'I really am so very, very sorry about this,' he says, in an oddly formal voice... They strike the side of a grain silo. They are travelling at seventy miles per hour. A newborn baby is the sole survivor of a terrifying plane crash. She is raised in wealthy isolation by an overprotective father. She knows nothing of the rumours about a beautiful young woman, hidden from the world. When a suitor visits, he understands far more than he should. Forced to run for his life, he escapes aboard The Porpoise, an assassin on his tail ...
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'I really am so very, very sorry about this,' he says, in an oddly formal voice... They strike the side of a grain silo. They are travelling at seventy miles per hour. A newborn baby is the sole survivor of a terrifying plane crash. She is raised in wealthy isolation by an overprotective father. She knows nothing of the rumours about a beautiful young woman, hidden from the world. When a suitor visits, he understands far more than he should. Forced to run for his life, he escapes aboard The Porpoise, an assassin on his tail... So begins a wild adventure of a novel, damp with salt spray, blood and tears. A novel that leaps from the modern era to ancient times; a novel that soars, and sails, and burns long and bright; a novel that almost drowns in grief yet swims ashore; in which pirates rampage, a princess wins a wrestler's hand, and ghost women with lampreys' teeth drag a man to hell - and in which the members of a shattered family, adrift in a violent world, journey towards a place called home.
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Add this copy of The Porpoise to cart. $2.95, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2019 by RANDOM HOUSE UK.
Add this copy of The Porpoise to cart. $2.95, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2019 by RANDOM HOUSE UK.
Add this copy of The Porpoise to cart. $14.99, good condition, Sold by Goldstone Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Ammanford, CARMS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2019 by Chatto & Windus.
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Add this copy of The Porpoise to cart. $16.83, very good condition, Sold by Greener Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from London, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2019 by Chatto & Windus.
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Add this copy of The Porpoise to cart. $31.48, very good condition, Sold by Kennys.ie rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Galway, IRELAND, published 2019 by Chatto & Windus.
I have to admit a certain amount of shame with The Porpoise - I was granted the ARC back in February 2019 and I started it that May just ahead of its initial publication date. Having loved 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time' I was excited to read something new by Mark Haddon. I got to about 20% of the way through, where Darius somehow, inexplicably turns into Pericles, put it down and never picked it back up again. It then proceeded to haunt my Goodreads 'Currently Reading' list, staring up at me every time I logged in for almost *2 years* before I picked it up again in the hope of clearing out my TBR. This time however, I finished it in two sittings and learnt my lesson to just persevere with books I don't initially enjoy!
The Porpoise is an odd story; it's essentially a re-telling of the play Pericles, Prince of Tyre, written in equal halves by William Shakespeare and George Wilkins. There's perhaps a reason why this Shakespeare story is not particularly well-known or often retold as it's a bit of a meandering epic, with Shakespeare's usual trademarks of confusing identity changes and too convenient coincidences which muddy the waters a little. This is interspersed with the story of Angelica, a teenage girl whose father abuses her and as a result she retreats into her imagination. It's kind of implied that she is making these scenes up in a dream after reading the book but I perhaps would have liked a little more hints to this throughout or some more of her experiences influencing the story. There's also a very weird segue halfway through where we briefly meet George Wilkin's after he has died and see his journey into the afterlife. This was very weird and jarred with everything around it - I honestly do not understand why it was included.
I skimmed the synopsis for Pericles before I started reading The Porpoise and I'm glad that I did. I think if you are already aware of the story you will get more out of the book than going in cold. Most of it seems very faithful to the original, with a few tweaks here and there. I didn't understand why nearly all of the character's names had been kept the same except the wife who was called Chloe instead of Thaisa. I think this change would have worked better if it was perhaps a re-working of the name Angelica to perhaps link the two stories together? In any case, I actually enjoyed the story of Pericles and it's very well told although it's hard to tell whether this is a credit to its source material or if Haddon should be praised for this. Having only read the synopsis of Pericles it's hard to tell.
Overall, if you are able to persevere and suspend your disbelief then The Porpoise is an interesting book. However, it feels as though it is two stories that aren't properly linked and this seems like a missed opportunity. Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK, Vintage Publishing and Chatto & Windus for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
