Pod

Reading Pod feels like reading Blackfish or The Cove, but if they were beautifully written fiction. Not surprised to see them quoted as inspiration for the novel.
There were a couple of things that made me quirk my brow and felt a tad too YA for my taste, but Pod remains one of the best books I've read this last couple of years!

I have never read anything quite like this book before. The story follows different animals (whales and dolphins and fish) and their journeys trying to survive in the harsh and unforgiving ocean. Personally I don't think this book is meant for me. I don't really often gravitate towards books with animal protagonists and I have already forgotten the animals names. But I have to admit the writing was very good and a coherent plot was executed. For another reader, the dramas of the ocean would be very compelling. However unfortunately for me, it is just a case of the wrong book, so I am rounding it up to a 2.5.

Thanks to the author Laline Paull, Little Brown UK and Netgalley for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Should a book about dolphins have trigger warnings? I was not prepared. The jacket copy would have you believe this is an ecological story of family, when really it's the story of a lone female out on her own that gets sex trafficked and meets a battle-scarred military veteran trying to shake his drug habit ...but with dolphins. There's clam bukkake, puffer three-ways, mystical mantas, trans fish, rampant drug use, random telepathy and rape. I'm not kidding. Even if you're ready to fully lean into this, I still found the whole thing disjointed and wildly uneven. There's a long section with a trans fish that feels like a completely different short story wedged into the text, and the overall narrative is hastily rushed off the stage like the author just realized she was late for dinner. Shortlisted for the Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction it clearly resonates for many, it just was not for me. I'd give it less stars but I had way too much fun reviewing the book itself.

Based on the story notes at the end, I see what idea the author started out with. Unfortunately, I don't see it realized on the page. I would rather read non-fiction on the current state of the ocean, its inhabitants (and the leading theories on how to help it/them). I do not have an interest in tragedy porn as a method of raising awareness. And then there's the excessive violence against females and muddled messages around gender. NO.

To clarify, if this was about marine mammals, among others, suffering as a result of humanity's effects directly and indirectly on the ocean, WHY also take on the theme of abusive patriarchal societies as a form of corruption via recounting repeated physical and sexual abuse of females? Why simultaneously make so much of the story about sex/fertility/mating?

Why insinuate the sexual characteristics/genital changes, also referred to as “transitions” of one wrasse is a result of changing water chemistry/mutation (not exactly a positive framework!) and that their acceptance of their hermaphroditic state (alluding to intersex or trans identity? either way it feels weird) is proclaimed by a polyamorous free for all. I think it's supposed to feel sex positive, and maybe it's my ace agender viewpoint interfering, but as gender affirmation goes, it feels like a narrow, uncomfortable standard. Just, so much of this book gave me the ick. 🤷🏼‍♂️

I think my most charitable read of this book is it tried to do too many things in too short a space, though considering the levels of violence involved, there's no way I would have gotten through a longer version.

Even if you are lacking an awareness of how humanity has polluted the ocean, big culprits being not just oil and plastic, but sonar, how our affects on climate change also have secondary effects on that environment; even if somehow you missed how damaging misogyny is for society as a whole, let alone all those who identify as women, I would not suggest this book as the way to learn about those issues.

And if it's not supposed to be a teaching moment, it just feels grossly gratuitous in the name of evoking a reaction in the reader. 

⚠️ Ableism, SA, animal death, animal cruelty, animal experimentation, mentions of suicide, suicidal ideation, body horror, depression/grief - mental health concerns - self-destructive behaviour, PTSD