A review by dirtyseagull
Whalefall by Daniel Kraus

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

It's not bad, it's not good though in my opinion. Jay's story is one of self-actualization in the face of a neglectful and borderline abusive father who did not prepare him to be on his own and only sought forgiveness after it was far too late. I can get behind that kind of story, and the idea that he can hear and feel his father's spirit in the whale, using it as a means of connecting to the father he did not say goodbye to.

However, It did not really resonate with me for many reasons that are personal and far too nitpicky to write here. There are a few soliloquies about the human condition and what humans are doing to the planet, conservation (obviously being a cause the author is passionate about), and being able to remove oneself from the vanity of society and the desire to keep up when the oceans and nature itself have more than enough to keep the human spirit fulfilled. These I did enjoy, because it was some of the only humanity that seemed to be shown in the text from Mitt, who otherwise is pretty detestable as a father and person.

Unlikable characters are some of the best characters out there, but for me, this didn't really land as well as some other stories like this have or could. If your only goal as a father was to train your son to survive a deadly encounter with a large mammal or dive in the ocean alone, Mitt is the dad of the decade, but being a dad means being much more than that. His flaw was being unable to love his son the way he needed, and probably wanted to, but Jay's actualization comes almost out of spite it seems rather than love, because there was no love between them. When Mitt dies, there is nothing left to say or any epiphany that the entire time he was a good dad secretly. He wasn't at all, said as such, and intimated he thought his son was a mistake for any number of reasons I am sure.

If I had just one chapter from Matt's perspective about why he felt the way he felt, maybe I would feel better about this, but to me, it comes up short of being what it could have been.