Review of Ahab

[Itz Savaga]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Ahab" by Brad Huestis.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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In Ahab, Brad Huestis wrote about a young man, Willie Foley, who ditched playing hockey and joined the military for various reasons. Some of the reasons include the sense of fulfilment that came with it and the money and approval from his father, who was also a cop in Boston. His military life seemed to be moving pretty well till he had an accident during a training exercise. The paratroopers were getting trained on how to jump from a plane with a chute, but he had landed badly, and this led to his being admitted to the hospital with a broken leg. It started as just crushed bones that needed surgery till it was not.

An infection spread in the injured leg leaving the doctors with no choice but to amputate it from the knee in order to save his life. This opened a new chapter of life for Willie, who was barely twenty-one years of age. How did Willie go through this new and unpleasant phase of life?

I liked the narrative style of this book. It was written in the first-person perspective, and that made the story even more intriguing. The author's choice of words was a perfect match with the emotions he passed with this story. He also gave the perfect description of the game of hockey, which is a fundamental part of the story. His words on the army and how the injured or disabled were treated were really thought-provoking. Reading Ahab by Brad Huestis opened my mind to a lot of things, such as the unfair treatment meted out to disabled people, which includes stripping them of their job even when they have proven to be capable of handling the challenges it came with because they are missing a part of the body. Willie's life is quite a challenging one, and everyone has a thing or two to learn from his personality.

The technicality of the book, which comes from the fact that it's primarily about the game of hockey, will make it difficult for someone who knows literally nothing about the game to appreciate the full spectrum of the story. One would have to know about the game to a reasonable degree to be able to feel the emotions and connect with the characters completely. However, that does not mean one cannot enjoy other parts of the story regardless of one's limited knowledge of the sports; a complete appreciation of the story is what may be hampered. I think the author should have used simplified language to describe the game of hockey and its methods. I didn't like that at some point, it seemed like the story was just dragging on without purpose. There are some parts of the story that I believe the author could have omitted or made concise to keep the attention and interest of the reader. The profanities seemed unnecessary in certain instances, and that could have been cut down a notch.

I found just an error in Ahab by Brad Huestis, and that signified to me that it was edited professionally. I give it a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. It would have bagged the complete stars if the issues in the fourth paragraph were taken care of.

I recommend this book to lovers of the beautiful game of hockey and all lovers of fascinating fiction stories.

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Ahab
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[Michaeleedsy]

Things always go right until they end up going wrong. The author's style of writing is thought-provoking, and I'd love to read this book. Thanks for your honest review.