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trogdor19 's review for:
Whale Talk
by Chris Crutcher
I tend to really enjoy YA novels, but Crutcher's leave me with the feeling that really good literature does: that the book is pure entertainment, and at the same time something far more universal than that.
This is the second of his books that I've enjoyed. He draws you in with wit and humor, and then moves into more important territory, and you're caught by the feeling that he has Something Important to Say. And he does. He says it plainly and beautifully and the wisdom he has gained about life shines through his characters.
His favorite theme seems to be how people can begin to accept the ways that good and evil are interacting and existing in the world. How they are so thoroughly interdependent that evil begets good and good sometimes begets evil until they both begin to lose the black and white contrasts of their identity. But at the same time they don't.
He also uses sports as a catalyst for camraderie and discipline and goodness, but doesn't take them too seriously.
I think his characters tend to be almost too articulate and awesome to be real teenagers, but you know what? Not all teenagers are average.
This is the second of his books that I've enjoyed. He draws you in with wit and humor, and then moves into more important territory, and you're caught by the feeling that he has Something Important to Say. And he does. He says it plainly and beautifully and the wisdom he has gained about life shines through his characters.
His favorite theme seems to be how people can begin to accept the ways that good and evil are interacting and existing in the world. How they are so thoroughly interdependent that evil begets good and good sometimes begets evil until they both begin to lose the black and white contrasts of their identity. But at the same time they don't.
He also uses sports as a catalyst for camraderie and discipline and goodness, but doesn't take them too seriously.
I think his characters tend to be almost too articulate and awesome to be real teenagers, but you know what? Not all teenagers are average.