Book Review by Zinta
Aistars
Print
Length: 333 pages
ISBN:
1250020565
Publisher:
St. Martin's Press (April 2, 2013)
Yet again, I watched another news story on the evening news that
matched almost exactly the story David Poyer tells in The Whiteness of the Whale. This may be a novel, but it is based on
factual scenarios, happening all too often on the oceans. As in real life, the
novel tells a story of activists in pursuit of a Japanese whaling fleet they’ve
observed killing whales and processing the whales for meat. That has long been
illegal for all but scientific research purposes, yet the Japanese still hunt
and kill whale in the Antarctic waters, hiding behind the banner of “research.”
The activists in pursuit are a motley crew. A primate
behaviorist, a Hollywood movie star, a double-amputee Afghanistan war veteran,
and others, each adding their own storyline and colorful personality as they
sail together on the Black Anemone.
They are not the only ones in pursuit. After an altercation
with the Japanese whaling fleet, described with unnerving detail that makes the
suffering of the whales uncomfortably memorable, the Black Anemone picks up a castaway. More, they pick up a tail. At
this point, the story takes on echoes of Moby Dick, as a whale turns on the
boat and goes out of its way to destroy the ship and the crew.
Poyer writes from a base of experience. He has a 30-year sea
career on which to base his many sea novels. That kind of first-hand knowledge
adds all kinds of subtle layers of nuance that bring scene after scene alive,
some terrifyingly so. There are sections of the book that, when read, leave
what feels like an uncanny splash of seawater on the reader’s face.
The activists don’t always come off as heroes. They appear
human. Characters show their weaknesses as well as their heroic moments. The
whale recognizes none, in dogged pursuit, seemingly enraged by the slaughter
those very activists tried to prevent.
Poyer’s strongest characterizations are, in fact, the whale
and the primate behaviorist, Dr. Sara Pollard. It’s not often one reads such
accurate and effective cross-gender writing, but Poyer captures her female
voice precisely.
I enjoyed the book enough to want to know more, and asked
the author to do an author interview in the Summer/Fall 2013 Issue of TheSmoking Poet. My hope is that such novels take on a life outside of the fiction
world and enter into the movement to save whales from the kind of barbarous
scenes of slaughter Poyer describes and evening news show all too often.
David Poyer’s naval career included service in the Atlantic,
Mediterranean, Arctic, Caribbean, and Pacific.
His thirty-plus books, including twenty sea novels, have been translated
into Italian, Dutch, Japanese, and other languages. He’s also written sailing,
diving, and nautical history articles for Chesapeake Bay, Southern Boating,
Shipmate, Tidewater Virginian, and other periodicals. His work has been
required reading in the Literature of the Sea course at the U.S. Naval Academy,
along with that of Joseph Conrad and Herman Melville. He lives on the Eastern Shore of Virginia with
his wife and daughter, with whom he explores the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic
coast in their sloop, Water Spirit.
