Call Me Ishmaelle

An astonishingly ambitious undertaking … you’re in the hands of a genuine storyteller * New York Times Book Review *‘A brilliantly written reordering of Moby-Dick, ambitious, brave, and strange, from the imagination of this natural-born storyteller. There’s a cinematic, global sweep to its motion, and an unbridled energy and poetry to its dramatic words’ * Philip Hoare *Guo has gender-flipped this intimidating text with bravura and style… Call Me Ishmaelle takes us on a courageous journey: it’s no aping of a classic, rather a vision of a young woman sailing out to discover not a whale but her own self. And in that, it happily succeeds * Daily Telegraph *Well worth your time … By adding in new characters while adhering to the original story, the author creates something new, strange and thrilling * Los Angeles Times *A clever and original skewering of a classic * i *‘It’s a propulsive, powerhouse of a read that doesn’t just stand on its own literary feet, it does so with such skill and verve that it might – just might – have you turning to its source material in a new light.’ * Marie Claire *Guo gives renewed forms of life to Melville’s immense novel… [and] genuine innovation… Ishmaelle has her own story to tell, and a changing audience will want to listen * Times Literary Supplement *Guo’s narrative style is full of energy and Call Me Ishmaelle deftly incorporates philosophical questions about our relationship with nature and gender-dysphoria into the plot, constantly tugging at the heartstrings * New Statesman *‘Call Me Ishmaelle is a glorious female-led retelling of a classic, combining seafaring adventure with beautifully immersive prose. Exploring gender identity, race and our relationship to the natural world, Xiaolu Guo reinvigorates Herman Melville’s story while staying true to its heart.’ * Carmella Lowkis, author of Spitting Gold *‘From the bones of Melville’s Great White Whale, Xiaolu Guo has fashioned a novel as wonderful captivating and sea-soaked, that’s seems both timeless and very much of today.’ * Travis Elborough, author of Atlas of Forgotten Places *

Xiaolu Guo was born in China. She published six books before moving to Britain in 2002. Her books include- Village of Stone, shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize; A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, shortlisted for the Orange Prize; and I Am China. Her recent memoir, Once Upon a Time in the East, won the National Book Critics Circle Award, was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award and the Rathbones Folio Prize 2018. It was a Sunday Times Book of the Year. Her most recent novel A Lover’s Discourse was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize 2020. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a visiting professor at the Free University in Berlin.

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