Whalefall

by Daniel Kraus

This book was pitched as a survival story, like The Martian inside a whale. But The Martian was fun. This is really a story about a boy who failed to make peace with his father before his father died. It’s not fun.

It is well-written (enough). Some of the survival details are not very believable. He puts a sock on his hand to hold a bioluminescent jellyfish as a lamp. He uses a 9V battery (which would have discharged in seconds or a few minutes in salt water) and his oxygen tank to ignite methane in the whale’s stomach and explode it.

But the back-story with the dad is moving. Stories about boys and their dads always are. Although, even their estrangement seems unbelievable – pointless, like there’s something wrong with this narrator. The dad has issues, but he doesn’t seem that bad.

The reviews I see of this book are stupid. I don’t think people actually read the book. The “survival story” aspect is ultimately superficial compared with the theme of how one can make peace with having failed a loved one who is now dead.