Reviews

The Dolphin People by Torsten Krol

msdebruin's review against another edition

1.0

I read this book forever ago. But I still remember it SO CLEARLY. Because DAMN for me this was hardcore horror and I expected a calm survival story.
(The cover and back reminded me of scheepsjongen by John Boyne. I expected something similar. IT WAS NOT)

Sorry. Maybe this is harsh but the mind and imagination of the writer is f****** messed up.

I think I was around 14 years old when I read this. I wasn't ready and now at 26 years old I am still not ready and I think I will never ever be ready for this.

el_nation's review against another edition

4.0

Before I started reading The Dolphin People, someone told me it was the adult version of Lord of the Flies, and I'd have to agree. It's about a German family who crash lands in the middle of the Amazon and finds themselves taken in by an Amazonian tribe. It's told in the first person perspective of the oldest son and is takes place post World War 2. Straightaway you know there's going to be major conflicts in culture and customs and the author leaves you with enough foreshadowing that you basically know what's going to happen. What really keeps you reading throughout the story is finding out exactly when and how these things will happen.

I don't want to write much more about the story for fear of giving too much away. I will note that it's definitely an exciting read and a good twist on an adventure book. Once you get started, its hard to put down and ends up being pretty quick. There's a lot of pretty heavy issues that it deals with, like culture, racism, sexuality, drugs, religion . . . you name it, its probably in there. Its not enough to really evoke a lot of personal reflection, but definitely enough give you a bit of a shock. I would warn anyone that is squeamish against this book, but I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who's looking for something a little different.

greenloudkazoo's review

dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

girlygirlbookworm's review against another edition

1.0

Can I please stop reading bad books his year? This book was soooo weird. I bought it in a bargain bin and I'm very glad that I didn't spend full price on it. Everyone on here raves about this book and I really don't understand why. This book was well written but the story line was so disgusting and disturbing. I'm really surprised that this book did not give me nightmares. Reading the synopsis makes it sound like oh this is a good plot. It started off as a good plot but once you really started to get into it it got soooo weird and messed up. I understand it was written in a time period were this could have happened with Nazi's and indigenous secluded Indians but I feel like the author took it too far. It reminded me a little bit of The Lord of the Flies. So if you liked that book you probably would like this book. In high school I did not like the Lord of the Flies and I do not like this book. I started this book originally last summer and got 20 pages into it before I just gave it up. This time I had nothing else to read so I decided to pick it up and now I wish I didn't. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone especially if you are under the age of 18. There is a lot of description of murder, nakedness, blood and many other really nasty things. There is so much more that I could say but that would spoil the book and I wouldn't want to do that to people who really want to read this book.

book1jenn's review

4.0

A very crazy book. But it was a good read. It is unlike anything I have read before. It is about a family after a plane crash ends up living in this small village of people who live in the rainforest. The rainforest people believe that this family were dolphins who changed into people. The family keeps this misconception going in order to ensure their safety...