(by Dave Eggers)
At the start of this novella we meet Aurora, who’s been in charge of her dad’s whale watching business for the past two years, since his retirement. Business isn’t booming, but it’s steady, both for Aurora and for her friend Declan, whose “looser and boozier” tours leave from the same pier. There used to be a third whale watching boat on the same pier too, and the three captains co-existed (and told each other about any sightings when they were out on the water, so their passengers could all see whatever there was to see)—but that boat was recently sold. When it reappears with a new look and a new name, it isn’t long before Aurora and Declan realize that its new captain is not as community-minded as the old one. And it’s not just that the new guy, Brandin, doesn’t radio Aurora and Declan when his boat spots a whale: it soon becomes clear that his vision for the pier doesn’t include Aurora and Declan at all.
I don’t want to say more about the plot because it’s a pleasure to see things unfold, but I really liked this love letter to everything “impractical and untidy about the California coast,” which is “open and messy and public,” much to the dismay of the Brandins of the world. I love when Aurora rhapsodizes in her mind about her life as a captain, “its freedom and light, the hunt of it, and the hint of danger, and the faces from all over the world, all on her boat, trusting her to show them prehistoric mothers swimming in golden water with their cloud-white babies.”
I’ve only read one other novella from this series (The Forgetters) but this definitely made me want to read more: they work as standalones/I haven’t read them in order, but looking at plot summaries of the others I think there are connections, and I look forward to piecing them together at some point.
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