5/21/2023 0 Comments Fathoms by Rebecca Giggs![]() ![]() In a chapter on whalefalls - the natural process of whales’ ocean-floor decomposition - she describes deep-sea fish resembling “bottled fireworks, reticulated rigging, and musical instruments turned inside out.” The firework fish orbit the whale skeleton, a “macabre marionette, jinking at the spine in the slight currents” before collapsing “to the seafloor, into the plush cemetery of the worms.” When a whale dies at sea, its body becomes host to a “great, pluripotent detonation of life.” Her ebullient descriptions amplify that detonation, inviting readers to marvel at “the wildness that attends the whale.”īut Giggs opts not to linger on the wildness. Her descriptions are often startling and compelling. Giggs is, in fairness, a beautiful writer. Ultimately, the book is unified less by narrative or argumentative structure than by Giggs’ densely poetic style and flights of allusion and imagination. “Fathoms” flits between genres, mixing science writing, cultural criticism, and personal essay without apparent pattern. This is a significant ethical and environmental project, and a worthy one. BOOK REVIEW - “Fathoms: The World in the Whale” by Rebecca Giggs (Scribe, 368 pages). ![]()
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