by Daniel Kraus, 2023
Fast read – 2 page chapters, short sentences. About young, 17-year old Jay, who dives Monastery Beach to try and find his dad’s bones, but ends up swallowed by a sperm whale. His dad committed suicide because he was dying of mesothelioma. He was a horrible father to Jay. Shaming him, humiliating him, scaring him. His dad was a consummate diver and loved the ocean and its creatures more than anything. He tried to impart that love to Jay, but failed miserably. Jay ran away from home at age 15, before his dad got cancer, and refused to go see him in the hospital, despite the pleadings of his mom and two sisters.
Once Jay is swallowed by the whale, he starts having a conversation with the whale on how to survive. It ends up being his father he is talking with, and he remembers the love and understands his dad, and is able to forgive his dad, all the while trying and failing to get out of the whale. His dad gave him tips, ways to get out of the whale alive. There is unbelievable trauma to his body– stomach acid eating into him, broken bones, ear drums popping, his neck getting gashed by a giant squid, and on and on. Too much gashing and gunk and junk, but eventually, the whale is attacked by orcas and wounded and floats gently to the surface, where there is a whale-watching boat. Jay orchestrates the vocal chord and makes the whale scream, an unheard of sound, drawing the attention of the scientists on the beach. The whale drifts to shore and dies. Jay blows up a part of the whale using a Brillo pad (there was an unopened box of Brillo pads in the stomach), a 9-volt battery and the last bit of oxygen from his tank. He has to blow a part of the whale he is not in, so had to carve a hole through thick blubber using ‘Beaky,’ the part of the giant squid that he found. He loses his right hand but saves his life. The scientists on the beach are looking at a different, beached whale. They can’t believe what they are seeing after Jay has to claw through the heart of the whale, soaked in blood, so the scientists can see him. They save him. One of the doctors smiles at him and asks him his name. He says Jay. She says her name is Joy. “Hi, Jay. I’m Joy.” Yes, you are, Jay thinks.”
They carry his “broken body” onto the beach.
Jay is saved through the blood of the whale’s heart, and his broken body. Could this be we are saved through the blood and broken body of Christ? Could be. Very interesting book. Just love the young man, Jay.
I heard about this book on one of the best book of the year lists.