robert_vardill's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
I did not like this book - unpleasant disturbing protagonist. The writing did not engage me either. DNF.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest and Pedophilia
kiera_areik's review against another edition
Content Warnings
Moderate: Pedophilia, Child abuse, Incest, and Adult/minor relationship
miacorkum's review against another edition
dark
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Incest
saskiahill's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
The story is 'clever', but the writing is really dense, and you're kept in the dark for so long about how various threads connect that it starts to feel like you're just reading a series of separate stories, which all have very different styles. It feels like a book written to show the author's intelligence rather than to satisfy a reader - it's a bit jarring, a bit moving, a bit intriguing, and it feels like there's some sort of lesson buried very deep, but overall it doesn't quite achieve any of these things. I kept with it because I wanted it to come together
Spoiler
but the ending is unsatisfying, and the subject matter of abuse feels really unjustified - why introduce such a traumatic storyline just to make it irrelevant?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Grief, Gore, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Abandonment, Violence, Toxic relationship, Classism, Pedophilia, Eating disorder, Death, Blood, Murder, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Pregnancy
Minor: Excrement, Vomit, and War
mani_p's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia and Incest
Moderate: Sexual assault
bookforthought's review
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
CW: child abuse, incest, sexual assault, sexual content, violence, gore, death, slavery.
The Porpoise is one of those books I was really excited about when I first found out about it: I had loved Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and so I was very much looking forward to this. Then, I somehow forgot about it as it got lost in my massive TBR and I only recently rediscovered it. Unfortunately, it didn't quite meet my expectations.
The Porpoise follows two parallel storylines, with snippets of a third one sprinkled throughout. The first one, set in apparently modern times, follows Angelica, a beautiful young woman who lives in solitude with her rich, overprotective father ever since as a baby she was the sole survivor of a plane crash. But in this gilded cage horrible secrets are kept, until one day a visitor understands more than he should and becomes the target of a skilled assassin. As he flees aboard a ship called The Porpoise, his own story merges with a past tale, a retelling of the myth of Pericles, which forms the second storyline.
The premise was really interesting, but the execution just didn't work for me. I was often confused as the book jumped between the two storylines and the interludes featuring none other than Shakespeare himself. I ended up not caring about any of the characters at all, and there are so many of them (maybe even too many). There was also quite a lot of graphic violence which I was not expecting, and some of the themes were hard to stomach which possibly contributed to my unease when reading this. I alternated between bored and confused for most of this and the few passages and underlying themes that were interesting were sadly just not enough for me to enjoy this book.
I did find the writing to be beautiful (and possibly one of the only redeeming features of this). I really liked the richness of the prose and the vivid descriptions, so I was even sadder when I just couldn't connect with the characters! The underlying critique of wealth and its power to corrupt, persuade or coerce those who are surrounded by it was also interesting but for me it was just too little, too late.
Unfortunately this one was just not the right fit for me, but given the author's rich writing and wealth of characters and events, I can certainly see how it might work for other readers out there.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Incest, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Slavery
frederique_'s review
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Adult/minor relationship, and Incest
emariekendrick's review
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Incest, Child abuse, and Sexual assault
buncie's review
I was more interested in the earlier part of the story that wasn't directly retelling mythology
Content Warnings
Moderate: Incest and Rape
meganiamh's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
I loved this so so much!! It's really unique and beautifully written. I didn't even know that a lot of it is a retelling before reading, they just seem to follow me around these days even when I'm not actively seeking them out! But this is very different from a lot of retellings I've read because it has a parallel story in modern times (which I think is cleverly related to the Pericles story but I'm not 100% sure how (I don't know anything about the play to be fair)), and a little bit about Shakespeare thrown in for fun. The emotions came across really well (guilt, fear, heartbreak), I was really invested in the story and just generally found it really enjoyable! I agree with a lot of other reviews that the thread is a little confusing and there's a lot going on but I don't think that took anything away from it for me
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Incest, and Sexual violence