Reviews tagging 'Pandemic/Epidemic'

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus

25 reviews

maaartha's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Gore, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

gardens_and_dragons's review

challenging emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

How I saw it described: "Man would rather be literally swallowed by a whale than go to therapy”. 

It was enjoyable for the most part, but I don’t think it was my cup of tea. I can see this really working for others; the writing was great, the descriptions vivid and visceral, the science was fascinating, and it had family drama to boot. 

Whalefall is a “scientifically accurate thriller” about a scuba diver who’s been swallowed by a sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out. it’s claustrophobic and horrific. But in large part it’s about the relationship between a father/son, intolerable grief, forgiveness and survival. 

For me: it sucked to listen to all of the abuse that was directed specifically at Jay from his father Mitt. It was textbook narcissistic behavior of singling someone out, and the rest of his community though Mitt was the greatest. While important for both the narrative/themes and people to read about… it’s usually something I avoid because it can be triggering. 

I really dislike when stories take somewhat abusive/toxic people and try to redeem them in death. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Vomit

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

tortle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Pandemic/Epidemic

fatfatrat's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Suicide, and Grief

Minor: Vomit and Pandemic/Epidemic

rejectscanon's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Ruined me in the best way. Got a copy from the library and regretted it exactly 43 pages in because I wanted to highlight a line, but couldn’t. Cried a lot, and would read this book again in a heartbeat. Highly recommend, but be mindful of possible triggers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Vomit, and Pandemic/Epidemic

jemckay11's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Suicide, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent and Pandemic/Epidemic

pvp_niki's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing and Vomit

Minor: Alcohol and Pandemic/Epidemic

cassie7e's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.5

A meditative, interminable metaphor for grief and complicated father-son relationships. (Blurb claims "scientifically accurate" - I forgive all my thoughts of "how is he not dead yet" on the basis of being metaphor.) 

Warnings:
- Emphasis on "interminable" - if you're looking for a plot heavy thriller, this is not for you. Even for me it dragged on.
- Nonlinear timeline, mimics memories bubbling up. I love this style but it's polarizing.
- Many graphic descriptions of injury and slogging through slow confused obstinate thoughts.

The acknowledgement of covid in 2021-onward parts of the timeline was startling (how long until it isn't anymore?) but it's merely part of the setting, not part of the story at least.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

limina's review against another edition

challenging sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book feels pretty ridiculous, I know. But it also has a semi-heartfelt story to it as well. It's claustrophobic, and at times heart-pounding. It's being made into a movie, I'll be interested to make the comparison.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Vomit

aparker89's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

What a trip! This book was nearly impossible to put down- I just had to know if Jay was going to escape his prison inside the whale! This story takes us deep into the psyche of death, grief and longing. 
While it seems a little ridiculously with the whole Jonah being swallowed by a whale, this author works hard to ensure scientific accuracy without bogging us down with too much information! 
I really enjoyed this story. It is captivating, riveting and pulls at your heart strings!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic