Imagine that you're a distance swimmer training for an upcoming event – one that you do not yet know will set a world record. You are seventeen-years-old and swimming in the cool Pacific just before daybreak when suddenly you sense the presence of something enormous, yet invisible. Would you panic? Probably. Would you summon the courage to refocus your thoughts and energy so that you might complete your routine? I wonder.
Lynne Cox's recently published "Grayson" is a memoir recounting her accidental encounter with a baby gray whale that had become separated from its mother. If Cox had finished her regular training routine, Grayson would have followed her to shore where he would have become beached, and almost certainly would have died. Cox, risking hypothermia, chose to remain with the agile calf, and together they searched for his missing mother. During their morning's adventure, Cox exchanged frustration with compassion as his needs became more important than her own. She knew that without his mother's milk, the calf's life would soon be imperiled.
Along the current, they chanced upon dolphins, jellyfish, bat rays, and other sea life as Cox and Grayson explored the depths between Long Beach and Catalina. Grayson, as energetic and exasperating as any toddler, seemed to play an aquatic version of hide and seek while Cox considered his fate, and worried about his future. Lifeguards and other regular seafarers lent their support while concerned spectators gathered along the pier.
Cox's vivid descriptions of her experience and its somersaulting emotions reveal a rare sensibility. Her simple prose is presented with a poet's imagination, the tone is personal without being overwrought--she charms us with the elegance of undiluted sentiment, and invites us to connect with her as beautifully as she bonded with her memoir's titled character. "Grayson" is a magical story containing eloquent insights about the essence of compassion and the sublime nature of love.
Lynne Cox's "Grayson" is published by Knopf, and should be available in libraries and bookstores throughout North America. ISBN: 978-0-307-26454-1 (0-307-26454-8)
rate
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 21
The last book I read about whales was Christopher Moore's "Fluke" -- not quite the same thing.
(Would you be willing to post this to Gather Library, too? I'm sure the librarians there would enjoy the book review.)
You really wrote a compelling review of this book, which I doubt I would have heard anything about if not for your review. As I return to school tomorrow, I don't think I'll be rushing out to find this--too many other priorities--but you've expanded my world just to make me aware of it, and perhaps I will be able to pick it up at some point. Thanks!
Jessie: It was just released. I picked it by fluke and was immediately absorbed.
Gerry: It's a quick and rewarding read. Good luck tomorrow, Senior.
Magi
Loretta: Cox's personal point of view allows us to savor the innocence of her youthful experience. Melville's late 19th Century tale reads more like an allegory of man's struggle against the dark side of nature.
My students read the first chapter today, and didn't complain, for a change. Dare I say that they seemed riveted? Yours might enjoy it, too.
OK, the first question was serious. If it's middle school you teach, just be glad it's a gray whale and not a sperm whale (unless you have lots of Snickers to hand out...).
I do have a student named Nowah (sic).
Marcia: I think you'll find the imagery fascinating, descriptions of phosporescence, and the effect of light layered though the depths.
I liked Moby Dick immensely. Melville's sense of humor, and the artful metaphors made the pages easy for me to turn. I confess, however, that the first time around with it, in my teens, was a drudge. I read it again three years ago, and was delighted by the story.
You would definitely understand Cox's memoir, and the love that inspired it.
I might have to give Moby a second look sometime. You make it sound so good.