The Porpoise

A Novel

By: Mark Haddon

Narrated by: Tim McInnerny

Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

In a bravura feat of storytelling, Mark Haddon calls upon narratives ancient and modern to tell the story of Angelica, a young woman trapped in an abusive relationship with her father. When a young man named Darius discovers their secret, he is forced to escape on a boat bound for the Mediterranean. To his surprise, he finds himself travelling backward over 2,000 years to a world of pirates and shipwrecks, of plagues and miracles and angry gods.

Moving seamlessly between the past and the present, Haddon conjures the worlds of Angelica and her would-be savior in thrilling fashion. As profound as it is entertaining, The Porpoise is a stirring and endlessly inventive novel from one of our finest storytellers.

©2019 Mark Haddon (P)2019 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"This audiobook is a perfect storm in which the beautiful yet brutal powers of author Mark Haddon and narrator Tim McInnerny collide in an awesome display.... If this doesn't sound like a 'light beach listen,' you're right. But you WILL listen on the beach. And in your car. And on your run. And anywhere and any chance you get. Because once you begin the voyage that is this novel, McInnerny's gale-force narration will drive you on." (AudioFile Magazine)

"An artfully crafted story of layered lives...Haddon’s ambitious tale captures the ethos of tragic Shakespearean vibrations and the tangle of lives that magically intersect. The prose is exquisite and elevates this story that blends reality and mythology to great effect." (Publishers Weekly)

"A full-throttle blast of storytelling mastery. Ancient and modern overlap in exhilarating ways, it's like romping through a literary Netflix: an episode of something historical and bloody, then something slick and contemporary, then something really weird and unnerving.... The Porpoise is a joy to read." (Max Porter, author of the International Dylan Thomas Prize-winning Grief Is the Thing with Feathers)

"Mark Haddon cuts down to the grittiness of humanity every time he writes. The Porpoise is a beautiful, unputdownable, ancient tangle with its own sweeping tides and dangerous depths." (Daisy Johnson, author of the Booker Prize finalist Everything Under)

Haddon does it again

loved everything about the book. interesting juxtaposition of ancient and contemporary. beautifully read. I want more.

Stick to one story line

I don’t really get why or how this was all weaved together. The author is a talented writer, but the story/stories were just too inconsistent. For me it was lot of asking WHY is this a story, how does all of this go together. The story really doesn’t have reason for being told or an ending. Nothing comes together.

Beautifully Written.....

……….exasperating read...…….!!!!!!!! Haddon takes the reader everywhere and then some! I often backed up and re-read just to make certain I absorbed it all. Absolutely beautifully written....get ready for a whole lot of story...……..but very much worth it.

"If you think this ends well...

... you haven't been paying attention. " I'm not sure some classics need retelling. It is written well, the performance is good.

Fantastic!

Mark Haddon is a master story teller! Tim McInnerny reads with compassion and conviction. I listen to a lot of audio books, I have no idea what to listen to next after this book. What can possibly compete?

Mesmerizing story!

I loved this story and performance. I found myself going for more walks or sitting in the car at the end of a drive because I couldn’t stop listening and I was definitely sad when I finished. Highly recommended!

Majestic, compelling, Haddon is brilliant

The only problem with reading a book as good as The Porpoise is that it ruins your subsequent readings. It takes awhile to forget how good Haddon's writing is and to accept lesser books as worthy to be read.

Very good parts, but lacking something as a whole

Haddon is a powerful writer and has a great imagination. The separate sections of the book are good in themselves. But they don't hang together very well. E.g. The scenes involving Shakespeare have only a slight and almost gratuitous connection to the main two story lines, which aren't very well connected themselves. Shades of Cloud Atlas, but not so well done.

Utterly inventive and compelling

Not at all what I expected, an allegorical trip encompassing human sorrows and resilience in a way I would never have imagined. This is a skilled piece of literature with succint and illuminatory language. I was sorry when it ended.

Very frustrating

Haddon is a strong writer, but this was an ultimately very frustrating book. The multiple narratives, of different timelines and not all of which were fleshed out well or fully, made it hard to get into the book and made for a disjointed experience.