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ClareR (6054 KP) rated Pod in Books

Feb 12, 2023  
Pod
Pod
Laline Paull | 2022 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Having read, loved and recommended The Bees many times (and The Ice, too!), I thought I knew what to expect from Laline Paull. Well, I was right and wrong!

Firstly, I loved Pod.
Secondly, it gave me a lot to think about.
Thirdly, how does Laline Paull put herself in a dolphins shoes (flippers? Sorry…) and not make it sound like a children’s book? And I should stress: this is NOT a children’s book.

Paull may have anthropomorphised dolphins, various fish, all and any sea life, but she has stayed pretty close to what I’ve learnt is their true nature (thank you David Attenborough!). Dolphins are very intelligent, playful and seem to know what humans want (maybe that’s just me reading more into these things). But they’re also hunters, they have a pecking order, and I don’t think you’d want to be at the bottom of it if you were a dolphin!

This novel shows the joyful side of being a dolphin, the way that they must work together for the greater good of the pod. It also shows how violent they are - there’s even a dolphin rape scene that was every bit as upsetting as if it had been a human.

In amongst all the dolphin drama is a message for us humans. We see the damage the human race is doing to the oceans: pollution, over-fishing, capturing dolphins for food, entertainment, or warfare.

Pod is graphic in places. It most definitely doesn’t pull its punches - and why should it?

This novel is not sentimental, jam packed with happy, child-friendly dolphins. Pod looks at the real struggles of sea life (and there’s not just dolphins involved). These dolphins are fighters, authoritarian, protective of one another, followers of tradition as well as migration routes, they deal with the results of humanity’s selfishness and cost-cutting.

The imagination and empathy that must have gone in to writing this: I’ve seen how a dolphin, a whale, a wrasse, a clam, a remora and a sea anemone feel and behave (I like to think so, anyway!).
How could I NOT love this book? 🤷🏼‍♀️