is exactly like that seinfeld scene when kramer n george taking about yearning n craving but they are Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville
April 22, 2016
My main quibbles with the book lie heavily in what I like in media as a person. Though I'm not directly opposed to romance and quite like romantic plotlines in books, there's a heavy difference between a book featuring romance and a book ABOUT a romance and it's the latter that I've had long standing problems with. So when it comes down to it, a lot of the criticisms I felt fervently about the book lay heavy on that genre, and, though for me it isn't excused by such, I imagine it could be for other people.
The book is written well. The prose is well crafted, not quite as flowery or as dense as Melville could be but flowery enough for setting and easy enough for enjoyment. I was surprised to find the book as easy a read as I did, being that I was expecting (being in Melville's mind for the most part) the book to recreate Melville's style. It does to an extent, but again, doesn't quite meander as much, doesn't quite sink into its metaphors as much. I've read physically shorter books that have taken me longer to read, and I think that, with my major problems with this book aside, that reflects nicely on the book as a whole.
So, my feelings on the book, which I read from cover to cover, was that I didn't like it. But, as I stated before, I felt like I didn't like it because I didn't like romance novels not because the book was necessarily bad, but all the tropes that frustrate me in romance novels are present here were not stopped from provoking in me its frustrations in the goddamn slightest. I picked this book up because I was frustrated with reading heterosexual romances at all - I've been reading a lot this year and they've all settled into kind of a bland white noise to me in terms of variety and I was desperately hoping that the Whale would inject some color into it. It's annoying that my normal reading cycle is so empty of this that I have to go out of my way to seek it out, but that's just an annoyance of my everyday life being queer and wanting something that couldn't be made into an Avril Lavigne song.
Another thing before I get started, I've been getting a lot of shock and some astonished hilarity at the idea of Hawthorne and Melville together when I talk about this book, which has also been frustrating me, because in a time where it was so unfashionable to be gay or single, are we supposed to assume that all marriages at the time meant that someone was straight? And at a time where being gay was so volatile, is it all that surprisingly there are rarely notes and letters declaring their sexualities? So most of this book is conjecture, but no moreso than the assumption that these people are straight at all anyway.
Anyway, I disliked Melville and Hawthorne's interactions. It immediately gets reduced into an impulse of feeling as opposed to a growth, which is frustrating considering that the possibility is there. But where the book could have enriched itself with the conversations of Hawthorne and Melville's contemplations and mind workings which develop into affection, the book edits them out when it could have built their relationship. Instead, the reader is treated to the idea that, after an evening of discussion, Melville is already convinced that he is in love with Hawthorne and determines to move to the Berkshires to be near him, essentially sacrificing his entire family to do so.
I say "convinced that he is in love" because that's what it appeared to me - not that the book itself seems to notice that failing enough to deconstruct it. No, Melville converses with Hawthorne for a few hours, falls in love, destroys his life, and that's .... romantic??? I disliked it in Marius Pontmercy sort of barely remembering to introduce himself TWO MINUTES INTO A SONG WHERE HE'S ALREADY DECLARED HIS UNDYING LOVE, and I dislike it here. I dislike it everywhere without some sort of self awareness on the idea, but typically there is none, and in the book it's just taken totally seriously as proof of his love. Where the book could have put more deconstruction of Melville's character as a man of impulse with little profit, he is treated like a put-upon man trying to make it in a difficult world. He moves to the country with little to no provocation and then seems to blame everyone for telling him that it's a stupid idea. It would have given me something if Hawthorne suggested he try out the Berkshires to air out his thinking in regards to The Whale, and again, watch their relationship move from admiration to affection BUT THAT JUST ISN'T WHAT HAPPENS.
And the book concludes with me feeling like the person I hate most of all is Melville, but the book is so focused on THEIR LOVE that it doesn't take into account what a phenomenally terrible person Melville is (in the book. He may have also been a cad in real life and it's a high possibility knowing authors of the time period, but without some biography reading I have no idea if this reflects Melville historically). He uproots his family to move to be near Hawthorne and then he proceeds to pressure and be pathetic when Hawthorne rejects and then dares to STAND BY HIS DECISION. Hawthorne catches early on as to where their relationship might be heading to, and instead of a conversation about it, Melville proceeds to throw a huge fit and spends a huge portion of the book disregarding Hawthorne's wishes, despite Hawthorne repeatedly and consistently making his feelings and choice clear.
Partway into the book I wondered if Hawthorne liked Melville at all, and Melville was doing the whole "projecting his wants and wishes onto the object of affection in intense denial" but no, it's clear that Hawthorne does love Melville but is a product of his time AND A DECENT HUMAN BEING enough to consider the difficulties he might foist upon his wife and family if he actually reciprocated Melville. But instead of Melville understanding this and perhaps taking it as a hint to reflect on things in regards to his own life and marriage, he just keeps pursuing Hawthorne despite, and truly gives such little thought to his wife and son that that in itself would be enough for me to dislike Melville if it weren't also compounded by his ignorance and denial of Hawthorne's wishes. There's a scene later in the book after Hawthorne rejects Melville's amor again after a night where they almost consummate their relationship, and Melville proceeds to make a huge scene in front of Hawthorne's family and when Hawthorne resorts to cruel words to expel Melville, forcing him to leave with his feelings incredibly hurt, I couldn't help but think it was something he had coming and lacked such sympathy for his character that it retrospectively made me realize that Melville had been being a prick to Hawthorne as well.
It's so upsetting to me HOW MUCH potential this book had. The brief mentions and occasional reality checks of illegal distributed copyright property overseas, the comparison and competition between British and American authors (and for American authors to feel they are being taken seriously as their own works as opposed to constant comparison to the British), these could have been much more than a backdrop, but everything becomes a backdrop to Melville's unhealthy and, to me, unromantic obsession with Hawthorne. Towards the end of the book Melville has a revelation that he's been treating his son with neglect, the way his own father treated him and it lasts like two sentences and then he's thinking about Hawthorne again so again again again opportunities for character depth and growth snapped off in favor of Melville/Hawthorne again again again. No implication as to whether this will make him improve with Malcolm in the future, just something that he thinks about and then it's back to the broken record playing the honk of "I LOVE HAWTHORNE" again.
If you can defend Melville and excuse it as romantic or "that obsession/tunnel-vision/quickness of relationship was the WHOLE POINT" then this book is for you, but it certainly wasn't for me. Whatever enjoyment I could get from the book either in its philosophies into the authors or introspection on what it was to be an American author was curtailed in favor of Melville's love of Hawthorne, it overwhelms and consumes and tries to get past me as true love. I almost wanted Melville to have sex with Hawthorne, I wanted that scene to happen not as a culmination of their tension, or "finally, they are together, yay!" but because I felt like Melville would realize that his feelings for Hawthorne WERE an impulse and then at least look back and realize he ruined everything for this moment that he wanted like seeing an overpriced toy in a window and WANTING it, getting it out of the box and then losing interest. But that point just didn't exist, that awareness didn't exist and to me, it needed it desperately if the relationship was going to move as quickly as it did.
This book needed to be about twice its size and less about the love story, but it IS a "love story" and, like Melville for Hawthorne, it sacrifices everything to be "a love story" and nothing else.
The book is written well. The prose is well crafted, not quite as flowery or as dense as Melville could be but flowery enough for setting and easy enough for enjoyment. I was surprised to find the book as easy a read as I did, being that I was expecting (being in Melville's mind for the most part) the book to recreate Melville's style. It does to an extent, but again, doesn't quite meander as much, doesn't quite sink into its metaphors as much. I've read physically shorter books that have taken me longer to read, and I think that, with my major problems with this book aside, that reflects nicely on the book as a whole.
So, my feelings on the book, which I read from cover to cover, was that I didn't like it. But, as I stated before, I felt like I didn't like it because I didn't like romance novels not because the book was necessarily bad, but all the tropes that frustrate me in romance novels are present here were not stopped from provoking in me its frustrations in the goddamn slightest. I picked this book up because I was frustrated with reading heterosexual romances at all - I've been reading a lot this year and they've all settled into kind of a bland white noise to me in terms of variety and I was desperately hoping that the Whale would inject some color into it. It's annoying that my normal reading cycle is so empty of this that I have to go out of my way to seek it out, but that's just an annoyance of my everyday life being queer and wanting something that couldn't be made into an Avril Lavigne song.
Another thing before I get started, I've been getting a lot of shock and some astonished hilarity at the idea of Hawthorne and Melville together when I talk about this book, which has also been frustrating me, because in a time where it was so unfashionable to be gay or single, are we supposed to assume that all marriages at the time meant that someone was straight? And at a time where being gay was so volatile, is it all that surprisingly there are rarely notes and letters declaring their sexualities? So most of this book is conjecture, but no moreso than the assumption that these people are straight at all anyway.
Anyway, I disliked Melville and Hawthorne's interactions. It immediately gets reduced into an impulse of feeling as opposed to a growth, which is frustrating considering that the possibility is there. But where the book could have enriched itself with the conversations of Hawthorne and Melville's contemplations and mind workings which develop into affection, the book edits them out when it could have built their relationship. Instead, the reader is treated to the idea that, after an evening of discussion, Melville is already convinced that he is in love with Hawthorne and determines to move to the Berkshires to be near him, essentially sacrificing his entire family to do so.
I say "convinced that he is in love" because that's what it appeared to me - not that the book itself seems to notice that failing enough to deconstruct it. No, Melville converses with Hawthorne for a few hours, falls in love, destroys his life, and that's .... romantic??? I disliked it in Marius Pontmercy sort of barely remembering to introduce himself TWO MINUTES INTO A SONG WHERE HE'S ALREADY DECLARED HIS UNDYING LOVE, and I dislike it here. I dislike it everywhere without some sort of self awareness on the idea, but typically there is none, and in the book it's just taken totally seriously as proof of his love. Where the book could have put more deconstruction of Melville's character as a man of impulse with little profit, he is treated like a put-upon man trying to make it in a difficult world. He moves to the country with little to no provocation and then seems to blame everyone for telling him that it's a stupid idea. It would have given me something if Hawthorne suggested he try out the Berkshires to air out his thinking in regards to The Whale, and again, watch their relationship move from admiration to affection BUT THAT JUST ISN'T WHAT HAPPENS.
And the book concludes with me feeling like the person I hate most of all is Melville, but the book is so focused on THEIR LOVE that it doesn't take into account what a phenomenally terrible person Melville is (in the book. He may have also been a cad in real life and it's a high possibility knowing authors of the time period, but without some biography reading I have no idea if this reflects Melville historically). He uproots his family to move to be near Hawthorne and then he proceeds to pressure and be pathetic when Hawthorne rejects and then dares to STAND BY HIS DECISION. Hawthorne catches early on as to where their relationship might be heading to, and instead of a conversation about it, Melville proceeds to throw a huge fit and spends a huge portion of the book disregarding Hawthorne's wishes, despite Hawthorne repeatedly and consistently making his feelings and choice clear.
Partway into the book I wondered if Hawthorne liked Melville at all, and Melville was doing the whole "projecting his wants and wishes onto the object of affection in intense denial" but no, it's clear that Hawthorne does love Melville but is a product of his time AND A DECENT HUMAN BEING enough to consider the difficulties he might foist upon his wife and family if he actually reciprocated Melville. But instead of Melville understanding this and perhaps taking it as a hint to reflect on things in regards to his own life and marriage, he just keeps pursuing Hawthorne despite, and truly gives such little thought to his wife and son that that in itself would be enough for me to dislike Melville if it weren't also compounded by his ignorance and denial of Hawthorne's wishes. There's a scene later in the book after Hawthorne rejects Melville's amor again after a night where they almost consummate their relationship, and Melville proceeds to make a huge scene in front of Hawthorne's family and when Hawthorne resorts to cruel words to expel Melville, forcing him to leave with his feelings incredibly hurt, I couldn't help but think it was something he had coming and lacked such sympathy for his character that it retrospectively made me realize that Melville had been being a prick to Hawthorne as well.
It's so upsetting to me HOW MUCH potential this book had. The brief mentions and occasional reality checks of illegal distributed copyright property overseas, the comparison and competition between British and American authors (and for American authors to feel they are being taken seriously as their own works as opposed to constant comparison to the British), these could have been much more than a backdrop, but everything becomes a backdrop to Melville's unhealthy and, to me, unromantic obsession with Hawthorne. Towards the end of the book Melville has a revelation that he's been treating his son with neglect, the way his own father treated him and it lasts like two sentences and then he's thinking about Hawthorne again so again again again opportunities for character depth and growth snapped off in favor of Melville/Hawthorne again again again. No implication as to whether this will make him improve with Malcolm in the future, just something that he thinks about and then it's back to the broken record playing the honk of "I LOVE HAWTHORNE" again.
If you can defend Melville and excuse it as romantic or "that obsession/tunnel-vision/quickness of relationship was the WHOLE POINT" then this book is for you, but it certainly wasn't for me. Whatever enjoyment I could get from the book either in its philosophies into the authors or introspection on what it was to be an American author was curtailed in favor of Melville's love of Hawthorne, it overwhelms and consumes and tries to get past me as true love. I almost wanted Melville to have sex with Hawthorne, I wanted that scene to happen not as a culmination of their tension, or "finally, they are together, yay!" but because I felt like Melville would realize that his feelings for Hawthorne WERE an impulse and then at least look back and realize he ruined everything for this moment that he wanted like seeing an overpriced toy in a window and WANTING it, getting it out of the box and then losing interest. But that point just didn't exist, that awareness didn't exist and to me, it needed it desperately if the relationship was going to move as quickly as it did.
This book needed to be about twice its size and less about the love story, but it IS a "love story" and, like Melville for Hawthorne, it sacrifices everything to be "a love story" and nothing else.
August 8, 2022
2.25 ★ — Look I love Herman and
Moby Dick
but this was just him being a pathetic simp (I know that he clearly was since I’ve read his letters to Nathaniel) But this was
way too much for me
. Sorry.
August 27, 2018
Earlier this year, I enjoyed an author taking two famous authors and writing their stories side by side. So, when I was introduced to this book not only telling of two famous American author stories, but showing their friendship, their work, and a little something more, I was all in. It read like a love story tucked inside a historical fiction.
The Whale: A Love Story didn't exactly grab me like I was hoping it would. I've read books by both authors: Moby Dick by Herman Melville, House of Seven Gables and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I liked their writing and was eager to learn more about the men behind the books. I was all kinds of curious about the suggestion that they were gay and had a love affair. I was open to not only buying in to even a whiff of it, but enjoying it even if it was just a very loose fictional story. Unfortunately, I got lost in the writing style and couldn't really like the Melville portrayed in this books (to be fair, he was something of a romanticist in real life) or get on board with the romance. He says and does idiotish things and being inside his head was torturous or mind-numbing in turn for me.
It wasn't all a slog. I did enjoy the letters and I felt the author got the details of the time period down. Melville drove me nuts the way he got himself into trouble with his family, with entanglements, and all bumbling over his crush on Hawthorne, his muse. I liked the friendship between Hawthorne and Melville. I got a better feel for both men which is what I wanted.
I think I would recommend this for historical fiction fans who are open to broader interpretations of the characters and don't mind an awkward romance at the heart of the story.
My thanks to Penguin-Random House for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
The Whale: A Love Story didn't exactly grab me like I was hoping it would. I've read books by both authors: Moby Dick by Herman Melville, House of Seven Gables and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I liked their writing and was eager to learn more about the men behind the books. I was all kinds of curious about the suggestion that they were gay and had a love affair. I was open to not only buying in to even a whiff of it, but enjoying it even if it was just a very loose fictional story. Unfortunately, I got lost in the writing style and couldn't really like the Melville portrayed in this books (to be fair, he was something of a romanticist in real life) or get on board with the romance. He says and does idiotish things and being inside his head was torturous or mind-numbing in turn for me.
It wasn't all a slog. I did enjoy the letters and I felt the author got the details of the time period down. Melville drove me nuts the way he got himself into trouble with his family, with entanglements, and all bumbling over his crush on Hawthorne, his muse. I liked the friendship between Hawthorne and Melville. I got a better feel for both men which is what I wanted.
I think I would recommend this for historical fiction fans who are open to broader interpretations of the characters and don't mind an awkward romance at the heart of the story.
My thanks to Penguin-Random House for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
February 19, 2017
I cannot speak highly enough of this book. He manages to make me want to go read Melville and Hawthorne in the original now. Hats off to Mark Beauregard.
July 12, 2016
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I love biographical fiction and this one belongs at the top of the list. Beauregard writes an insightful tale about Herman Melville's most intimate thoughts concerning Melville's attraction to Nathaniel Hawthorne. The physical attraction hinges on their mutual creativity as writers, their philosophies, and deep friendship. Hawthorne fans should not miss this book. What's interesting is I just finished Melville In Love, The Secret Life of Herman Melville and the Muse of Moby-Dick by Michael Sheldon, nonfiction, about Melville's extramarital affair with Sarah Morewood (a fascinating book for Melville fans that I highly recommend), who supposedly inspired him to write Moby Dick. Probably not a good idea to read these books back to back as I did. Because now I'm left with thinking that Melville was madly in love with Morewood, married to Lizzie and having children with her, and desiring a homosexual affair with Hawthorne (who seemed to influence Melville in his writing of Moby Dick as well, especially since he dedicated his sea epic to Hawthorne). This is an audacious novel.
April 22, 2020
Mark Beauregard's The Whale: A Love Story dramatizes Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne's relationship in the context of Melville writing Moby-Dick. Beauregard shows that Melville simmered with unrequited attraction for Hawthorne, with his passion driving his work and inspiring him towards his ultimate literary achievement. Not a bad set-up for a novel, yet Beauregard's book is disappointingly pedestrian in a lot of ways. The prose is either stilted or overstated, in rare flourishes of purple prose, and larded with excerpts from historical letters that vouchsafe Beauregard's authenticity but clog the narrative. While Beauregard does a good job sketching Melville's torment over love and creativity, his Hawthorne is a rather flat dispenser of epigrams (is that all it takes to capture a man's heart?) and other characters are even flatter (a woman who blackmails Melville into posing as her lover). A clear case of an intriguing premise (exploring hidden LGBTQ history through the medium of fiction) let down by indifferent execution.
February 7, 2017
Another strange book but well written and evidently well researched. I didn't know what I was getting with this, thought the love story would have been the whale. Clearly my lit teachers didn't point me to the world's suspicions.
Once I figured it out, Honestly I wasn't sure that I wanted to read it, but I'm glad I plowed through. It's so sad that Melville didn't achieve fame and fortune during his lifetime, his writing is so amazing and so his own. Glad I read it and got this different insight into his life, and into Hawthorn as well.
Once I figured it out, Honestly I wasn't sure that I wanted to read it, but I'm glad I plowed through. It's so sad that Melville didn't achieve fame and fortune during his lifetime, his writing is so amazing and so his own. Glad I read it and got this different insight into his life, and into Hawthorn as well.
June 25, 2016
This was so much more than I had anticipated. I thought it was great and the writing was mesmerizing. The story of Melville and the writing of Moby Dick as well as his friendship/infatuation with Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Amazing to think that a classic such as Moby Dick never received literary accolades when it was published.
Amazing to think that a classic such as Moby Dick never received literary accolades when it was published.
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