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255 reviews for:
Beneath the Surface: Killer Whales, Seaworld, and the Truth Beyond Blackfish
Howard Chua-Eoan, John Hargrove
4.21 AVERAGE
255 reviews for:
Beneath the Surface: Killer Whales, Seaworld, and the Truth Beyond Blackfish
Howard Chua-Eoan, John Hargrove
4.21 AVERAGE
This was such an incredible testament from one of the most experienced Orca trainers at SeaWorld. John Hargrove describes his professional journey, rising through the ranks of SeaWorld's Killer Whale trainers, as well as the emotional journey of caring for the Orcas and ultimately, choosing to leave them and speak out against SeaWorld's poor care of the animals.
The book is a heart-wrenching, first person account of Seaworld's treatment of the Killer Whales and their trainers that draws upon research of Orcas in the wild for comparison. The described interactions with Seaworld's Orcas are thrilling, insightful and, at times, tragic.
Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and I'm fascinated by the complexity of Orcas. I will definitely be doing further research and, in the meantime, I have pledged to never visit SeaWorld or attend any shows featuring the exploitation of animals.
The book is a heart-wrenching, first person account of Seaworld's treatment of the Killer Whales and their trainers that draws upon research of Orcas in the wild for comparison. The described interactions with Seaworld's Orcas are thrilling, insightful and, at times, tragic.
Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and I'm fascinated by the complexity of Orcas. I will definitely be doing further research and, in the meantime, I have pledged to never visit SeaWorld or attend any shows featuring the exploitation of animals.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
John was able to connect me with the whales and I was truly invested in their plight. I cried multiple times throughout the book it only for the whales but also for the trainers. While the trainers love the whales so much the corporation continually blames them for things out of their control or straight out lies about how certain situations occurred. I'm glad that I read this after seeing Blackfish as it helped give more detail to what it's truly like for trainer and whale.
The author’s writing style is absolutely awful and completely obscured the issue of animal cruelty he’s trying to denounce.
The book felt like it was coming at me in a torrent of monologue by a six year old who couldn’t concentrate. It was filled with tedious details about the author that were irrelevant to the issues at SeaWorld. His theories and intuitions were painfully repetitive and wholly unsupported. Virtually every aspect of his stories felt overly dramatized to the point of ludicrousness mixed with histrionics.
There must be better books on the subject because I can’t see how any others could possibly be worse.
The book felt like it was coming at me in a torrent of monologue by a six year old who couldn’t concentrate. It was filled with tedious details about the author that were irrelevant to the issues at SeaWorld. His theories and intuitions were painfully repetitive and wholly unsupported. Virtually every aspect of his stories felt overly dramatized to the point of ludicrousness mixed with histrionics.
There must be better books on the subject because I can’t see how any others could possibly be worse.
Lately I've been obsessed with reading anything about killer whales in captivity. I liked hearing things from a trainer's perspective. I thought it was a good companion to the Blackfish documentary. Not as thorough as Death at Sea World, but probably a better first book for people just getting interested in the topic.
An interesting book despite itself. Not well written and repetitive, it can sometimes be a bit frustrating to read, but the unique experiences the author has make it worthwhile. He’s a bit arrogant and full of himself, but I actually believe he cares about the whales themselves and he can be honest about his mistakes and naïveté.
This review will no doubt be extremely biased. As a vegetarian, zoo avoider and Blackfish viewer, whether or not I would like this book was an absolute no brainer. One thing to note however is that as a child I have visited Sea world Orlando more than once and I have been to the Shamu station and seen the orca show. I remember enjoying it but asking my parents lots of questions about the whales and being confused when the facts Sea world gave were different from those I'd read or seen in nature docs ( I loved reading animal encyclopedias as a child ). But the main reason I like Sea world was for the roller coasters!
Anyways back to the book...
As I mentioned I've seen Blackfish so I sort of knew what to expect from this book. I found Blackfish very emotional and hard to watch at times and it reduced me to tears. It made me feel angry that I'd been to Sea world all those years ago.
Beneath the Surface is different though you go through all different emotional stages through the book. John is so excited to become a trainer and you share the journey with him. It is very well written and you can sense shifts in the tone. But what never changes is John's love for the whales and his passion for looking after them to the best of his ability. He is very brave to come out with his story but should be happy because he's given these whales a voice.
One thing I never realised was how much a trainees body is pushed in this professional, things ike chlorine burns and sinus trouble were things I never thought about, quite stupid of me really.
I could go on for days about this book and all the things Seaworld does which upset me, but maybe you should make your own opinions and read the book.
Anyways back to the book...
As I mentioned I've seen Blackfish so I sort of knew what to expect from this book. I found Blackfish very emotional and hard to watch at times and it reduced me to tears. It made me feel angry that I'd been to Sea world all those years ago.
Beneath the Surface is different though you go through all different emotional stages through the book. John is so excited to become a trainer and you share the journey with him. It is very well written and you can sense shifts in the tone. But what never changes is John's love for the whales and his passion for looking after them to the best of his ability. He is very brave to come out with his story but should be happy because he's given these whales a voice.
One thing I never realised was how much a trainees body is pushed in this professional, things ike chlorine burns and sinus trouble were things I never thought about, quite stupid of me really.
I could go on for days about this book and all the things Seaworld does which upset me, but maybe you should make your own opinions and read the book.
emotional
hopeful
informative
sad
medium-paced
A most read
Seriously everyone needs to read this book. It is a fantastically written look into how Sea World operates. Hargrovs's love of the whales is evident through out this book and you can feel how difficult it was for him to realize that Sea World don't have the whales best interest at heart.
Seriously everyone needs to read this book. It is a fantastically written look into how Sea World operates. Hargrovs's love of the whales is evident through out this book and you can feel how difficult it was for him to realize that Sea World don't have the whales best interest at heart.
informative
slow-paced