A review by artemine
Whalefall by Daniel Kraus

to me like watching a good action movie – a mix of surprising narrative depth packed in between gimmicky twists you have to suspend disbelief for, but then you knew what you were getting into from the start. it shows the author is a screenwriter/movie guy, the cinematic influences are very vivid here and as a book it comes out uneven. the prose is sometimes quite poetic, sometimes it's heavy handed, sometimes it hits just right. i was quite moved by the exploration of bad father/bad son relationship here and while at times its metaphors/facts/plot points felt very "cameo for whale enthusiasts", i am a whale enthusiast and i enjoyed every cameo. so there is that. overall well done book, i would have enjoyed it more if the protagonist had died but i understand that's not at all what we were going for here. James Franco's 127 hours performance really did a number on Daniel Kraus i wonder if James Franco read Moby Dick in turn. i enjoyed both and hold the superior more correct enjoyment of all 3 as a result