A 52-Hertz Whale is the debut novel of authors Natalie Tilghman and Bill Sommer. initially, I thought the email format (in which the entire book is written) is corny, but I came around to like it as the story progressed.Īs for the flaws, the ending could have been a bit tighter, I thought, and also there were a couple of misspells, but these don't take away much from the overall awesomeness of the book. It has a lot of things I like - whales, teenage love, random scientific facts, phrases and expressions in foreign languages etc. Having nothing to read last weekend, I picked it up and started reading. I had bought this book for my teenage daughter as a Christmas present since I thought it's a bit different from all the dystopian stuff that she reads normally. ini Another YA book, which seems to be the type of all the little fiction I read these days. It sounds convoluted, and it is.but it is also entertaining and fun.Īnother YA book, which seems to be the type of all the little fiction I read these days. You get to know the supporting cast through their emails either to the main characters or to each other. Told only through email exchanges, this story is wacky and interesting. When one of the whales, Salt, separates from the group and is beached, James panics and contacts a most unlikely ally.a 20-something volunteer he once met in his special education class. He knows everything there is to know about them, and even follows a pod online. James is a 14-year old with autism (not explicitly stated, but understood) who has a fixation on whales. Told only through email exchanges, this story is wacky This was a quirky and strange look at friendship in the technology era. This was a quirky and strange look at friendship in the technology era. Come for the whale, stay for the human dysfunction.more Spoiler? I just want you to be prepared if you're coming for the whales. I mean, there's one, but he spends a lot of the book dead, so don't get excited. There are really not any whales in this book. It made what could be a rather claustrophobic contemporary into a roomy narrative.ĥ. My teen years were populated by many non-teens, and I appreciated that this teen novel was populated by non-teens as well. It is nothing like SOME DAY THIS PAIN WILL BE USEFUL TO YOU, apart from also possessing a narrator named James, but it touched me in the same way. 52 doesn't have a lot of words to do it in, since there's no description and a fair number of characters sending e-mails, but I nonetheless felt I knew all the parties involved. There is some deft portrait-making in this book. I know I use the word big-hearted a lot to describe the books I love, but it fits this little novel well.ģ. The novel is ultimately uplifting without being saccharine. Both of them have terrible things happening in their lives - fractured relationships and public humiliation - but the conceit of e-mail-chapters means it is funneled through their wryly self-deprecating and dutifully factual voices, respectively. With that out of the way, I can tell you that I found the two main characters of this book - a disenchanted, heartbroken film student and a socially challenged, maybe-Aspergers whale lover - revoltingly charming.

It might not for you, though, so I'm putting it right here as #1. I have a high-gimmick tolerance, though, as long it doesn't get in the way of my emotional or intellectual enjoyment of a book. As a writer, I understand that yes, this is a gimmick. With that out of the way, I can tell you that I found the two main characters of this book - a disenchanted, heartbroken film FIVE THINGS ABOUT THE 52-HERTZ WHALEġ.

52 hertz whale