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A review by loinereads
Pod by Laline Paull
challenging
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Honestly the 4.5 stars rating mainly comes from the fact that I am still stunned by the writer’s way with words.
It’s incredible that Laline Paull managed to get me interested in the lives of dolphins in such a folkloric and metaphorical way.
In her explication of the novel, which follows Ea, a young spinner Longi whose tribe was ejected by the patriarchal and violent Tursiops, Laline Paull states that it was a boat trip with dolphins that inspired her to write this novel. She says that the dolphins started to buzz around the small boat and that she could feel their need for peace.
This was an extremely challenging book but I am so glad I kept through it, it was deeply informative and hopeful as well. Laline humanized the dolphins and cetaceans to an extreme with such subtility. Never do the dolphins talk in a human way in the story, they always click or send magnetic sounds, but their feelings feel so real and humane that it was sometimes difficult to take a step back as a reader and remember that this is not some fantasy but an epic journey through the ocean.
If the book felt extremely well informed, Laline still mentions that she let her creativity and imagination flow through some of the key points of the story, but she did it so well that it was hard to differentiate true facts from amazing fantasies.
I cannot give this book 5 stars though because, even though I understand mating is a crucial part of animal lives, I would have liked the dolphins rituals to be centered more around other necessities like hunting or birthing.
Sometimes, sex was described in a very humane way and this made me extremely uncomfortable.
I will definitely check out The Bees and The Ice now that I’ve discovered this author.
It’s incredible that Laline Paull managed to get me interested in the lives of dolphins in such a folkloric and metaphorical way.
In her explication of the novel, which follows Ea, a young spinner Longi whose tribe was ejected by the patriarchal and violent Tursiops, Laline Paull states that it was a boat trip with dolphins that inspired her to write this novel. She says that the dolphins started to buzz around the small boat and that she could feel their need for peace.
This was an extremely challenging book but I am so glad I kept through it, it was deeply informative and hopeful as well. Laline humanized the dolphins and cetaceans to an extreme with such subtility. Never do the dolphins talk in a human way in the story, they always click or send magnetic sounds, but their feelings feel so real and humane that it was sometimes difficult to take a step back as a reader and remember that this is not some fantasy but an epic journey through the ocean.
If the book felt extremely well informed, Laline still mentions that she let her creativity and imagination flow through some of the key points of the story, but she did it so well that it was hard to differentiate true facts from amazing fantasies.
I cannot give this book 5 stars though because, even though I understand mating is a crucial part of animal lives, I would have liked the dolphins rituals to be centered more around other necessities like hunting or birthing.
Sometimes, sex was described in a very humane way and this made me extremely uncomfortable.
I will definitely check out The Bees and The Ice now that I’ve discovered this author.