A review by morethanmylupus
Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'Connor

3.0

If I could go back, I'd approach this book as more of a slow commentary on the way outsiders can influence a society in subtle and less of a story with a clear and dramatic outcome of these outsiders. I kept waiting for some big things to occur and nothing ever did, but the beauty of the book was in the small, insidious ways that the outsiders coming to observe changed the way people on the island interacted with each other and behaved in general. Like a literary fiction novel, there isn't a huge resolution here, but you're left with a feeling of loss in the way the culture is disappearing.

I read somewhere that the author's own grandparents came from small, depopulated islands in Wales and Ireland, so it makes sense that she situated the story in Wales. Yet, I couldn't help but think about how much deeper the impact of anthropologists and other outsiders has been on more isolated cultures with completely different traditions, languages, etc. Still, if depopulated islands in the British Isles are of particular interest to you, this is worth a read.

A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.