Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Walker Books Ltd (2018)
Description
Young Adult Fiction. Young Adult Literature. HTML:From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Monster Calls comes a richly illustrated and lyrical tale, one that asks harrowing questions about power, loyalty, obsession, and the monsters we make of others. With harpoons strapped to their backs, the proud whales of Bathsheba's pod live for the hunt, fighting in the ongoing war against the world of men. When they attack a ship bobbing on the surface of the Abyss, they expect to find easy prey. Instead, they find the trail of a myth, a monster, perhaps the devil himself... As their relentless Captain leads the chase, they embark on a final, vengeful hunt, one that will forever change the worlds of both whales and men. With the lush, atmospheric art of Rovina Cai woven in throughout, this remarkable work by Patrick Ness turns the familiar tale of Moby Dick upside down and tells a story all its own with epic triumph and devastating fate.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member mamzel
Ness' book is highly imaginative and a wonderful reimagining of the Moby Dick story from the whale's point of view.
LibraryThing member chrisblocker
Apparently this Patrick Ness guy is pretty big amongst readers of Young Adult books. This is the first time I've read any of his work. Ness, in an obvious attempt to hook me as a reader, decided to put a finely illustrated whale on the cover. Seriously, every well drawn whale cover ends up on my
If you haven't already heard, And the Ocean Was Our Sky is Moby Dick turned upside down. (Literally, as kids today might say.) Told by the whales, we quickly learn that the whales perceive their ocean as being above the sky, and they descend to reach the surface where the human ships are. Cool idea. I like it. Then it gets a tad hokey...
The whales, believers of prophecy, sail in ships of their own construction. They hunt humans, using “their bones for tallow and soaps, their skin for sails, their meat … as bait for the vast shoals of prey...” They speak to one another and can, if taught, speak to humans in proper English. So basically the whales are human, the humans are human, up is down and down is up. Make sense? But you can breath a sigh of relief, because there isn't a whale in this book named Moby Dick. So who do the whales hunt? The illusive human with “a rump like he know nil,*” Toby Wick. Yes, Toby Wick, ladies and gentlemen. See what I'm saying, it's kind of hokey.
What saves And the Ocean Was Our Sky is a good overall concept, brevity, and the wonderful illustrations of Rovina Cai. They're simple drawings, but they work well to convey the mood of the piece. If only Ness had made more subtle allusions to Moby Dick and kept the whales whales, I probably would've loved this novel. After all, there's so much great writing in this morality about our eagerness to build devils. (Also, the author refrained from placing the whales in little sailor uniforms, so kudos for that.)
*Not an actual quote from this novel, but I couldn't refrain from including it.
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to-read pile. I'm a sucker for blubber. Here I must apologize to the other whale books on my to-read list that have been there far longer than And the Ocean Was Our Sky. (I'll get around to you all soon.)If you haven't already heard, And the Ocean Was Our Sky is Moby Dick turned upside down. (Literally, as kids today might say.) Told by the whales, we quickly learn that the whales perceive their ocean as being above the sky, and they descend to reach the surface where the human ships are. Cool idea. I like it. Then it gets a tad hokey...
The whales, believers of prophecy, sail in ships of their own construction. They hunt humans, using “their bones for tallow and soaps, their skin for sails, their meat … as bait for the vast shoals of prey...” They speak to one another and can, if taught, speak to humans in proper English. So basically the whales are human, the humans are human, up is down and down is up. Make sense? But you can breath a sigh of relief, because there isn't a whale in this book named Moby Dick. So who do the whales hunt? The illusive human with “a rump like he know nil,*” Toby Wick. Yes, Toby Wick, ladies and gentlemen. See what I'm saying, it's kind of hokey.
What saves And the Ocean Was Our Sky is a good overall concept, brevity, and the wonderful illustrations of Rovina Cai. They're simple drawings, but they work well to convey the mood of the piece. If only Ness had made more subtle allusions to Moby Dick and kept the whales whales, I probably would've loved this novel. After all, there's so much great writing in this morality about our eagerness to build devils. (Also, the author refrained from placing the whales in little sailor uniforms, so kudos for that.)
*Not an actual quote from this novel, but I couldn't refrain from including it.
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LibraryThing member BillieBook
This was beautiful and heartbreaking and mythic.
LibraryThing member muddyboy
Some will say this book is magical. Not me. The story is about a pod of whales with a culture much like humans. They hunt us the way we hunt them. The sky is their abyss the way the deep sea is for humans an abyss. The dialogue is very confusing and there is very little plot other than them trying
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to find and kill the ethereal villain Toby Wick. (Make sense?) There is also artwork which is very amateurish and adds little to the book. I never say this is my reviews don't but don't waste your time with this one. Show Less
LibraryThing member infjsarah
I started to listen to this as an audiobook but soon decided I wanted to read it instead. Glad I did. The illustrations add to the story. It's a short book - only took me about 90 mins to read. But as usual Ness has something to say about humanity through fantasy. Here it is our unfortunate ability
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to "other" and thus dehumanise and so become able to harm and kill because "they" are not like us. I remain a fan of Mr Ness. Show Less
LibraryThing member Pepperwings
An unusual, whimsical, somewhat dark tale. This seemed to be a similar story to Moby Dick, but the whales are the hunters, and they have a culture of revenge, it seems. It's a very interesting take on another unknown culture, and a little sad that there is so much killing that it leads to pods out
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for revenge. I felt like the way it was told wasn't really for me, but I do like the premise. Show Less
LibraryThing member villemezbrown
This fantasy inversion of Moby-Dick is just too bizarre and too poorly thought out for me.
Whales are intelligent enough to build their own underwater ships, cities, and weapons. They carry and fire harpoon guns as they hunt humans in their ongoing war against whalers. They create chemical
To show their rejection of humanity, they have also inverted the world, swimming upside down (!) so they are looking up into a sky capped by the ocean floor and looking down into the endless abyss of air gaping beneath the water's surface. This conceit is so dumb it totally threw me out of the book. It doesn't help that the author doesn't quite seem to have a grasp on the concept himself, inconsistent and stumbling in his word choices when trying to sell this flipped perspective.
The tale is mostly Moby-Dick, with the young whale apprentice drawn along by her captain who is obsessed with hunting the legendary human with the white-hulled vessel, Toby Wick. There is much fretting about prophecies and destiny. There's some Lima Syndrome with a human captive being interrogated for information. And there is an ending so out of nowhere as to leave me regretting even the little time it took to read this book.
Whales are intelligent enough to build their own underwater ships, cities, and weapons. They carry and fire harpoon guns as they hunt humans in their ongoing war against whalers. They create chemical
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processes that allow them to extend their oxygen supply internally and project it externally. And they do this all without hands.To show their rejection of humanity, they have also inverted the world, swimming upside down (!) so they are looking up into a sky capped by the ocean floor and looking down into the endless abyss of air gaping beneath the water's surface. This conceit is so dumb it totally threw me out of the book. It doesn't help that the author doesn't quite seem to have a grasp on the concept himself, inconsistent and stumbling in his word choices when trying to sell this flipped perspective.
The tale is mostly Moby-Dick, with the young whale apprentice drawn along by her captain who is obsessed with hunting the legendary human with the white-hulled vessel, Toby Wick. There is much fretting about prophecies and destiny. There's some Lima Syndrome with a human captive being interrogated for information. And there is an ending so out of nowhere as to leave me regretting even the little time it took to read this book.
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LibraryThing member widdersyns
A wonderful concept. I didn't enjoy it as much as other Patrick Ness books, but it's just so very different from anything else he's written that it's hard to compare. Beautiful art as well.
LibraryThing member Ken-Me-Old-Mate
I wish there were more books like this and as I read it I realised that it was books like this that got me reading.
I do a lot of 5 star reviews but that is simply because I no longer plod through mediocre writing, imagination, characterisation or plots. There is not enough time left in my life to
I read this in one go on my ipad. I've never read any book on an ipad before much preferring the kindle for distraction free reading But this book has some illustrations, yes, illustrations and no, it is not a graphic novel.
I could say it is parody of Moby Dick, but that sounds too harsh so lets rephrase that as Moby Dick meets Haruki Murakami in a mirror while he is asleep and this is what he dreams.
Moby Dick the whale being hunted my men becomes Toby Wick the man being hunted by whales.
I was completely taken in the very beginning when it starts with these words:
"Call me Bathsheba" ...... and so the narrative begins.
I really liked how our two worlds meet at the surface of the ocean and they must go up to the surface just as we must go down to the surface and our world exists on one side of the surface so their exists bon the other side of the surface.
This mirroring extends to the myths of Moby Dick above and Toby Wick below. As we see the white top of Moby Dick so they see the white hull of Toby Wick.
Both sights induce terror and myth.
Reading this book was like being read a wonderful fairy tale full adventure, sadness, destiny and of course fate.
I do a lot of 5 star reviews but that is simply because I no longer plod through mediocre writing, imagination, characterisation or plots. There is not enough time left in my life to
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waste it on ho-hum stuff, irrespective of the authors status or reputation. So if a book doesn't get me I delete it. Not this one though.....I read this in one go on my ipad. I've never read any book on an ipad before much preferring the kindle for distraction free reading But this book has some illustrations, yes, illustrations and no, it is not a graphic novel.
I could say it is parody of Moby Dick, but that sounds too harsh so lets rephrase that as Moby Dick meets Haruki Murakami in a mirror while he is asleep and this is what he dreams.
Moby Dick the whale being hunted my men becomes Toby Wick the man being hunted by whales.
I was completely taken in the very beginning when it starts with these words:
"Call me Bathsheba" ...... and so the narrative begins.
I really liked how our two worlds meet at the surface of the ocean and they must go up to the surface just as we must go down to the surface and our world exists on one side of the surface so their exists bon the other side of the surface.
This mirroring extends to the myths of Moby Dick above and Toby Wick below. As we see the white top of Moby Dick so they see the white hull of Toby Wick.
Both sights induce terror and myth.
Reading this book was like being read a wonderful fairy tale full adventure, sadness, destiny and of course fate.
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LibraryThing member DrFuriosa
This is a fascinating inversion of Moby-Dick. The art is beautifully rendered as part of the story. It is a short read, which is both good and bad. Moby-Dick is itself a slow burn, and the story takes awhile to really get going, but that slow burn crescendoes into an unforgettable denouement. Here,
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a short book does not get to *breathe* in the same way, so the end feels a bit rushed. But it's a good book, nonetheless. You don't need to read Moby-Dick to get this novel, but your understanding will be greatly enriched if you do. Show Less
LibraryThing member jennybeast
Gorgeous illustrations. A fascinating re-imagining of Moby Dick. And that's where I get stuck. I have residual Moby Dick angst that makes it hard to engage with a story so tied to original. Also, it's a very weird story (why underwater boats? Why not? How would the whales even wield the harpoons?),
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philosophical to point of preachy, violent and strange, strange, strange. So of course I think it's brilliant, but I'm not sure if I liked it. Ya, literary fiction, what a zoo. Show Less
LibraryThing member krau0098
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone novella that I borrowed on audiobook from the library.
Thoughts: I enjoyed this strange retelling of Moby Dick. It tells the story of Bethesda, an apprentice in a pod of hunters. Bethesda's captain is determined to hunt down and defeat the mythical Toby Wick
It was a fun reversal of roles and I liked how the human world was "The Abyss" to the whales. This was a quick and fun listen. I listened to it on audiobook and enjoyed the narration and pacing.
It is supposed to deliver a message about what makes someone a monster. The message is there but I more enjoyed the strange way this story turned Moby Dick on its head. I enjoyed the thoughtful character of Bethesda and the look into her world in the ocean depths. This was a perfect book for listening to while I did other things around the house.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this. This is a quick read and a fun sort of role reversal re-telling of Moby Dick. I enjoyed listening to this on audiobook while I did chores around the house. Would recommend this if you are looking for an intriguing Moby Dick retelling that is a quick read and well done.
Thoughts: I enjoyed this strange retelling of Moby Dick. It tells the story of Bethesda, an apprentice in a pod of hunters. Bethesda's captain is determined to hunt down and defeat the mythical Toby Wick
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(who is a human).It was a fun reversal of roles and I liked how the human world was "The Abyss" to the whales. This was a quick and fun listen. I listened to it on audiobook and enjoyed the narration and pacing.
It is supposed to deliver a message about what makes someone a monster. The message is there but I more enjoyed the strange way this story turned Moby Dick on its head. I enjoyed the thoughtful character of Bethesda and the look into her world in the ocean depths. This was a perfect book for listening to while I did other things around the house.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this. This is a quick read and a fun sort of role reversal re-telling of Moby Dick. I enjoyed listening to this on audiobook while I did chores around the house. Would recommend this if you are looking for an intriguing Moby Dick retelling that is a quick read and well done.
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LibraryThing member RandyMorgan
The whales of Bathsheba track and hunt human ships. This most recent attack provided leads to track the man, the myth, the monster, and possibly the devil himself. This expedition will forever change the relationship between man and whales.
And the Ocean Was Our Sky is a reverse retelling of Moby
And the Ocean Was Our Sky is a reverse retelling of Moby
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Dick, where the whales hunt humans. Patrick Ness illuminates that war is not a monolith. The audiobook is captivating allowing for the reader to be ignorant to the fact that the book was originally a graphic novel. Show Less
Awards
Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing (Nominee — 2020)
Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration (Nominee — 2020)
CCBC Choices (2019)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2018
Physical description
7.09 inches
ISBN
1406383562 / 9781406383560