Whalefall Book Review

While unique in its own right, Whalefall feels a bit like the oceanic version of Andy Weir’s The Martian — a solo man, left to fend for himself under seemingly insurmountable survival odds. As you may expect, Whalefall is atmospheric and tense. What you may not expect is that along with this pervasive sense of adventure comes a good deal of quiet reflection. Readers are taken deep both into the ocean and into the protagonist's emotional growth.

Jay, a young man estranged from his family, is making an epic attempt at reconciling with his relatives. He's on a deep-dive quest to locate the remains of his deceased father, who died by leaping into the sea. Just when it seems he may have succeeded, Jay is eaten by a 60-ton sperm whale and must try to battle his way out of the whale and to the surface before his oxygen tank runs out.

Kraus delivers a clever, crisp writing style, albeit with sometimes gory descriptions of his battles against the whale. Flashbacks to Jay's childhood experiences give a breather from his arduous task of escaping the whale, and slowly reveal the complexities of his relationship with his father. While it has the feel of an adventure story, at its heart, Whalefall is a beautiful testimony to the parent-child relationship, grief, reconciliation, and love.