Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'ConnorRating: ✩✩✩✩✩
My favorite genre of book is "books about nothing, but somehow everything" and this debut novel fits that description perfectly.
A whale washes up on the shore of a sparsely populated Welsh Island. Some social researchers come to study and write about the island. Our protagonist, 18 year old Manod, works for the researchers, then they leave. That's it, that is the whole story. Except...
The story is really about coming of age in a small life and what happens when the big world encroaches on that space. Are the perceptions of the sheltered island residents, or the worldly researches, the truth? Are the ways the researchers bend the island life to suit their needs selfish, or a sign of the need for change? Is everything Manod needs here, or out in the world? What is the harm in outdated clothing and old fashioned ways when war is yet again on the horizon? The beautifully written (though sometimes disjointed, maybe just a pre-final-edits phenomena) prose quietly and descriptively asks all these questions of the reader and Manon. For a book that is not plot, or even really character driven, the narrative says so much between the lines.
The writing of time and place is breathtaking. O'Connor captures the island life perfectly. The reader, while privy to the historical context and what is happening elsewhere, experiences life on the island intimately. With the ever-looming whale carcass as a clever metaphor for the erosion of Manod's view of life on the island, without too much exposition, we all get to see Manod outgrow her life and yearn for more. If you want to be transported to a time and place far away, this book will sweep you right away.
For a short debut novel Whale Fall delivers the full literary experience.
Published on 7 March 2024 by Pantheon
Book #103 of 2023
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