The Porpoise
Ratings7
Average rating3.1
My first experience with Mark Haddon's writing was a short story included in the marvelous collection ‘‘8 Ghosts''. That story was the only one I didn't like but I decided to give him a chance when ‘‘The Porpoise'' came my way. Unfortunately, I found out that we don't match.
''Pericles'' has never been one my favourite Shakespeare plays. Nevertheless, when you decide to reimagine one of his plays, you need to be careful. In my opinion, Haddon doesn't have the chops to carry out such a task. ‘‘Pericles'' is arguably the most enigmatic play in the canon but Haddon's writing was anything but enigmatic or cryptic. In my opinion, it was flat, unengaging and dry. The characters were devoid of any substance or soul and seemed pure caricatures in my eyes. The dialogue was average, at best, and the continuous back-and-forth in time was a mess.
This was an extremely disappointing reading experience.
Many thanks to Random House UK and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I somehow didn't notice when I picked up The Porpoise, that it is based on the ancient story of Antiochus, who “fell in love with” his daughter as a substitute for his dead wife. When I realized that was what I was reading, I very nearly stopped. I did not want to read about male adventures based on the suffering of a female rape victim. I kept reading, though, and found that the male adventure was far from happy-go-lucky, and in fact carried a lot of its own suffering. No one gets through this story unscathed. Is that a recommendation? I don't know.
The Porpoise is a labyrinth of stories, winding inwards and outwards in time, with three different (but intimately related) narratives. The outermost part of the story is set in modern times. The infant Angelica survives the plane crash that kills her mother Maja, and is raised, and subsequently abused by her fabulously wealthy father Phillipe. A would be rescuer/suitor, Darius, shows up, is nearly killed by Phillipe, and has to go on the run...when he morphs into Pericles. The story continues with the adventures of Pericles of Tyre, with brief breaks to an encounter between William Shakespeare and George Wilkins, the (putative) writers of the play, Pericles. The struggle between Angelica and her father makes brief appearances throughout. Finally, the labyrinthine story winds back outward to end with Angelica.
The structure of the story is confusing. What do these three narratives have to do with each other? Why does the author intermingle them instead of telling each one straight through? Where am I in relation to what I read a few pages before? I can't say that all my questions were answered, but I was satisfied with the resolution of the problems.
Also, there's a bibliography of sources. As a librarian, I appreciate that.