by Daniel Quinn

isbn: 0553375407
subject: Fiction and Literature
finished: Summer 1997

The subtitle on my copy reads "a novel by Daniel Quinn." Don't be fooled; Ishmael is an essay, not a novel. The frame story has barely enough plot for a short story; this is not necessarily a bad thing, but be forewarned. The thesis of the essay is that we're on the brink of an ecological disaster because mankind treats the world as if it belongs to us alone. This point is not well supported, but I found that easy to overlook because I agree with enough of the rest of the book. I like Quinn's treatment of the importance of narrative in society; each culture is living out its own story, and is unable to comprehend cultures driven by other stories.