Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus

43 reviews

seawarrior's review against another edition

4.0

Whalefall is a thrilling and tragic novel of a young man learning to let some of his anger toward his father wash away while attempting to survive insurmountable odds. I thought this story was well written, but the extremely brief chapters were sometimes jarring and made it difficult to feel drawn into the book until the terrifying journey inside the whale began. I appreciate Kraus' focus on scientific accuracy, which led an edge of realism to this tale. I would recommend this book to readers interested in body horror, and look forward to watching the upcoming feature film. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

majestictrilobite's review

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Suicide

orcamagicka's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

So fucking good. Shocked it has such a low rating on StoryGraph, but then again, most people probably aren’t as huge whale/marine bio nerds as I am haha. This book was pure poetry and I’d love to reread it in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Homophobia and Vomit

melted_books's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

5.0

Epic. I couldn't put this book down. The vivid detail, horrifying premise, and grief-stricken protagonist made this a very compelling read for me. For as long as I can remember, I've been afraid of large creatures lurking in the deep sea. This book tapped into that fear, and it totally worked for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

melitta's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Grief, and Death of parent

tasnim_2000's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

tasnim_2000's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer

eggplantia5's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Visceral, vivid imagery. I can understand why it got optioned to be a movie so quickly. Very fast read with emotional content. The concept draws you in, and you're waiting for the big event to happen and once it does, the tension ramps up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

abookwanderer's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus is a science fiction adventure thriller with a dash of horror all rolled into a deeply emotional story about a son’s complex feelings of grief for the death of his estranged father. And I didn’t want to put this one down, reading furiously to discover what would happen next!

Jay Gardiner has decided the only thing that will bring peace to his family is to recover the remains of his father off the coast of Monastery Beach in California, a location proclaimed by his father as the most dangerous beach in America, as well as being labeled ‘Mortuary Beach’ by locals and fellow divers due to its powerful rip current and steep drop-off. Jay will reluctantly use his father’s teachings to guide him, but can anything really prepare you to be swallowed by a whale?!

When I was invited to read Whalefall in June, I knew it sounded like one I would enjoy, but I’ve been trying to restrict the amount of early copies I read in order to read more off my existing shelves. BUT it was hard to resist this one, so I penciled it in to reconsider closer to the publishing date. Then I started seeing it everywhere and heard an adaptation had already been optioned. I knew I had to read it. I ended up reading it in one day, almost in one sitting, and it’s a great reminder to trust my gut about books.

We alternate between the past and present in this nerve-wracking novel, which works perfectly. We meet seventeen year old Jay as he’s preparing to dive at Monastery Beach, with cobbled together equipment, his father’s instructions intrusively running through his mind, and as he’s trying to make it into the water without being noticed. The chapters are mostly short and to the point, effectively ramping up the building tension, but we learn about Jay and his relationship with his father as Jay works through the steps he needs to take to get him safely under water to begin his search.

And everything that happens after that is astounding, but written with scientific facts that make it wholly believable. This one is being compared to The Martian and 127 Hours, and it’s spot-on. I couldn’t help being reminded of The Martianwhen I was reading this one with its lonely protagonist facing insurmountable odds, an inhospitable environment that seems determined to prove its strength, all backed with scientific facts, thankfully explained in layman terms.

But in Whalefall, the circumstances seem even more dire because Jay only has a limited amount of air, which means the bulk of the story taking place in the present day happens within a few hours.

Whalefall is a shocking, terrifying undersea adventure. If you’re fascinated with the ocean or man versus nature or the complex relationship between children and parents, you’ll find something that will capture you in Whalefall.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you to MTV Books and Netgalley for providing me with an advance copy.

Check out my reviews and playlists at A Book Wanderer

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Gore

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism

sarahweyand's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

 Thanks to Atria and NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and feedback are my own. 

This is a book with a totally unique concept that I've been excited to read ever since I was approved for it on NetGalley. It's one of the few books I'll say I really liked but will absolutely never read again. I even hesitate to call it horror apart from its setting, which is absolutely nasty and stomach churning (no pun intended). This book is existential, reflective, emotional and sad, and very hard-hitting. It examines a heartbreaking father-son relationship amidst a devastating survival story, and it does so very well.

I loved the metaphors and the role Jay's father plays in being a medium for conversation. Seriously, most of this book is so good. The only downside I have is due to the slight feeling of plot convenience with some of the things going on within the whale's stomach, but it wasn't anything book-ruining for me. 

Overall, I read that I would certainly recommend, if you can come to terms with the nauseating setting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, and Gore

Moderate: Alcoholism and Death of parent

Minor: Terminal illness and Pandemic/Epidemic