355 reviews for:

Not Forgetting the Whale

John Ironmonger

3.88 AVERAGE

ansl's review against another edition

2.0

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Laatste delen snel-gelezen. Zegt genoeg. Ik begrijp niet waarom dit boek 4.01/5 krijgt. Personages zijn echt slecht geschreven.
Tussen Polly en Joe is er amper interactie, en toch "houden ze van elkaar". Zeer raar.
Plus, voorbereiding op een apocalyps: waarom geen zaden kopen, velden voorbereiden,...? Water en vuur!!! Wat als het nu niet oploste? Dan hadden ze toch dik in de problemen gezeten met hen snel-slinkend voedsel...

tovetott's review

4.25

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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To start off, I have to say that this was a very difficult book to read, emotionally, after living through the pandemic of 2020. The hauntingly similar fears and "chaos" of the COVID pandemic brought me right back into stress-mode, though it in reality never really got so bad that

food ran out or the power got cut

, of course.

Even so, the story was incredibly inspiring, and it gave me a new perspective on human nature and our instinct to draw together and help each other out in times of difficulty, and I really loved seeing the townspeople of St Piran grow closer and celebrate wins together. It was super heartwarming :( 🩷

I also really enjoyed the writing style and have made many notes of descriptions and lines that caught me off-guard with how beautifully constructed they were. The thrown in humor among the apocalyptic setting made for a great balance and I really had a great time, and will carry this book with me for a long time, me thinks. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic

hathsch's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

ju_dhiver's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

lutece's review against another edition

3.5

emotional inspiring lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

frankiesayreadbooks's review against another edition

3.75

reflective relaxing slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

helene_02's review against another edition

4.0

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

shit_she_reads's review against another edition

3.0

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Maybe I didn’t like this one as much as I normally would because we’re still in a pandemic, but I felt like the relationships between the characters lacked depth and resolution and I actually don’t know what to take from the novel. Still, the descriptions of the whale and the little village with its odd characters were beautiful.

annekh's review against another edition

4.0

hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

fini_hch's review against another edition

2.5

inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes