Whale Fall | 
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An atmospheric novel (similar to #campitsy24 pick Clear) about a community living on an island off the coast of Wales where a whale beaches itself one day.
Narrated by Manod, an 18 year old woman living with her father and sister, it describes island life and the slow disappearance of their culture as younger individuals leave for work on the mainland.
Set in the backdrop of pre-WW II this was a fairly quick and interesting read.
pickA solid debut, O'Connor writes beautifully and confronts issues with a delicate touch. Wonderfully crafted sentences and imagery give a tactile sense of place, and themes of duty to self vs family and community and the problematic nature of anthropological study and bias are deftly handled. The characters and emotional depth unfortunately don't reach the same standard, but it is still a worthy read and I'm excited to see what O'Connor writes next.
Quick trip out to Sturgis, South Dakota to visit my dad. Mitzi‘s Books in Rapid City is a nicely curated shop.
"The whale became stranded in the shallows of the island overnight, appearing from the water like a cat slinking under a door."
pickAs the drumbeats of an impending WWII are sounding, a way of life is gradually dying on a tiny Welsh island. A dead whale washes up there, a metaphor for island life, while English anthropologist types arrive to write about the people, only twisted in a way they find interesting. I liked but didn‘t love this.
I find myself reading two books with whale in the title and their story of washing up on shore happening in the background. Whale Fall has a very different writing style - spare, straightforward and clipped sentences. Where The Whalebone Theatre is very lyrical and descriptive. Whale Fall just arrived from@the library today. While its writing style is a big change from what I was reading I am interested in its story so far!
pickI liked this but, like @TrishB , I didn‘t love it as much as I thought I would.
Even before I started it, I felt like the premise was very similar to Audrey Magee‘s The Colony. Although some of the writing was beautiful, the story fell far short of Magee‘s book. For me, there was little tension in comparison and there were a few points where there was a disconnect in the story - even the whale itself didn‘t quite draw everything together.
pickBeautifully written, with a haunting MC and nasty posh, educated side characters.
Though there some very sad themes in the book I just didn‘t feel I connected emotionally with it and I wanted to love it.
I will try the authors future books though!
#quicklunchtimeread
First for a long time!
