Review: And The Ocean Was Our Sky


There’s no question, Patrick Ness's narrative is one hundred per cent magnetic. I was drawn in from Bathsheba's first words so cleverly echoing another unforgettable classic, Moby Dick.

And The Ocean Was Our Sky is a magnificent example of fusing an acknowledged convention, as defined by classic tales of the past, with an equally formidable retelling. This time around, it is the whales, or rather one spirited conflicted whale, Bathsheba that voices this unique saga.

The prose is easy to read, the premise made apparent through Bathsheba's descriptions and internal thoughts, opinions she is reluctant to share because they describe a differing of beliefs.

This tale of two worlds continually at conflict, warring and waging revenge is as old as the seas, yet this time we are experiencing the hunt from a dramatically different point of view, from the gigantic eyes of the masters of the oceans, the whales.

In their world, ours is literally upside, in an abyss that is both despised and ironically misunderstood. The misreckonings work both ways however, for man is ignorant of the ingenuity that floats above him (below the whales as it were). The whales are much more than just the largest creatures on the planet. They are giants of industry and technology and yet like us, they are subject to myth and legends born from fear and hatred; the worst devils those the ones we make...

Gripping and thought provoking, And The Ocean Was Our Sky is a brilliant, savage plea to live and let live. A silent scream to keep hearsay in check. A caution that the only hunt worth embarking on is the one for truth.

Interspersed with stunning monochromatic sketches by the equally talented, Rovian Cai, this is a novel to experience and ponder over long after the end. And like, A Monster Calls, this is a story that speaks powerfully to adults as well as young readers.

Title: And The Ocean Was Our Sky
Author: Patrick Ness
Illustrator: Rovian Cai
Publisher: Walker Books, $24.99
Publication Date: September 2018
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781406383560
For ages: 10+
Type: Middle Grade Illustrated Fiction

 Buy the Book: Walker Books Australia, Boomerang Books


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: The Goldfish Boy

Image
Twelve-year-old Matthew Corbin is your regular pre-teen boy living in an unspectacular cul-de-sac deep in British suburbia. The major difference between him and the other inhabitants of Chestnut Close however is the state of his red-raw hands and tortured mind and the fact that he barely steps outside his terraced-home second story bedroom. Matthew is afflicted with severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, OCD and can barely function as a result. From his fishbowl vantage point, Matthew keeps track of his neighbours, dutifully recording their every movement, their comings and goings, and their habitual rituals in his notebooks. In this way we are introduced to the residents and their characteristic irks and quirks from the get go in a way that is both intriguing and comical. Matthew’s observations allude to his condition; he is both analytical and detailed in his approach. The orderliness of his notations suggest a mind used to repetition and accuracy, an intense desire to ‘get things r...
Read more

Review: Detention

Image
Tristan Bancks signed my copy of Detention with a note hoping it kept me turning pages . This book lived up to that promise and then some. Packed with page-turning tension and relentless drama, this is one middle grade novel that may cause a few kids to miss their dinner call. Yet despite the raw gritty urgency that suffuses nearly every page and the elevated sense of dread and desperation that keeps your heart in top gear, the pace is never too manic nor too hectic to enjoy the energising mix of edgy excitement and sincere emotion Bancks does so well. Dan is an inner suburban boy living on the outer perimeters of life. He’s classified as trailer park trash because of his permanent residence at the social-economically deprived Midgenba caravan park. It’s a title that comes with an ineradicable smear of hopeless. Deep down though, Dan’s a good kid, a caring kid. The type of kid who’ll risk his own face to save a vicious dying dog, which he does one day after finding Rosco tied ...
Read more

I've got a dream

Image
Almost a decade of moons ago, I made a serendipitous discovery that forever altered the spin of my world. Falling pregnant after so many years of waiting and yearning was nothing short of miraculous (for me) and a life event definitely worth waxing lyrical about. But did I? Sadly, not as much I as wanted to. There are those who find it hard to exist without sharing the contents of their dinner plates with the rest of  the world, then there are others who worry that a beautifully executed birthday cake photo shared on social media will somehow demean the starving populations of the world. I oscillate between the two but tend towards the latter, always fretting over how others will take good news in light of their own current situations and struggles, thus resorting to a severe downplaying of my own good fortune. The pregnancy of my first child should have been a joyous occasion - it was a joyous pregnancy after all - but I was acutely conscious at the time of another family me...
Read more