Journey to the End of the Whale Book

If you have an affinity for whales or the sea or just a complex quest narrative, you'll love this book.

Beautifully written and resonant, Journey to the End of the World delves into the connectivity and meaning of life through the metaphor and symbolism of whales, whaling and the sea.

I agree with other reviewers in that the plot slumps and suffers a little in the middle (like the dead calm of the sea the whalers encounter), but steers eloquently back on course at the end to tie up the story of one man's journey to find his sense of self and place in the world.

The description of Léfo, the small whaling community in Indonesia, was fascinating to read and so intricate in detail as to be a real believable place. Certainly gets you thinking about this region of the world, its peoples and culture. I found myself stopping to google places and fish species and whaling terms the whole time while reading. Interesting, to say the least.

And the reference to whales of course - the main reason that led me to the book - added a mythological quality to the story, although I think it, as well as the characters and the plot overall, could have been more developed. There was a wide psychological potential that was not fully explored I thought - a lot of the substance of this novel lies like a whale itself, under the surface, only rising to breach occasionally. Sometimes too much remained unsaid, while at other times, trite points were over-explained, repeated even at times. I found too that a bit of extra punctuation would have made all the difference to some stiff sentences. (Seemed at times like an editor cast a lazy eye over it...)

But saying that, these were only minor things and the story as a whole, worked well. Interesting & enjoyable.