Books, even fictional ones, about areas of the world I know little about are often fascinating to me. In Whale Fall, Elizabeth O'Connor tells the story of what happens when a small remote island in Europe is visited by two researchers after a whale washes up on its shores. Short and to the point, the book follows one of the island's young inhabitants as she considers her future, while observing the island along with its new visitors.
The Situation: On a small island off of the coast of Wales, 18 year-old Manod lives with her father, Tad, and her younger sister Llinos. It is 1938, and while the island receives most of its news much later than the mainland, the news about an impending war still manages to reach its shores. But something else that has reached the shore and stolen nearly everyone's attention is the body of whale, and what follows its arrival are two English ethnographers who hire Manod as their assistant due to her ability to speak their language. For Manod, close contact with the researchers feeds her desire to some day leave the island and see a world she has always wondered about, and hopefully be able to bring her sister along.
The Problem: Manod is glad, almost proud to help the researchers, though their seemingly sophisticated ways often make her embarrassed of her simple life. She is happy to translate for them, while also show them around and explain the island's culture and customs. But while the visitors may prove to be Manod's ticket to leaving the island and seeing the world as she has dreamed, their work may also end up being a source of misinformation to those outside, as it does not look like they are accurately portraying life on the island. Manod does not recognize the people from their descriptions, and worries about the pictures they are taking. The longer they stay, the more things unravel, and the less sure Manod is about her future.
Genre, Themes, History: This is a historical fiction novel set in 1938 on a small island off of the coast of Wales. The first-person narrator, Manod, is an 18 year-old girl who spends most of her days taking care of the house and her younger sister, until a pair of English ethnographers arrive on the island, and ask her to assist them, mostly as a translator. The body of a whale washes up on the shore of the island in the very beginning of the novel, and while it is not the primary focus of what is happening, its presence is always there, in the background, occasionally making an appearance as the residents attempt to figure out what to do about it. In the note on the text, the author explains that the island, while fictional, is an amalgamation of several islands around the British Isles. For Manod, there is a strong desire to leave the only community she has ever known, as well as the realization that the outside world may also be coming to them.
My Verdict: This is a short book, clocking in at under 250 pages, and yet it is pretty impressive how much O'Connor manages to put into this story, and I am not necessarily talking about the plot. It is a fairly straightforward story, but the struggles of the community; Manod's worries over their future as well as her own; and the researchers' weighty judgement of the island (while also being gleeful over how they will profit from what they find) is all conveyed through the young narrator's simple and somehow also complicated and tangled up observations of her own life, as well as how the ethnographers go about their work. The plotline of someone wanting to leave their small community for the big world outside may be a common one, but Manod's story feels unique and different and refreshing.
Favorite Moment: There are small moments when Manod's frustrations with her life come through, but they are never heavy-handed and are rarely obvious.
Favorite Character: Tad is a lobster fisherman and the father of Manod and Llinos. He may not be the most attentive father in the world (most of the time he does not even call Manod by the correct name), but I appreciate that he is a man of few words, and is able to make it clear how he feels about the ethnographers, while saying very little.
Recommended Reading: I recommend One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which is a very different (and much longer) story, but also about the inner workings of a remote community and one of its families.
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