Whale Talk

By: Chris Crutcher

Narrated by: Brian Corrigan

There’s bad news and good news about the Cutter High School swim team. The bad news is that they don’t have a pool. The good news is that only one of them can swim anyway. A group of misfits brought together by T. J. Jones (the J is redundant), the Cutter All Night Mermen struggle to find their places in a school that has no place for them. T.J. is convinced that a varsity letter jacket–exclusive, revered, the symbol (as far as T.J. is concerned) of all that is screwed up at Cutter High–will also be an effective tool. He’s right. He’s also wrong. Still, it’s always the quest that counts. And the bus on which the Mermen travel to swim meets soon becomes the space where they gradually allow themselves to talk, to fit, to grow. Together they’ll fight for dignity in a world where tragedy and comedy dance side by side, where a moment’s inattention can bring lifelong heartache, and where true acceptance is the only prescription for what ails us.

Critic reviews

“Crutcher’s gripping tale of small-town prejudice delivers a frank, powerful message about social issues and ills.”
-- Publishers Weekly, Starred

The humanity of decent people

I loved the first person narrative of TJ and the reality of how so little we know about what’s happening in other peoples lives

Something to Learn

It was a very good story. We can all learn something from it. Sad but, still fulfilling.

Best audio book I have ever listened to

This story is so well written and so captivating that I listened to it in two days

One of my favorites

This book made me go out for swim team in high-school. One of the best decisions I ever made.

Whale Talk

I liked that u can’t tell a book by its cover! Wish there were more people in the world like the characters in this story! Maybe there are, but we don’t hear about them😔