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A review by abomine
The Day of the Dolphin by Robert Merle
challenging
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This was...strange.
What I expected: something rather like Into The Deep by Ken Grimwood, with the gentle and intelligent dolphins saving foolish and violent humanity from themselves, except with more espionage and a deathly fear of communists. Nothing mind-blowing, but some good old trope-filled fun.
What I got: an absolutely scathing, vicious satire of Cold War America, so bleak, paranoid, and pessimistic in tone that it's almost NOT a satire, except for the hilarious contempt with which Robert Merle describes the world-spanning political games, and the inherently funny concept of dolphins that can speak perfect English.
Speaking of dolphins, they were the only likable characters in this book. They didn't have any steep competition from the human characters, though, as pretty much every single one of them, even the 'heroes', were either reprehensible or only slightly awful. I suppose that was largely the point, setting up the dishonest, scheming humans as a foil for the innocent dolphins (funnily enough, according to marine biologists, dolphins aren't nearly so innocent in real life). I was reminded of the contrast between noble, sentient Houyhnhnms and the repulsive, bestial Yahoos from Gulliver's Travels.
But what separates Gulliver's Travels (a satiric masterpiece) from Day of the Dolphin (a good effort) is that Gulliver's Travels is an absolutely brutal satire with an extremely cynical view of humanity, but it's consistently hilarious. Day of the Dolphin has an amusing undercurrent (the talking dolphins and sarcastic portrayal of world leaders), but overall, it's just not quite funny enough to compensate for the book's largely hopeless and negative perspective.
What I expected: something rather like Into The Deep by Ken Grimwood, with the gentle and intelligent dolphins saving foolish and violent humanity from themselves, except with more espionage and a deathly fear of communists. Nothing mind-blowing, but some good old trope-filled fun.
What I got: an absolutely scathing, vicious satire of Cold War America, so bleak, paranoid, and pessimistic in tone that it's almost NOT a satire, except for the hilarious contempt with which Robert Merle describes the world-spanning political games, and the inherently funny concept of dolphins that can speak perfect English.
Speaking of dolphins, they were the only likable characters in this book. They didn't have any steep competition from the human characters, though, as pretty much every single one of them, even the 'heroes', were either reprehensible or only slightly awful. I suppose that was largely the point, setting up the dishonest, scheming humans as a foil for the innocent dolphins (funnily enough, according to marine biologists, dolphins aren't nearly so innocent in real life). I was reminded of the contrast between noble, sentient Houyhnhnms and the repulsive, bestial Yahoos from Gulliver's Travels.
But what separates Gulliver's Travels (a satiric masterpiece) from Day of the Dolphin (a good effort) is that Gulliver's Travels is an absolutely brutal satire with an extremely cynical view of humanity, but it's consistently hilarious. Day of the Dolphin has an amusing undercurrent (the talking dolphins and sarcastic portrayal of world leaders), but overall, it's just not quite funny enough to compensate for the book's largely hopeless and negative perspective.