‘La guardia de Jonás: Una historia real de fantasmas contada en forma de novela’ es un libro marcado por la experiencia vital de su autor, Jack Cady. En su juventud, Jack Cady trabajó como guarda costero, y, como él mismo comenta, en su mente siempre se mantuvo la idea de plasmar sus vivencias en una novela, algo que tardó más de veinte años en lograr.La historia, ambientada poco después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, narra las experiencias de un grupo de marineros que sirven en la lancha Adrian, cuya misión consiste en rescatar todo tipo de barcos que se encuentren en problemas frente a las costas del estado de Maine. A lo largo de la narración, se nos van presentando los personajes de la novela, tanto su nombre y el cargo que desempeñan en el barco, como su carácter, con lo que logramos situarnos perfectamente como lectores además de sentirlos como personas reales. La novela describe a la perfección todo el ambiente marinero, así como las fuerzas de la naturaleza, el mar, las tormentas, el fuego, el hielo, peligros todos ellos a los que ha de hacer frente la tripulación sin importar el miedo que se pueda sentir. El elemento sobrenatural también está presente, en forma del fantasma de un antiguo miembro de la tripulación, aunque hay que remarcar que, siendo importante, no es el tema principal de la historia. Igualmente reseñable es el estado de ánimo de la tripulación ante la creencia de un Jonás a bordo, es decir, una persona que atrae la mala suerte, lo que provoca toda serie de problemas con el resto de compañeros.Jack Cady logra con su prosa, de elaborado estilo, transportarnos a bordo de la Adrian, en una novela que no es fácil de leer, debido al vocabulario marinero (se echa de menos un apéndice, ya que las notas a pie de página se hacen insuficientes) y de una estructura en la que hay que estar muy atento. ‘La guardia de Jonás’ es sin duda una gran novela, que nos hace recordar a clásicos de otras épocas, como Melville, Conrad y Hodgson.
Presented to the reader like a ghost story at sea, The Jonah Watch is supposedly based on Jack Cady's experiences aboard a Coast Guard cutter off Maine. We all know sailors talk about seeing some strange things, from huge squid to phantom foxfire ships, and we tend to imagine these stories brimming with barnacled grandeur. And who can find fault in this, the ocean is full of romance and horror, and stories set upon the seemingly bottomless sea feel full of mysterious promise. Unfortunately, our expectations of what these stories should be, and what these stories are, don't often measure up. And this was my experience with Jack Cady's novel.The story is kind of cool; some sailors see some pretty strange and frightening things. But Cady's writing falls flat, and this novel is anything but reader-friendly. The narrative is crammed full of description, some quite beautifully written, but the story as a whole lacks action, in the verb-based sense of narrative structure. Awkward metaphors and imbalanced similes result in a tedious reading experience. This is an example of a good story idea that was poorly written. None of the characters felt alive on the page, I didn't care if anything bad happened to any of them, and by the end, I was just happy to be finished.Sean Runnette narrates the audiobook. At first I was not thrilled with his delivery, but in time, I came to genuinely appreciate Runnette's reading style.Perhaps this is an example of my expectations getting in the way, but I feel this story fell short of its potential. This book has a very strong 1960s SF vibe, it's not SF by any means, but it certainly shares some narrative sense of kin.
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Como con "Gótica", "Insomnia" comparte la edición en tapa dura, esta vez con sobrecubierta, cuya ilustración para cada tomo correrá a cargo de renombrados artistas; el diseño es realmente atractivo, con un tamaño algo más manejable que el de "Gótica". El concepto es tremendamente ambicioso: José Maria Nebreda nos habla de ello en la presentación al primer tomo. La intención es traer al lector español un cierto tipo de novelas que por las modas del momento han quedado injustamente arrinconadas; las de terror puro, de autores “nuevos”, actuales. Y es que, como bien dice, lo que nos llega es sobre todo literatura fantástica o de ciencia ficción, y mucha novela negra. Hacía mucha falta una colección que apostara por este campo, y creo que "Insomnia" va a ser un gran éxito... sobre todo cuando leo, en esta presentación, que se buscará sacudir los cimientos del género y recurrir a lo transgresor, a superar las fronteras que tradicionalmente lo acotan. Al fin y al cabo, ¿no se basa precisamente el terror en sacudirnos bruscamente de nuestros marcos de referencia? ¿Qué mejor premisa para una colección terrorífica?Sigue leyendo: http://www.laespadaenlatinta.com/2014/01/resena-guardia-jonas-valdemar-insomnia-jack-cady.html
—La Espada en la Tinta
Not so much a ghost story as the story of a group of superstitious, over-whelmed seamen that happens to have some ghosts in it. The real adversaries here are the cruel sea aided by vicious winter conditions, followed by mens' incompetencies and the irrational fears that spread through the crew like a disease. I identified very easily with the character Brace, the mis-fit rookie who just wants to be accepted as "competent" by his ship-mates.I loved reading this book and enjoyed the author's almost poetic writing style, however on occasion I found it made it hard for me to actually understand what was happening. I also think the author assumed a greater familiarity of sailing terminology and crew ranks than I had, at times I almost wished there was a glossary at the back of the book I could refer to.Very glad to read it and I look forward to reading more of Jack Cady's books in the future.
—David
I received a free copy of this book from Edelweiss.This book was originally published back in 1981, and it is one of the author’s best-known novels.It has an interesting premise: a ghost story on a ship, based on a true story. It’s supposedly based on real events that happened to the author while he was with the Coast Guard, and since it was released just in time for Halloween, the gnomes assumed this would be a very scary book.Unfortunately, it’s not scary at all. The ghost takes a while to show up. Before the ghost makes an appearance, the book focuses on the everyday lives of the men on board the ship. One man, a new sailor named Brace, spills green paint inside the ship, and spends a couple of chapters cleaning it up. Not the most thrilling stuff.The prose is wordy, often to the point of being difficult to follow. Sentences are peppered with sailing terminology, but no glossary is provided. The gnomes didn’t finish the book because of these issues.History lovers and sailors will love this book, but anyone who is looking for a good scare should look elsewhere.Rating: One Gnome out of FiveThis review originally appeared on gnomereviews.ca.
—Jennifer Mitchell
