The Great Eastern

by Howard A. Rodman

A dazzling, inventive literary adventure story in which Captain Ahab confronts Captain Nemo and the dark cultural stories represented by both characters are revealed in cliffhanger fashion.

A sprawling adventure pitting two of literature’s most iconic anti-heroes against each other: Captain Nemo and Captain Ahab. Caught between them: real-life British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, builder of the century’s greatest ship, The Great Eastern. But when he’s kidnapped by Nemo to help design a submarine with which to fight the laying of the Translatlantic cable - linking the two colonialist forces Nemo hates, England and the US - Brunel finds himself going up against his own ship, and the strange man hired to protect it, Captain Ahab, in a battle for the soul of the 19th century.

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Historical, Historical Fiction, Alternate History, Adventure, Science Fiction Fantasy

344 pages, Hardcover

Published June 4, 2019

About the author

Howard A. Rodman is the author of the novel THE GREAT EASTERN — a sprawling, lavish anticolonial adventure, set in New York, London, Paris, India, and the North Atlantic in the late 1800s — forthcoming June 4, 2019 from Melville House Books/Penguin Random House. Jonathan Lethem calls it "A historical phantasmagoria and ripping adventure. Like twelve of your favorite movies at once, in full Sensurround." Rodman's earlier novel DESTINY EXPRESS, set in the pre-War German filmmaking community, was published by Atheneum and blurbed by Thomas Pynchon, who called it "daringly imagined, darkly romantic--a moral thriller."

As a screenwriter, Rodman wrote SAVAGE GRACE, with Julianne Moore and Eddie Redmayne, nominated for Best Screenplay at the 2009 Spirit Awards, and AUGUST, starring Josh Hartnett and David Bowie. He also wrote JOE GOULD'S SECRET, the opening night film of the Sundance Film Festival, based on the memoir by iconic New Yorker writer Joseph Mitchell.

He is the past president of the Writers Guild of America West; professor of screenwriting at USC's School of Cinematic Arts; a member of the National Film Preservation Board; and an artistic director of the Sundance Screenwriting Labs.

Working with the Library Foundation of Los Angeles and USC, Rodman has conducted public conversations with writers Tom Wolfe, Walter Mosley, Ricky Jay, Geoff Dyer, Robert Polito, Lena Dunham, Spike Jonze, Vince Gilligan, Matthew Weiner, Paul Thomas Anderson, Jean-Claude Carrière, Robert Towne, John Sayles, Mark Z. Danielewski, John McWhorter, Jeannette Seaver, Joan Schenkar, and Lady Antonia Fraser.

In the late 70s and early 80s, Rodman was a guitarist in several lower Manhattan post-punk bands, including Arsenal and Made in USA. Rodman's 2011 celebration of the centennial of the French silent cinema arch-villain Fantômas took him to Yale, Brown, the New School, and City Lights Books.

In 2013, in recognition of his contributions, he was named a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres [Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters] by the government of France. He was also the 2018 inductee to the Final Draft Screenwriters Hall of Fame.

Reviews

[Corto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writing a review for this book is a daunting endeavor.

As a fan of historical fiction and sea literature, I have to applaud Mr. Rodman’s ability to fuse history, two of the great heroes of fiction, and put it all in a readable and compelling story. This novel reads like a love letter to the work of Jules Verne, Herman Melville, and the life of the great Industrial Age engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Imperialism is the villain here, and the double-edged sword of global -communication provides the object which brings the three principal characters – Nemo, Ahab, Brunel – together in mortal combat.

I chose this novel, because I’ve fallen victim to a malady common among middle-aged suburban men, I’ve developed a strong interest for sea stories. Over the last 15 years, I’ve read every book in the genre I could get my hands on, including finally tackling Moby Dick. At times I’ve feared that “I’ve read all the good ones”. I found this novel because the Facebook algorithm kept putting it’s ad on my feed (or maybe I saw it elsewhere), but I was leery of it. How could a modern author throw Ahab against Nemo, and have it be anything other than cheesy? Besides, I’d be damned if I was going to let Facebook convince me into buying anything. However, thirsting for more adventures with Ahab, I decided to take the plunge and I purchased it. The book then proceeded to languish on my monstrous to-read pile for several months.

When I decided to finally pick it up, I realized I hadn’t read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which I bought and proceeded to read in short order. If you haven’t read Moby Dick, or 20,000 Leagues, I wouldn’t say you can’t enjoy this book, but it significantly enhances the experience if you’re a fan of both. Knowing the gist of those stories, or having seen the classic movies is probably enough to enjoy this book at a certain level.

However, if you’ve read both, this book will be a great joy and pleasure. I only have a basic knowledge of the history of the translations of 20,000 Leagues - but if you chose a modern copy - it most likely has it’s origin in a British translation. This is important mostly because Nemo’s rationale for hunting and killing ships is not entirely explicit in a British translation (or its ancestor) – which would be a logical omission given the British politics of the day. I don’t know if Verne had Nemo’s origins spelled out in the original French version of 20,000 Leagues, but they are later revealed later in Mysterious Island. Nemo’s origin is at the core of Rodman’s book, and he fully fleshes it out in an incredible, living, breathing way. I have a feeling that Jules Verne would’ve wholeheartedly approved of this treatment of his character.

Ahab is one of my favorite characters in all literature, and I don't know another way to put it - but his arc in this novel was... fun. That small, simple word may seem like it diminishes his role in the book...but it doesn't to me. I've read probably three or four Melville books and skimmed most of the rest, and I've always felt that his books are chock full of humor despite being cloaked in dense information and prose. While Ahab has always possessed the characteristics of sturm and drang, and existential anger, I've always thought he was "funny". So, it was "fun" (exciting, enjoyable) to read Rodman's Ahab, and his arc in the book was fitting...

It must’ve been a daunting task to try step into Melville’s shoes, but Rodman does due diligence to the character. I would like to write a lot more here about Ahab, but I don’t want to ruin the book for anyone. I will say that the end of the novel left me wishing for *more Ahab* in the way that Rodman writes him… Perhaps someday Mr. Rodman could give us the adventures of young Ahab in his prime.

Brunel was new to me. I had seen the picture of him posing against the massive chains of the Great Eastern, but had no idea who he was. Rodman’s novel opened my eyes to a lot of history I was unaware of. He was a fascinating character in this novel and I learned a great deal about his contributions to that era and ours. As with Ahab, I don’t want to say more to allow a prospective reader to really enjoy this book.

As a fan of sea literature and historical fiction, I think that this book was fantastic because it really upheld the best attributes of both genres. Rodman is a superb craftsman, and though he was using two of nautical literature’s most beloved heroes – nothing in here feels contrived or trite. This is a thoroughly original story, and if you’re a fan of the novels that inspired this book, you’ll spend page after page geeking out. In terms of using history, the author suffuses the book with an incredible amount of detail. It feels as if you're there in the era, and his breadth of knowledge about the cutting-edge engineering and other technology of the day is incredibly impressive. (It must've taken years to research and write this book.) The action at sea is great - and Rodman knows his stuff. To a non-sailor like myself (and probably the majority of maritime literature aficionados), it felt real enough to be believable. The author also has a great facility and delight with language. Some of the vocabulary even flummoxed Wikipedia (I don’t have an OED subscription…). Howard Rodman is an incredibly erudite writer, and has crafted an incredibly intelligent, exciting, entertaining, gripping, and satisfying novel. Well done. Highly recommended.

The Sea Story is Not Dead.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

With all the outrageous linguistic brio of literary forebears Jules Verne and Henry Melville--and I would daresay Dickens and even Twain--Howard Rodman has created a steampunk tour de force in The Great Eastern. In 1852 when it was created, it was the largest steamship ever built, an ironclad monster designed by the unrivaled engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a real-life figure whose glorious career (in the novel) is cut short by a vengeful, coolly vindictive submariner Captain Nemo. Pressed into his service, Brunel creates the miraculous submarine vessel the Nautilus, which is soon to be pitted against an outrageous, unbounded Captain Ahab, hired to protect the steamship (which he abhors) and the laying of a transatlantic telegraph cable. I could not read this fast enough.

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://www.readingavidly.com/2019/07...

Seriously, I had so much fun with this novel that I was sad when it ended. The five stars reflect not only the author's excellent and delightful writing and the story itself, but also the sheer sense of pleasure this book afforded me while reading. I happen to love what I call a "rollicking good adventure yarn" and this more than fits that bill while at the same time focusing on, as one Amazon reviewer put it,

"European transformation of the world in the 19th century -- violently globalizing, spawning enormous wealth but also the seed of perpetual violence, domination, and vengeance ..."

And while literary purists may have issues with this novel (I hear the grumbling in my head and I don't care), for readers of adventure stories who want something completely different, you can't do any better. And when the movie comes out, I'll be first in line to see it. And yes, there is a film in the works, and if it doesn't get screwed up, meaning doesn't stray too far from its source, it ought to be one hell of a movie, in the same way that this is one hell of a book.

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I often find overwritten books charming, but this one is overwritten even for overwritten books. It’s almost eighty pages before two characters have a conversation. Ahab’s speech veers wildly from a fairly good approximation in some places to horrible “talk like a pirate day” pastiche. The book ends fully sixty pages before it stops.
The premise is charming, and at times the book lives up to that potential, but mostly it’s just pages of overworked imitation of 19th century prose.

[Luke Gregson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The earliest “big book” that I can remember reading was Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 5th grade. I’ve been searching for that peculiar blend of genre/pulp with literary sensibility my entire reading life. It felt good to round out the year with this book.

Rodman writes a pretty damn convincing pastiche of Verne and Melville and it works for most of the novel!

[Annarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book engaging and entertaining, one those book you cannot put down.
I loved the mix of different stories/characters and I liked how the plot was developed.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Many thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for this ARC.

[Jeffrey Powanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rambunctious pastiche that pits Captain Nemo from Jules Verne's classic novels against Captain John Ahab of Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Also on hand is famed British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who designed the largest steel ship ever built, The Great Eastern. Nemo intends to use his submarine Nautilus to destroy the transatlantic cable, which is being laid on the ocean bed by The Great Eastern. The captain of The Great Eastern is John Ahab, who miraculously survived the sinking of The Pequod. 

The story might have made an exciting comic book, similar to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but in novel form it's only occasionally inspired. Steampunk fans will probably delight in the old-fashioned 19th Century prose and technical descriptions of ships, gadgets, and gizmos. Although Nemo and Ahab never really spring to life, the final third of the book picks up the pace and manages to achieve some genuine thrills. The book is being adapted into a movie.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel is filled with 19th-century flavor and moments of mock-Melvillian brilliance.

Undoubtedly it is a daunting challenge to take a larger-than-life character like Captain Ahab and make him subservient to any other plot than his own--the proof of which is that so few have even attempted it (in stark contrast to the innumerable movies, TV shows, and spin-offs that have popularly appropriated Captain Nemo). But my main complaint about the novel is that its Captain Ahab--murderous, vulgar, sometimes completely foolish, and whose first name is "John"--is not Melville's Captain Ahab, i.e., the Ahab that I know and love.

Now I will be the first to admit that in the matter of names, Moby-Dick presents the reader with something of a puzzle. In Melville's novel, we are explicitly told that Ahab's name was given to him by "a foolish, ignorant whim of his crazy, widowed mother" which implies (assuming the story is to be believed) that his first name was "Ahab." But the reader could be forgiven for thinking that Captain Ahab is known throughout the ship by his last name, as a sign of respect. I prefer to resolve the difficulty by supposing that Ahab has arrogantly adopted a regnal name, ala Napoleon or King James. But if we must reimagine his first name, then why "John?" Even the scriptwriter for the awful B-movie "2010: Moby Dick" had the sense to use "Jonah."

But that is easily overlooked. What is most embarrassing is that this Ahab sounds like a cross between Christopher Nolan's Batman and a pirate. (I refer to the audiobook here, but as the narrator is excellent, I am inclined to blame the source material. See, for instance, chapter 21, which features a monologue that is certainly--umm, inspired--but which is unimproved by reading it silently to oneself.) Moreover, this Ahab is quite out of character when he demands to be paid to hunt Moby Dick, and is then too stupid to realize that he is in fact up against a submarine.

It's almost a cliché among some people that Captain Ahab is one of the "most evil characters in all of literature." I find this judgment lazy. We are told from the beginning of Moby-Dick that Ahab "has his humanities." He never once flogs anyone. He threatens Starbuck with a gun, but immediately expresses regret, and later even tries to protect him. We see him bond with Pip. We learn about his wife and child. Ahab is deranged and reckless, but he is tragic and never petty. Being suicidal should not be confused with being murderous, even if we know (in retrospect) that the Pequod is bound to sink.

On the other hand, 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas opens with the Nautilus intentionally sinking a passenger ship and killing hundreds of innocent people. (Ironically, the newspapers blame it on Moby Dick.)

Nevertheless, The Great Eastern fashions a face-off between "two of literature's most iconic anti-heroes," and as Nemo continues his spree of killing, kidnapping, and vandalism--disrupting a transatlantic cable that of course can never deliver its promise of "perpetual peace and friendship" among the world's nations, but which nonetheless is not self-evidently evil--it only becomes reluctantly apparent that Ahab is supposed to be the bad one.

[Matthew Kerns · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've started to write this review five or six times, and every time have deleted it because it came across as more maudlin gushing than actual review. But you know what, some books deserve a good maudlin gushing.

This book is fabulous. The characters, the story, and especially the language. There were passages that were near Nabakovian, in the sense that you wanted to immediately reread a passage because of its prosaic beauty as much as its impact on the story. And what a story! The combination of one of the most fascinating real-life men of all time in engineer and ship-designer Isambard Kingdom Brunel with two giants of maritime literature in Melville's Ahab and Verne's Nemo is positively delightful—the kind of superstar crossover that only happens when Iron Man and Spider-Man appear in the same movie or David Bowie sits in with Queen. Here, the three heavyweights make for a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

Don't make the mistake of thinking this is simply a character study. The plot builds in a way that builds steam like the titular ship, speeding to the point where it seems unstoppable. It isn't just a good book, it is a particularly readable one. Not all great literature is fun to read, but Rodman takes a page along with a character from Misters Melville and Verne, gifting his readers with something that I found myself thinking of as Moby Dick or 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas for adults who read Moby Dick and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea as children.

I really can't strongly enough suggest that you read this book. You deserve a great read, don't you?

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mysterious seaman fakes the death of Isambard Kingdom Brunel without his cooperation, then kidnaps him and forces him to work on the seaman's submarine: the seaman is of course Captain Nemo, an Indian prince with a tragic past, who hates modernity and the British and determines to sever the undersea cable being laid between Ireland and North America. The cable company engages a disreputable whaler, Captain Ahab, to protect the cable laying operation. All sorts of atmospheric hi-jinks ensue. I was in two minds about this book. On the one hand, the writing is fantastic on a sentence level, the characters have fantastic individualized voices, the action is energetic, there is some real emotional depth to these three people who are cut off from everyone they loved, and everything rolls along in enormously entertaining fashion. On the other, the main antagonists never meet, everything gets resolved by luck, and as the book goes on there's an increasing sense that things happened just because they'd be cool. There's a lot to like here but in total it's a bit of a misfire.

[Ronald Koltnow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Howard A. Rodman is a charming man, and it is no surprise that he has written a charming book. Charming, that is to say, for a book that deals with death, violence, and imperialism. Rodman fills this steampunk adventure with history (real and imagined). The central conceit of Captains Ahab and Nemo chasing each other pales in comparison with the vast tragic scope of this novel. Both men are romantic characters, driven by vengeance and unable to escape their pasts. However, it seems less fantasy and more a comment on lost traditions and encroaching modernism. You will want to know more about the lives of the historical characters in the novel (and a bit more about the fictional ones). My one complaint: Ahab does not seem of a piece with Melville, but he fits the theme of the book as he stands.

[Barry Smolin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deep and delicious, The Great Eastern is Howard Rodman's plunge into classic storytelling with some postmodern panache, a commingling of history and several different fictions. As Captains Nemo and Ahab intersect with real events and people, Rodman employs kaleidoscopic shifts in narrative voice--rendered with pitch-perfect accuracy--to create a seamless intertextual and captivating story that is illuminating, moving, referential, reverential, meticulously researched, and imaginatively daring. Nothing more compelling than a bold artist allowing characters to be driven by their own separate destinies which brilliantly and catastrophically cross on the high seas. A grand adventure deftly told. Bravo!

[Peter Karlin · Rating 1 out of 5]

The fun concept of Captain Nemo vs Captain Ahab is sunk by perhaps the worst story choices I’ve read in ages. Insanely, most of the first half is about a ship builder. What??? A set piece where a crew held captive are rescued is…get this…skipped! No interest in writing something interesting I guess. The two leads don’t even get around to the cat and mouse stuff till the second half of the book. And then the promised battle between the leads is taken completely out of their hands by an act of nature. The final 15% of the book has nothing to do with the concept. And the true madness is this guy can write. He nails the 19th century style. All he had to do was focus on Nemo vs Ahab. A nightmare for his editor and us poor readers.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't usually read fan fiction, but my dad gave me this one so I gave it a shot. It's a mash-up of Moby Dick (which I have read but only vaguely remember) and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (which I know nothing about.) The story was a fun adventure tale on the high seas, and I liked the allusions to the themes and style of Moby Dick.

I would have liked the book far more had it ended soon after the climax. But the author couldn't resist going on for another 40 pages or so, with inane plot twists that were not only pointless but ruined the actual good ending he had written. I blame that one on his editor.

[Janet Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

How imaginative and magical and beautifully written is the wild ride with some of modern literary icons; Ahab and Nemo to cross paths with the brilliant 19th Century British engineer, Brunel (the man who brought rails, bridges and tunnels to Victorian England.)

Alive with period detail and a tale to make your head spin from the sheer giddy pleasure of a well told tale, The Great Eastern is a pleasure to read - it is also a great book to read aloud - such are the joys of Rodman's prose! Enjoy the journey.

[Stacey Woods · Rating 2 out of 5]

That was AN EFFORT!

The idea behind the book is really good - steampunk, Jules Verne, Herman Melville combined - but it is just so ponderously written.

What should be a really exciting story never lives up to its potential as there is an over-emphasis on making it seem like a classic novel with 19th Century language, when if the focus was on making it an honest-to-goodness adventure novel it would be very much better.

[Jay Gabler · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re the kind of steampunk who wears a striped tank suit and a monocle on vacation, this is the beach read for you. I reviewed The Great Eastern for The Tangential.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Take a character from two different historic books by two different authors, then mix in a real-life character from the 19th century, and you have one crazy good historical fiction read! I have to admit that the last few chapters lost me, but I loved this book. Once I figured out what was going on, it was just fantastical and exhilarating, and just plain fun!

[R.J. Southworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Combining alternate history with fictional crossovers, this is one of those books that really appeals to my personal tastes, particularly with regards to the subject matter. The plot is intriguing, and while it slows down a bit in the second half, never boring. I enjoyed the journalistic style of the prose and especially the narrative voice of Captain Ahab.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a steampunk alternate history of the Great Eastern, a massive ship built in the 1800s. The story pits Captain Nemo against Captain Ahab, and it's written in period language, which is certainly not for everyone, but I quite enjoyed it.

[Rob Murray · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was intrigued by this book, and wanted to like it, I really did. It is just too overwritten for me to appreciate, I suppose. I still can’t decide if this was an ode to turn-of-the century storytelling or a parody. Sigh. Not for me.

[Seth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rodman neglects character development, plot, and emotion in service of an intricate language pastiche of nineteenth century literature. Reading it is like watching someone complete a marathon on a unicycle: an impressive feat that becomes less interesting by the minute.

[Peter Aronson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two-and-a-half-starts, rounded up. The conceit of this book was wonderful, but the execution lacked, with one-dimensional characters and deliberately anti-climatic plotting. Meh.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely marvelous. Wonderful splicing of these tales. Some paragraphs just drop dead gorgeous. Rich with allegory and the “linguistic brio” one reviewer noted is quite apt.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cracking good yarn. Wildly synthesizes classic characters and retro styled action, to excellent effect.

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

started out great, powerful 19th century type writing but absolutely petered out at the end with Captain nemo scarcely even meeting Ahab, bah!

[Terry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Great concept and I wanted to like The Great Eastern, but I gave up halfway through. Could not connect.

[Izzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I made it to page 36 maybe... it just wasn't doing anything for me. Sat on it for a couple months thinking one day I'd pick it up again. Finally I did and I still couldn't do it.

[El_timonel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Очень необычная и сильная книга. Набрел на нее почти случайно (заинтересовали название, а потом и аннотация), но получил гораздо больше, чем рассчитывал. Я бы сказал, что это книга для тех, кто в подростковые годы зачитывался Жюлем Верном и Германом Мелвиллом. Мы вырастаем, и к сожалению, тогдашние литературные герои остаются где-то там, в нашей юности. Но благодаря Говарду Родмену они выросли и возмужали вместе с нами, и открылись с новой стороны.
Развернутая рецензия в моем блоге "Неведомая книга": https://liberincognitus.blogspot.com/...

[Arthur Sellers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Brobdinagian accomplishment! Howard Rodman has written a tome that absolutely embraces the style, tone, characters, details, rhythms and events of yesteryear. One is transported into the age of steam and great scientific promise: when men created empires and others sought to derail them. Slow down with this book, and enjoy the attention to detail and mood, appreciate the fires inside his versions of two of literature and history's great protagonists/antagonists, as each seeks to guide the course of future history.