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A review by wordsmithreads
Soundings: Journeys in the Company of Whales: A Memoir by Doreen Cunningham
3.0
Looking at some of the other reviews, it looks like there is a common thread in less-than-pleased readers: This book is not about whales.
That might sound surprising, given that "whales" is in the title and on the cover, but it is not about whales. If you want to read a memoir about whales, look elsewhere.
Doreen Cunningham is a climate journalist who spends time in the Arctic with a whaling community. We do hear briefly about whales, but only ever from afar — she sees some while whale-watching, and in a museum, but that's about the extent of whales in this book.
Instead, we hear about Cunningham’s deadbeat baby daddy, her trip whale-watching with her precocious toddler, and her brief relationship with a whale hunter. This doesn't work for the same reason [b:Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube: Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North|25773791|Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North|Blair Braverman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1458594651l/25773791._SY75_.jpg|45622533] didn't work: you aren't telling the story that only you can tell. I can experience terrible men and cranky whale watchers anywhere. Tell me about what it's like to be with the whales.
Except that Cunningham can't tell you what it's like to be with whales, because she isn't a whale expert. She's a climate journalist, and her writing about the climate comes off (understandably so) as doomsday-y. But if you pick up this book expecting to read about whales, know that you are instead going to read disjointed snippets about her eating whale blubber, going on a cruise and potty training her child, and her childhood pony.
3 stars.
That might sound surprising, given that "whales" is in the title and on the cover, but it is not about whales. If you want to read a memoir about whales, look elsewhere.
Doreen Cunningham is a climate journalist who spends time in the Arctic with a whaling community. We do hear briefly about whales, but only ever from afar — she sees some while whale-watching, and in a museum, but that's about the extent of whales in this book.
Instead, we hear about Cunningham’s deadbeat baby daddy, her trip whale-watching with her precocious toddler, and her brief relationship with a whale hunter. This doesn't work for the same reason [b:Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube: Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North|25773791|Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North|Blair Braverman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1458594651l/25773791._SY75_.jpg|45622533] didn't work: you aren't telling the story that only you can tell. I can experience terrible men and cranky whale watchers anywhere. Tell me about what it's like to be with the whales.
Except that Cunningham can't tell you what it's like to be with whales, because she isn't a whale expert. She's a climate journalist, and her writing about the climate comes off (understandably so) as doomsday-y. But if you pick up this book expecting to read about whales, know that you are instead going to read disjointed snippets about her eating whale blubber, going on a cruise and potty training her child, and her childhood pony.
3 stars.