Format: ebook
Published: May 7th, 2024
Age: Adult
Genre: Historical – Literary
Goodreads
Rating: 3/5 Stars
This wasn’t a bad book, but it’s much more introspective, character and atmosphere driven than I usually like. I found it to be quite meandering; although it’s relatively short it felt like it took a long while to get anywhere, and the ending overall was a touch anticlimactic.
The language is poetic, but there were missed opportunities to really dive into some of the things mentioned, without ever actually doing that. Manod lives on a remote Welsh island, though she yearns to leave. She sees her opportunity when an English man and woman arrive to study the island, and hire her to assist in their research.
A whale has washed up on the shore, and as time passes and Manod grows closer and closer to the researchers and to leaving the island, the whale deteriorates. There’s mentions of war and some indications of how this might impact the characters, but nothing to really dig into. The researchers Edwin and Joan come off as strange, especially the way Joan keeps romanticising the lifestyle led by the islanders. There’s an element of her character revealed slowly, and stated plainly later on by Edwin, but it’s skipped over and kind of left without any real impact.
It feels more like a snapshot or collection than a fully-fledged out novel, and though I don’t doubt this book will receive plenty of praise, it feels like it skims over meatier parts in favour of poetic prose and an attempt to make the island into as much a character as the humans we meet.
Thank you to Picador for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley, views remain my own.
Reading Challenge
Disney Reading Challenge 2024
Prompt: Moana – The ocean chose me – a book with water on the cover
Progress: 7/40 Completed
Unwrapping Words 