Feldman's Faves: August 28, 2023

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE

Where does the time go? I feel I was just making summer plans and now we are buying school supplies.

I know that many of you have been working really hard over the last few months, which is greatly appreciated. I do hope you were all able to carve out some time to do fun things and enjoy the important people in your lives. One of my summer plans was to take my family to Stratford to see RENT. The show was great (as always) and the cast and staging were excellent. If you like musicals and want to spend a lovely day I strongly recommend you make the trip (to see this show, but there are a number of good options). There are many discount tickets available and if you bring your own food for a picnic it can be very affordable.

No theme this week – just random topics of interest

WHALEFALL By: Daniel Kraus – Being “of the land” and not the sea I had never heard of a whale fall, which basically describes the process of a whale dying, sinking to the bottom of the ocean and creating an ecosystem that lives for years beyond the life of the fallen whale. This concept has both literal and metaphorical meaning in this book. Daniel Kraus is a prolific author most famous for his book, The Shape of Water, which he turned into an award winning film in collaboration with Guillermo del Toro. In Whalefall, Kraus writes one of the most creative and inventive novels of the post-Covid era. He uses elements of the classic tale of Jonah and Whale and puts a very modern spin on it. The story focuses on the difficult relationship that Jay Gardiner (a teenager) had with his father Mitt (a local diving legend) and his coming to terms with his father’s struggles with mental health and then his suicide. The book starts on land but is not linear in its telling so we piece together the history of the Gardiner family over time that is fraught with conflict and drama. The one bond father and son have is with the ocean and diving. But this is the set up. The heart of the novel takes place when Jay goes diving and tries to find his dad’s remains but instead gets swallowed by a massive sperm whale. We learn in great detail about the anatomy of the whale and the terror of what it must be like be swallowed alive in Jay’s effort to escape (I won’t tell you how it ends…). All the while we get more flashbacks and a better understanding of the lives lived by the main characters. So creative and so cleverly weaved together. As one reviewer notes, “On its surface, WHALEFALL is a story of Jay Gardiner, a young man swallowed by a sperm whale. His determination to escape the whale is charted on one timeline, while the backstory of significant life events is traced on another. Jay is Jonah, his old self annihilated in the belly of the beast, and his biblical journey becomes something deeply personal. The dive is not just into the ocean, but into the unexplored depths of Jay’s depression, grief, survivor guilt, abuse, and most importantly, reaction to suicide. Jay grows up near Monterey, California under the shadow of his domineering father, Mitt, a local legend in the scuba diving community, despite repeated job failures and the strain he places upon his family. The relationship between Jay and his father deteriorates over the years until Jay leaves home as a new darkness infiltrates his family. Without giving too much away, Daniel explores the themes of depression and suicide through a highly crafted narrative. Instead of focusing upon a single event, the story slowly evolves the experience of depression over time and across many areas: financial, emotional, vocational, and interpersonal, creating an authentic portrayal of this experience. Daniel sidesteps over-simplification as well as triggering events by not focusing on one reason behind the experience of depression. Daniel’s handling of suicide is likewise commendable. He avoids immersing the reader into the dramatic action of the event itself, but rather, calls upon a secondary character to deliver the news to Jay. This strategy conforms with contemporary trends of not describing suicidal events in detail due to their triggering natures. Overall, Daniel Kraus treats these themes with a delicate, realistic hand. Should the book have a trigger warning? Perhaps. Having to say only “perhaps” speaks to how well this book deals with mental and emotional illness.

Some readers may see themselves reflected in Jay’s story—especially those who have been directly touched by these themes. Within the depths of the sea and swells of Jay’s recollections of his relationship with his father, the story offers landmarks for the hidden-most aches some of us may scarcely know how to articulate. Daniel’s story may draw us down into the points Of our most abandoned places and yet, he also leads us into shades of redemption, and even quiet triumph. We may recall our own unique paths of grief, and our need to resist the pressure to grieve as others say we should, because only then, after the painful transformation, can we get to the other side. The poetic and philosophical elements serve as invitations for those who know complicated grief, and whose memories are tainted by dark and devilish things, but the familiarity of Jay’s experience invites us to seek balance in our own stories, as we too, lift them from the belly of the whale. Highly recommended, WHALEFALL certainly does not glamorize suicide, but shows how it leaves behind so many unanswered questions. In WHALEFALL, a son bears the heavy burdens of his father. It celebrates the perseverance of the human spirit, even if it breaks our bodies apart along the way. WHALEFALL whispers of John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row, William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, and Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Like William Blake’s invitation “to see the world in a grain of sand,” it is both cosmic and intimate. WHALEFALL is an act of devotion and a gift. To connect with its gaze is to connect with ourselves.” This book is cinematic in nature and one I could easily see becoming a blockbuster film in the near future. Here is a good review from the NYT - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/30/books/review/daniel-kraus-whalefall.html

The McKinsey Podcast - The path to greater productivity and prosperity in Africa – Despite certain areas of political conflict and unrest, the team at McKinsey is extremely bullish on the future economic success of this continent, which in addition to being “resource rich” is developing as a tech hub in many of its countries. There is of course, no one Africa, and McKinsey creates four categories of countries in Africa based on their different stages of economic progress and growth (which itself may be an oversimplification but is a useful framework to start to understand) – ranging from those who have had above average growth for over 20 years to those, with slow growth to those that are shrinking. The average has been boosted by smaller with great ambitions. Here is an excerpt from the PODCAST itself, “By 2050, about 25 percent of the world’s population will be from the African continent. What can be done now to support Africa’s educational infrastructure, bountiful resources, and technological innovation? On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey partner Mayowa Kuyoro and senior partner Acha Leke share details from their latest research on Africa and outline the strengths and assets the continent has that can help it vastly improve its productivity and reinvigorate its economy. They join host and editorial director Roberta Fusaro.” https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-mckinsey-podcast/id285260960?i=1000624055798

Thank you for your ongoing engagement and participation. And remember to stay safe, stay healthy and to docket daily.

Jon