Atticus Books, July 2011
John Jacobs is bored with his life. He's bored with his pretty but vacuous wife, bored with his job, and bored with himself. So when a DNA test comes back with proof that Jacobs is part Inuit, he makes the only logical decision available to him - he decides to join in his tribe's whale hunt.
John Minchillo's debut novel The Snow Whale has an excellent premise. After all, who among us has not at one time or another found ourselves disenchanted with our workaday lives. been convinced that we were destined for bigger things? And Jacobs, upon discovering his Inuit heritage, has these feelings confirmed:
"He was Eskimo. He sat there for a moment infront of his computer with his eyes closed, and his smile spread as he imagined an expanse of wild snow. There was a sense of serenity coupled with the nothing ness in his mind as the walls of the cubicle vanished from his awareness and he felt finally and for the first time, at home."
Upon receiving Jacobs' letter of introduction and intent to join the whale hunt, Inuit tribal leaders send a response deterring him, but Jacobs won't be dissuaded. With armloads of supplies purchased at his local REI and a black teenager named Q, who Jacobs brings along to film the experience, he sets out for Point Halcyon, a destination in the remote North of Alaska. There he meets Akmaaq, the ancient and deposed tribal chief, whose son calls him "a coconut." Having no one else who will hunt with him, Akmaaq agrees to take Jacobs and Q as his whaling crew out on the Chukchi Sea.
John Jacobs is bored with his life. He's bored with his pretty but vacuous wife, bored with his job, and bored with himself. So when a DNA test comes back with proof that Jacobs is part Inuit, he makes the only logical decision available to him - he decides to join in his tribe's whale hunt.
John Minchillo's debut novel The Snow Whale has an excellent premise. After all, who among us has not at one time or another found ourselves disenchanted with our workaday lives. been convinced that we were destined for bigger things? And Jacobs, upon discovering his Inuit heritage, has these feelings confirmed:
"He was Eskimo. He sat there for a moment infront of his computer with his eyes closed, and his smile spread as he imagined an expanse of wild snow. There was a sense of serenity coupled with the nothing ness in his mind as the walls of the cubicle vanished from his awareness and he felt finally and for the first time, at home."
Upon receiving Jacobs' letter of introduction and intent to join the whale hunt, Inuit tribal leaders send a response deterring him, but Jacobs won't be dissuaded. With armloads of supplies purchased at his local REI and a black teenager named Q, who Jacobs brings along to film the experience, he sets out for Point Halcyon, a destination in the remote North of Alaska. There he meets Akmaaq, the ancient and deposed tribal chief, whose son calls him "a coconut." Having no one else who will hunt with him, Akmaaq agrees to take Jacobs and Q as his whaling crew out on the Chukchi Sea.
The Snow Whale is humorous in parts with its tongue-in-cheek references to racial, cultural, and environmental issues. The white man who thinks he's an Eskimo, shedding the oppressive culture in which he was raised with the help of a black teenager and an ancient Inuit is ripe for racial riffs, as in this exchange with the bush pilot who brings Jacobs and Q to their final destination:
"Point Halcyon?" the kid said in the moments before he fired up the engine. He looked down at his clipboard. "There's nothing there. Are you a teacher or something? A missionary?"
"I'm Inuit," Jacobs said.
The kid scrutinized Jacobs and then looked at Q. "Him too?"
"No, he's American."
"I'm black," Q said.
"I thought you was whitey," the pilot said to Jacobs. "I don't like whitey. Nothing personal."
"None taken," Jacobs said. "I thought I was whitey myself."
"Point Halcyon?" the kid said in the moments before he fired up the engine. He looked down at his clipboard. "There's nothing there. Are you a teacher or something? A missionary?"
"I'm Inuit," Jacobs said.
The kid scrutinized Jacobs and then looked at Q. "Him too?"
"No, he's American."
"I'm black," Q said.
"I thought you was whitey," the pilot said to Jacobs. "I don't like whitey. Nothing personal."
"None taken," Jacobs said. "I thought I was whitey myself."
Interspersed amidst Jacobs' quest are chapters about his wife, who in Jacobs' absence is making her own attempts at self-knowledge. These luke-warm, diluted bits in which Jessica buys a bike and goes through with a half-hearted affair with a semi-drawn neighbor do little to further the narrative and could easily be skipped past en route to the actual encounter with the dreaded white whale, which happens to be the only really compelling bit of the book since Jacobs' initial claim to his Inuit heritage.
The Snow Whale - quick, entertaining quirky - falls somewhat short of the promise of its premsie, but will still appeal to lovers of Moby Dick for the its allusions to Melville's classic.
The Snow Whale - quick, entertaining quirky - falls somewhat short of the promise of its premsie, but will still appeal to lovers of Moby Dick for the its allusions to Melville's classic.
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
