A whale washes ashore on an isolated Welsh island. A couple from Oxford arrive to research an ethnography of the few remaining residents (those who haven’t moved to the mainland yet to find better prospects than continuing to battle the natural world in an attempt to make lives from fishing and catching lobster). Manod, an eighteen year old woman on the island with good English skills, works for the researchers as a translator until they leave.

And that’s it, that’s the story.

This is a very literary novel that is far from plot-driven. Crafted sentences are sometimes incomplete, comprising paragraphs that may or may not have anything to do with the ones preceding or following them. It did successfully have me feeling transported to the island, feeling the sea spray on my skin and smelling the day’s catch. And I liked how the researchers were writing a book about a way of life that only existed in their minds, using their subjects more than studying them (if this were a plot-driven novel, I would insist on seeing them get their comeuppance!)

But the style of the book just didn’t 100% work for me. It didn’t develop any characters enough to allow me to feel invested in them. I have no idea what the purpose of all the whale bits of the story were for (because there was a whole lot about the whale.) Was it metaphor? If so, for what? And why would you NOT want people to come haul away the months-old giant rotting carcass on your beach?

So in all, this was a 3.5 star mixed bag for me. Kind of sadly beautiful, but not super engaging. I usually really enjoy literary novels, but maybe my tastes in reading are changing now that I am consuming way more books than I ever have before?

Thank you to Pantheon and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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