This is Jean Craighead George's last novel. It tells the story of one whale - Siku and his relationship with a family of Eskimos. The original boy character Toozak witnesses Siku's birth but then, in a moment of bragging, leads whalers straight to some whales. The shaman of hos tribe curses Toozak and his family with the responsibility of protecting Siku until either Siku dies or Siku saves one of his family members. The novel itself stretches from 1848 - 2048 as several generations of Toozak's watch for Siku.
I appreciated Jean Craighead George's love of nature and the love for these whales. The language was beautiful in portions where the land and the environment were the focus. However, given the vast timeline there wasn't a good flow. Some characters - the original Toozak and Emily received larger portions of the book while others were cursory. As far as the curse, other than warning Siku a few times here and there I didn't see that the Toozak's really protected Siku all that much. While I have been a fan of Jean Craighead George's work...I don't think this was the best.
No comments:
Post a Comment