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wordsofclover 's review for:
The Whale at the End of the World
by John Ironmonger
St Piran is a sleepy hamlet in the corner of Cornwall with only 300 people and is the type of place where everyone knows everybody else. So there’s a lot of excitement when a naked man is found washed upon the beach and saved, and the next day a fin whale is beached causing the village to work together to save her. Joe, the man from the beach, instantly becomes part of the village but soon talks about a machine he built that predicts the future and that the end of the world is talking. Joe is determined to save the town but can he convince everyone to believe him.
This was a great read in my opinion. At first I thought I was reading a story about a Dibley-like village full of all types of characters with their own kind of charming and loved how they all immediately welcomed and helped Joe when he came along. Then I realised Joe was not some random crazy but a stock trade analyst/computer programmer who did actually build a reputable machine to help predict stock rise and fall by reading the news around the world every day. All his worrying suddenly made sense and I could totally go along with Joe’s mission to make sure the village survived what was coming for the world and I loved, loved, loved how when they realised he was using his life saving’s to buy enough food for all of them, they went along with it and helped rather than brushing him off as a lunatic.
On the front of this book, there are the word’s “This book may restore your faith in humanity” and this is 100% true. This story turned from a funny tale into a survival story but not one full of gun-wielding gangs and men who kidnap women (like you see in a lot of survival stories) but a small village who ganged together to make sure every single one of them was looked after, fed and safe and they even extended that to another town close by, proving that even if resources were scarce and people were dying, people could still be human and look after each other.
This reminded me a little bit of what if the events in Station Eleven by Emily St.John Mandel happened BUT people knew it was going to happen? This is what it would be - at least in some corners of the world.
At times the way the story was structured in terms of Joe’s memories could be a bit confusing. Sometimes he would remember his time on the “fifth floor” and the story would slip into a conversartion he had had with his old boss without a break in paragraph and then go right back to present day with no indication. It’s something that was a bit weird at first but then I got used to it.
I really enjoyed this story, I actually think I’m in love with the book cover and I’m 100% checking out more of John Ironmonger’s writing and characters as I just love what he creates.
This was a great read in my opinion. At first I thought I was reading a story about a Dibley-like village full of all types of characters with their own kind of charming and loved how they all immediately welcomed and helped Joe when he came along. Then I realised Joe was not some random crazy but a stock trade analyst/computer programmer who did actually build a reputable machine to help predict stock rise and fall by reading the news around the world every day. All his worrying suddenly made sense and I could totally go along with Joe’s mission to make sure the village survived what was coming for the world and I loved, loved, loved how when they realised he was using his life saving’s to buy enough food for all of them, they went along with it and helped rather than brushing him off as a lunatic.
On the front of this book, there are the word’s “This book may restore your faith in humanity” and this is 100% true. This story turned from a funny tale into a survival story but not one full of gun-wielding gangs and men who kidnap women (like you see in a lot of survival stories) but a small village who ganged together to make sure every single one of them was looked after, fed and safe and they even extended that to another town close by, proving that even if resources were scarce and people were dying, people could still be human and look after each other.
This reminded me a little bit of what if the events in Station Eleven by Emily St.John Mandel happened BUT people knew it was going to happen? This is what it would be - at least in some corners of the world.
At times the way the story was structured in terms of Joe’s memories could be a bit confusing. Sometimes he would remember his time on the “fifth floor” and the story would slip into a conversartion he had had with his old boss without a break in paragraph and then go right back to present day with no indication. It’s something that was a bit weird at first but then I got used to it.
I really enjoyed this story, I actually think I’m in love with the book cover and I’m 100% checking out more of John Ironmonger’s writing and characters as I just love what he creates.