Whalefall

A Novel

By: Daniel Kraus

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne

Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

A USA TODAY BESTSELLER
Named a Best Book of 2023 by Book Riot, Shelf Awareness, and NPR

The Martian meets 127 Hours in this “astoundingly great” (Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author) and scientifically accurate thriller about a scuba diver who’s been swallowed by an eighty-foot, sixty-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out.

Jay Gardiner has given himself a fool’s errand—to find the remains of his deceased father in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Monastery Beach. He knows it’s a long shot, but Jay feels it’s the only way for him to lift the weight of guilt he has carried since his dad’s death by suicide the previous year.

The dive begins well enough, but the sudden appearance of a giant squid puts Jay in very real jeopardy, made infinitely worse by the arrival of a sperm whale looking to feed. Suddenly, Jay is caught in the squid’s tentacles and drawn into the whale’s mouth where he is pulled into the first of its four stomachs. He quickly realizes he has only one hour before his oxygen tanks run out—one hour to defeat his demons and escape the belly of a whale.

Suspenseful and cinematic, Whalefall is an “powerfully humane” (Owen King, New York Times bestselling author) thriller about a young man who has given up on life…only to find a reason to live in the most dangerous and unlikely of places.

©2023 Daniel Kraus (P)2023 Simon & Schuster Audio

This is not an action story!

This is a haunting story about death, mourning, and family and it's devastatingly beautiful. Best story of the year for me, so far, and one of my top 10 of all time. The comparison to The Martin sets you up for an optimistic and fun story of survival and that's just not what this is. You'll find yourself fighting tears more than biting your nails.

Some folks didn't like the narrator but I thought Kirby was excellent and I look forward to experiencing more that he's done. Additionally, some people found the flashbacks to bring a weird rhythm, but the pacing and structure made me think of Arrival by Ted Chiang.

Overall, I'm sad I can only experience this for the first time once. Great read.

Mind bending adventure

This was an adventure into a world few of us have experienced. Totally grabs the reader and inserts them into another world and dimension. The possibility of escape keeps you on your toes!

Slow start but it gets better

I read this with my a book club. I thought it took to get to the inciting incident.

Teen and tough dead dad memories-in a whale

Monastery bay is an amazing dive spot. Whales, squid and jellies are fascinating.
Being the son of an angry nonconformist father is a tough row to how.
Being said teen who abandons said father (and sisters and mom) makes for complicated grief after dad is dead.
Plot is a weave from there with assorted whale and sea creature facts interspersed.
Narrator was over the top frequently-as were the anatomical descriptions of injuries (hand bones all broken and fingers acid burned but able to retrieve a battery from his tight vest pocket? 2 broken legs, shredded diaphragm with multiple rib fractures standing up/swimming out of small aperture?) unlikely at best, I’ll leave that to artistic license.
I liked the concept of all lives intertwined, all births difficult, all life could feed all lives-not new thoughts but put in a new setting.
Perhaps worth a single listen, not recommended, archived.

Confounding

While I am trying to figure out what I liked about this story. which i did. I am also trying to figure out what I did not like about it.

When I first started listening, I thought this was a YA book (youg adult). written fairly simply, I believe the author has written kids' books, but looking it up, I found that this wasn't one.

The story, despite the narration - so-so , progressed from simple to interesting to engrossing. to ending up as "pretty good overall"

I also learned more about whale anatomy then I ever thought I'd ever need to know.

The Science Facts Are Cool

Whalefall was recommended in a horror/sci-fi/fantasy/oddity book group I’m in for the month’s group read.

The scientific factual bits were cool but were really the only saving grace for me. The story didn’t capture my attention & so I had to pause and rewind several times to get through it. I paid for it and was going to finish it.

At the basic level, the book did what it’s supposed to do & made me feeling something. Incredible frustration and anger at the abusive father & gaslighting family. All that for a shitty family? Blood doesn’t mean you endure abuse. Jay could have moved out, fully cut ties and lived a potentially happier life.

Another thing that annoyed me was Jay going down for his father…who clearly loved the sea. Wouldn’t that be the most perfect burial? You’re going to (presumably) go against his final wishes to be buried at sea for…your mom & sisters? At least it would have made more sense for Jay to do it out of spite against his dad. Instead he’s still pining for approval?

Most amazing

Now one of the top 3 novels I’ve read in my 64 years.
Captivating story line. Developed and imperfect, but heroic characters. Relationships instead of romances. Artful use of science, of the search for Truth (a springboard to Truth…) and of foreshadowing. Some memorable, beautifully written lines. And Oh, Adventure!

Amazing book - captivating and poetic

Suspenseful, intriguingly paced with a whole lot of mix of vulnerability and masculinity - fantastic listen. Performance was fantastic. In the swallowed by a whale genre, this book is scientific and gritty and gory. Tying it in with a sons inner struggles with his belated estranged father provides well timed breaks from the constant action in the present. Really fun intense listen.

...OH! It's Trauma!!

I really liked how extremely well researched the whale anatomy and facts of diving and physics of pressure were. That part was deeply impressive. I also thought it was an interesting nuance to have a hardcore environmentalist be the toxic, unavailable father instead him being ANOTHER fisherman stereotype.

Beyond that almost any time the story delves into Jay's past my brain kind of shuts off until we're back in the guts. I get that is some people's bag, and some people will say "Wow, I relate so much!" I'm good, thanks. But, our narrator did an excellent job vocalizing each character, and the "BOHM BOHM!!" of the Whale Heart was very pronounced.

Oh, and overall making a sort of Cosmic Horror level experience of being eaten alive by a being you can scarcely comprehend the scope of was very well done here. I just didn't care for it obviously trying to shove it through as a metaphor for overcoming trauma. Felt very forced that the only reason this kid got swallowed was so it could function as a metaphor. If it was more subtle, maybe it would have worked better, but it was very forced.

also, Beaky MVP.

Claustrophobic and Suspenseful!

I loved this story so much! The use of descriptive language and flashbacks really had me hooked.