Welcome to Litsy!

By the time I was finished with this book, I felt like I'd survived an exhausting slog. Maybe it's not the book's fault. I was bored by Moby Dick too. Jay is trying to MacGyver his way out of a whale and reconcile his relationship with his dead father. The book is heavy with allegory and light on the plot. It will give it some credit: it was sufficiently gross.

I mostly listened to the audiobook, which is a fast paced listen. A young man is literally stuck in the belly of a whale during the whole novel, no spoiler there. On a quest to know his father and make him proud, a diver searches for his father, both physically and metaphorically. Felt super manly… I‘m not the audience for this one, but it was propulsive and different. I found it over the top and silly at times but memorable.

Soft pick on this one. I'm pretty sure this ended up on my TBR when I was trying to add another novel by the same name, but I figured I'd read this one anyway. The moral of this story seems to be, "It's easier to get into a whale than to get out of one." There are some really yucky bits and some rather on-the-nose metaphors, but I found it an enjoyable listen. Having lived in Monterey as a child, the on-land setting was interesting to me, too.

At first I found the narrative style took me out of the story, but the material was very engaging and moved me deeply.

A soft sort of pick, because it's a propulsive read, very effective in that way, but man, fuck that dad. Fuck him.

Okay, he has an explanation for the lack of italics in the acknowledgements but I Do Not Understand It. The language became special to you, so it deserves to be unitalicized??

There haven't been too many yet, but to not italicize the scientific names is driving me nuts.

A compelling, propulsive, and unique thriller in every regard. I appreciate the scientific realism. Reminds me a little bit of Blake Crouch in the way it‘s structured and written, too.

Lil bit YA fiction vibes plus real crazy science writing. Always been so interested in the Noah and the whale story. Glad someone finally delved into that. Fucking gripping.

A teen finds himself in the belly of a whale when diving for his estranged father‘s remains in this intense science thriller and extended meditation on fathers, sons, and the life-saving legacy that lives on in us long after those we‘ve lost. As someone who lost an estranged parent as a teen, it was hard for this book to gain my trust—and it did in the bigger picture, but not in the finer details. Still, a thrilling and moving read.

I love this for us

I was so excited to read this. Mainly because whales fascinate me, Jay Gardiner is 17, and has a complex relationship with his dead father. Most of the book was Jay coming to terms with his childhood and realizing his father did the best he could. The rest of the book was Jay trying to escape the whale, moving through different stomachs and other parts. That whole part felt very unbelievable to me and began to feel a little repetitive.

1) The tagged
2) We're going to watch Goosebumps 2023 on Hulu

Care to play @tiedyedude?

#Two4Tuesday @thespineview

My most anticipated from the summer. But it was sadly a disappointing reading experience for me. I *loved* the whale chapters-lots of suspension of disbelief and just absolute craziness. But I *hated* all the introspection and father-son relationship talk. Every chapter like this pulled me right out of the thrilling survival story. I almost DNF‘d several times.

The audiobook narrated by Kirby Heyborne is 💯✔️+

Pure poetry. This was the first book in awhile that I gobbled up. It was so good!

3.5⭐️ Read: hype
This was a really deep book about being swallowed by pressure. Both family and by a whale. The factual pieces were interesting because of relations to anxiety at bay, like Jay‘s “soft lungs”, while keeping it moving. The whale manifesting as dad to guide was unique. The book is making me think, but as I just finished it, I don‘t know what to think. Jay is soft, easy to cry. And his dad did not like that. Not sure I liked it

In the simplest of descriptions MacGyver got swallowed by a sperm whale.

A little more needed? Interwoven chapters flip between internal dialog back and forth with his deceased father manifest as the whale; and memories of growing up in the shadow of a famous "give no craps" diver.

Not gonna lie, I wanted this to be real and not sci-fi but a quick Google search told me the stomach acid alone isn't inhabitable for any length of time.

A very unique fact paced retelling of Jonah and the Whale. Claustrophobic in both the Whale and family expectations. Really well done for a concept that is hard pull off within a modern context.

Super excited to dive into this book! #whalefall #thrillers

When I first heard the premise of this book, I thought it would be really cheesy, so I was hesitant to give it a try. This book was very entertaining, the suspense kept me listening even when I should have been doing other things and it had just the right amount of science to have me googling more about giant squids and sperm whales. A fear I never even contemplated made real.

Vacation reading is the best reading.

#NetGalley #NewRelease

This is a horror survival book that also deals with complex family dynamics.

A diver finds himself swallowed by a sperm whale. As he fights for survival, the story flashes back to pivotal points in his relationship with his father.

The emotion in this book caught me off guard and the non-stop action kept me engaged until the end.

One of the most entertaining books I've read all year.

When Jay goes in search of his father‘s bones, lost to the sea, he gets ensnared by a giant squid and swallowed by a sperm whale. This is the making of my biggest fear, so to read a story about it is the best kind of horror I‘m going to get. A compulsive read: how will he escape? WILL he escape? But also about grief and difficult relationships. I couldn‘t put this one down.

This was one of my highly anticipated summer reads. A young man while diving is swallowed by a whale. Chapters describing his struggle to get free are interspersed with flashback chapters that describe his relationship with his father. The structure, premise, and pacing were fabulous. I had trouble with the characters and prose. The narrator of the audiobook was quite intense, which may have contributed to my problems. Still, a compelling book.

An absolute snooze fest! I‘m not sure if it was the writing, the bad characters or lack of any tension. But I came away feeling nothing at all.

This book came to my attention in posts guessing the clues for Aug BOTM picks. Shark Heart was the selection, but I remained intrigued by this one, too. In one story a 35 yo man turns into a shark, in the other a 17 yo boy is sucked into a sperm whale. I loved both! This one does a fantastic job of seamlessly weaving whale facts into a beautiful story of a boy coming to terms with who he was to his father. It‘s claustrophobic in the best way!

A very enjoyable audiobook! I liked the thrilling survival tale, scientific and spiritual whale musings, often-poetic writing, and horror-y gross body stuff. But I found the complicated father-son/family story most compelling. And the Monterey setting meant a lot to me, having lived there for years. 🐋🌊💙