Welcome to Litsy!

Happy 49th birthday Lynn🎈! I hope you‘re having a wonderful day!

Thank you so much for organizing this #49bdaygiveaway 💕

I am tagging the the book I‘ve added most recently to my TBR. I heard such good things about it!

Debut novel about a small Welsh island community right before World War II. This was one of the books I had predicted would make the booker last year (I was wrong). Quiet novel about island life that is beautifully written. Fairly similar to The Colony. Story follows 18-yo Manood who is conflicted between traditions of her community and desire for modernization on the mainland.

Reminiscent of a few books I‘ve enjoyed: The Colony by Audrey Magee and Clear by Carys Davies. It‘s a slim novel, set in 1938 off the coast of Wales on a tiny island with 20 inhabitants. We see the island from Manod‘s perspective, an 18 year old girl living with her father and younger sister, when two English researchers arrive. Seeing her existence through their eyes changes everything. Isolated community, heavy on the nature and scenery.

Just loved this! One of those books that I had completely the wrong idea about, and was only persuaded by another reader to give it a go.

'Your English is perfect,' Joan said, watching me thoughtfully. 'Edward was worried we wouldn't find someone.'
'I learnt at school. From Sister Mary and from reading Woman's Own.'
She laughed loudly, again. I laughed too. No one found me funny on the island.
'I see. Well, it's perfect. You could pass for an Englishwoman.'
Joan looked out at the sea.

'Greatest country in the world.'

[Sensing an authorial raised eyebrow here]

Beautiful writing and a bleak island life. Whilst a little predictable in the romance element, still held its worth. I liked the portrayal of young life and the natural and harsh world. Also a good time of the year to read it.

There are a surprising number of books with this title. This one is quiet with a pace both leisurely and conveying urgency, echoing the collision of the way time is reckoned on the mainland with the way it runs on the island. Overall, I enjoyed this novel and was glad to have the audiobook to help me with the Welsh pronunciations. In the end, it left me wanting, which is apt but unsatisfying.

Wonderful. Sparse sensitive writing. Historical fiction at its best makes the characters real and come alive. The protagonist learns about the trickery of strangers. I can see the straightforward ease of rural life, not for the work, but for the familiarity of the people

A quiet lyrical novel set on an island off the coast of Wales right before WWII. Beautiful writing. 3.5 🌟

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

An atmospheric novel (similar to #campitsy24 pick Clear) about a community living on an island off the coast of Wales where a whale beaches itself one day.

Narrated by Manod, an 18 year old woman living with her father and sister, it describes island life and the slow disappearance of their culture as younger individuals leave for work on the mainland.

Set in the backdrop of pre-WW II this was a fairly quick and interesting read.

A solid debut, O'Connor writes beautifully and confronts issues with a delicate touch. Wonderfully crafted sentences and imagery give a tactile sense of place, and themes of duty to self vs family and community and the problematic nature of anthropological study and bias are deftly handled. The characters and emotional depth unfortunately don't reach the same standard, but it is still a worthy read and I'm excited to see what O'Connor writes next.

Quick trip out to Sturgis, South Dakota to visit my dad. Mitzi‘s Books in Rapid City is a nicely curated shop.

"The whale became stranded in the shallows of the island overnight, appearing from the water like a cat slinking under a door."

As the drumbeats of an impending WWII are sounding, a way of life is gradually dying on a tiny Welsh island. A dead whale washes up there, a metaphor for island life, while English anthropologist types arrive to write about the people, only twisted in a way they find interesting. I liked but didn‘t love this.

3.5 🌟

I find myself reading two books with whale in the title and their story of washing up on shore happening in the background. Whale Fall has a very different writing style - spare, straightforward and clipped sentences. Where The Whalebone Theatre is very lyrical and descriptive. Whale Fall just arrived from@the library today. While its writing style is a big change from what I was reading I am interested in its story so far!

I liked this but, like @TrishB , I didn‘t love it as much as I thought I would.

Even before I started it, I felt like the premise was very similar to Audrey Magee‘s The Colony. Although some of the writing was beautiful, the story fell far short of Magee‘s book. For me, there was little tension in comparison and there were a few points where there was a disconnect in the story - even the whale itself didn‘t quite draw everything together.

Beautifully written, with a haunting MC and nasty posh, educated side characters.
Though there some very sad themes in the book I just didn‘t feel I connected emotionally with it and I wanted to love it.
I will try the authors future books though!

#quicklunchtimeread
First for a long time!