Name: Kelly Macquire's review of The Porpoise by Mark Haddon
Item: The Porpoise
Rating: 5
Author: Kelly Macquire

Mark Haddon

‘Just downright brilliant... a transcendent, transporting experience’ Observer A motherless girl grows up in isolated luxury, hidden from the world by her wealthy father. She believes their life together is normal – but as time passes, she has a growing sense that something between them is very wrong. She cannot escape, so she seeks solace in her books. Her favourite tales are those that conjure ancient worlds – of angry gods and heroic mortals, one of whom will some day come to her rescue. Soon, she will forget where the page ends and her mind begins. ‘A full-throttle blast of storytelling mastery’ Max Porter

The Porpoise

Kelly Macquire

'Just downright brilliant... a transcendant, transporting experience' Observer 'A full-throttle blast of storytelling mastery' Max Porter A newborn baby is the sole survivor of a terrifying plane crash. She is raised in wealthy isolation by an overprotective father. She knows nothing of the rumours about a beautiful young woman, hidden from the world. When a suitor visits, he understands far more than he should. Forced to run for his life, he escapes aboard The Porpoise, an assassin on his tail... So begins a wild adventure of a novel, damp with salt spray, blood and tears. A novel that leaps from the modern era to ancient times; a novel that soars, and sails, and burns long and bright; a novel that almost drowns in grief yet swims ashore. Pirates rampage, a princess wins a wrestler's hand, and ghost women with lampreys' teeth drag a man to hell - and in which the members of a shattered family, adrift in a violent world, journey towards a place called home. 'A breathless, delightful, utterly absorbing read' Guardian **A Daily Telegraph and Metro Book of the Year** **Chosen by Lindsey Hilsum, author of In Extremis, and Stuart Turton, author of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle for the Observer, 'The Best Books of 2019 - Picked by the Year's Best Writers**

Daniel Kilby

The prose is absolutely beautiful in this meditation on the Pericles story, with its modern-day prologue woven through the text. The ending is absolutely heart breaking. #ThePorpoise #NetGalley

Not the book I’d normally pick up, very heavy themes and quite confusing sometimes. I read the book for a friend. Very interesting - which I liked - writing style.

Charlotte Squire

Ri Liu

Some moments of vivid writing, but then others that felt drawn out and needless. I don't have any knowledge of the original texts this story is inspired by, and without that context I'm at a loss as to what this book is about.

A motherless girl grows up in isolated luxury, hidden from the world by her wealthy father. She believes their life together is normal - but as time passes, she has a growing sense that something between them is very wrong.She cannot escape, so she seeks solace in her books. Her favourite tales are those that conjure ancient worlds - of angry gods and heroic mortals, one of whom will some day come to her rescue.Soon, she will forget where the page ends and her mind begins.

María Belén

I love retellings and I loved The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, but I haven't been moved or even liked a book by Haddon ever since.

I had a hard time with this one 'cause I didn't find the characters remotely interesting, I couldn't connect with them. I didn't care about them. I think this has something to do with the writing mainly. This book reads like a telegram; Haddon's prose lacks emotion.

I finished the book 'cause I hate DNFing but honestly, this was just plain boring.

-- Find my original blog post here http://www.kellread.com/blog-avenue/r... -- 

The Porpoise is a novel that seamlessly intertwines a modern tale with an ancient story. After Philipe’s wife is killed in a plane crash and their daughter Angelica survives, the wealthy father raises his daughter in near isolation. Although she wants for nothing, the father-daughter duo is not as it appears from outside eyes. When Darius stumbles into a far darker and troubled home than he was anticipating, he flees the house and the girl in desperate need of help. It is at this point that the ancient story of Pericles, Prince of Tyre, a story which dates back to Ancient Greece, is woven into the novel as easily as taking a breath. From this moment you are transported from present-day to ancient history, from consciousness to consciousness in a truly unforgettable way.

 She recounts these tales to herself in idle moments, inevitably changing them a little every time, and comes to believe, in some occult way, that these are stories of her own invention, that she is bringing these lives into being, as if she is one of the Fates, those supernatural women who make and cut the thread of life. 

It is incredibly hard to put into words how I feel about this book. For most of the time, I was like ‘?????’ But also actively enjoying it. Haddon’s prose is stunning. It ebbs and flows in a way that makes you feel steady amidst a novel so busy. His language is whimsical in a sense that the perfect words have been chosen to convey the dreamlike, or almost, an intangible sense that nothing is as it seems. To say that this book doesn't give you a break is an understatement. From page 1 you know that this is going to be unlike anything you’ve ever read before. 

 She can see it clearly now. Everyone inhabits a different world. 


The Porpoise effortlessly blends the modern with ancient. It’s split into five sections and has no chapters, but often changes in time are marked by a paragraph marker. I think this was such a brilliant way to keep the novel flowing as one continuous story. To have chapters splitting up time and space would have made it feel clunky and wrong, but this way, you simply glide from one time to the next, letting the story take you with it. The novel is a retelling of a Greek myth that no longer survives and incorporates the play written by Willian Shakespeare and George Wilkins; Pericles, Prince of Tyre. I’m not sure whether being familiar with the myth and the play will work to your advantage when reading this book, but I loved going into it completely without bias. Haddon had full rein over this myth, since there is no ancient source to work with, and what he has done with it is truly incomparable. The writing is mesmerising and the characters are all so unique and utterly human. They’re flawed, often they’re morally grey, and together, they convey the spectrum of the human condition. 

 She likes the idea that death did not come to take him away but that he decided to go and meet it. 


Once again I have written the most chaotic book review to ever exist, but It’s impossible to get into any plot point or even character in this novel without giving something away. It is unlike anything I have ever read before, but I implore you to read this book.

Kelly Macquire &
The Porpoise by Mark Haddon

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Kelly Macquire &The Porpoise by Mark Haddon

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Kelly Macquire &
The Porpoise by Mark Haddon