I'm frankly surprised that I finished this book. I never finished Moby Dick because of one passage that described the floating carcasses of whales. The North Water is, in parts, far more gruesome. And yet, I couldn't stop reading.

The deaths of seals, whales, sharks, polar bears and human being are described in graphic detail. But these various and clearly described deaths never overwhelmed me. What was overwhelming were the reactions—both animal and human—to those deaths.

This is how the book drew me in. Human beings in the most adverse conditions imaginable, surrounded by death, dealing out death. Somehow, in the middle of the carnage, the characters retain their humanity. And some of them don't.

I realized that these exquisite descriptions of horrific deaths are essential. Without them, there would be no central mystery to this novel. There would be no way to explore the line between retaining your humanity and losing it.

Maybe I'll go back and reread Moby Dick.