A Whale for the Killing

Rating:
Summary: A true story with unexpectedly clear symbolism
Review: "A Whale for the Killing" chronicles the unlikely and you might also say, unseemly doings in a small Newfoundland outport in the 1960s. In what soon proved to be a run of bad luck, one of the largest of the sea mammals, a Fin whale, found itself trapped in a huge body of water near the town of Burgeo. It had managed to just slide over a rocky underwater escarpment and get into the bay, but try as it might it could not get out again.

Farley Mowat's part in the story is rather extraordinary and I won't go into it in detail here, for fear of spoiling it. Suffice it to say that he becomes, as far as such a thing is possible, the trapped whale's guardian and broadcasts the story of its plight throughout the world. His relationship with the mammal develops in conjunction with his relationship with the townspeople of Burgeo and the local and provincial authorities. I would not like to call this a thrilling story, because that seems hardly appropriate, but it is a dramatic one whichever way you look at it. In the process of attempting to rescue the whale, Mowat (and now, through the book, us) learns a great deal more about human nature than he might have imagined he would, beforehand.

Farley Mowat has written innumerable books about wildlife, the environment and the Canadian wilderness in general. This is a book he scarcely planned to write but he brings to it all the skills of the writer who has practised his art over many years. It is a first-rate story about living on Earth in the twentieth century, and it should be widely read for the message it contains about the frailty of all existence.

Rating:
Summary: A novel only Farley Mowat could write
Review: Farley Mowat has often been criticised for his "embellishments", but while his facts may be suspect his motives are sincere. 'A Whale For the Killing' is a gut-wrenching look at the way we treat our oceans and our world in general. Mowat, always a pleasure to read, made me feel both angry and ashamed in this wonderful book.

Rating:
Summary: A painful story that must be told.
Review: This Farley Mowat book, written in the early 1970s, is one that grabs ahold of you. I could not set it down. It's a true story of a trapped whale off the Newfoundland coast and what happens because of the stupidity of humans. Farley Mowat uses the story to tell of the plight of all whales in human hands. Though much has changed since this was written, whales are still threatened and the story will still disturb you.

A touching, honest, beatifully written true story. This is book that you will not forget after reading.

Rating:
Summary: A GREAT BOOK
Review: This is a profoundly moving and important book, and I cannot recommend it too highly. Immensely readable and full of fascinating insights into the other "nations" with which we humans share this planet, it is also one of the very few books I have ever read which changed the direction of my life. For anyone who wants to truly understand this world in which we find ourselves this is one of the "must read" books.

Rating:
Summary: A GREAT BOOK
Review: This is a profoundly moving and important book, and I cannot recommend it too highly. Immensely readable and full of fascinating insights into the other "nations" with which we humans share this planet, it is also one of the very few books I have ever read which changed the direction of my life. For anyone who wants to truly understand this world in which we find ourselves this is one of the "must read" books.

Rating:
Summary: A GREAT BOOK
Review: This is a profoundly moving and important book, and I cannot recommend it too highly. Immensely readable and full of fascinating insights into the other "nations" with which we humans share this planet, it is also one of the very few books I have ever read which changed the direction of my life. For anyone who wants to truly understand this world in which we find ourselves this is one of the "must read" books.