Helpful Score: 5
I'm glad I listened to this audio book. It was interesting and gave me a new perspective on ocean swimmers, human and marine. However, it's obvious the narrator is the author rather than an actor. Cox's voice is nice, but her annunciation is not polished like a professional's would be. If the book were long, this might have annoyed me but it was not much of a distraction. I only had to rewind a couple of times. Regarding the writing itself, Cox really needed a good editor. Minor changes could have made for much better prose. All in all, though, a short, satisfying read.
Helpful Score: 3
Beautifully written story of an ocean long-distance swimmer experiencing the colors, sounds, feelings of existing in the sea a short distance off shore. The true tale of a morning when the author encounters a baby whale separated from his mother and how the two swimmers establish a relationship while working against time to reunite the infant with his mother. A happy ending for all is a foregone conclusion; this story's beauty lies in the experience of an oceanic world -- the animals, the currents, the sights and sounds -- and the developing relationship between this young girl and baby whale and then his mother. I thoroughly enjoyed becoming submerged in a world completely alien to me. The author has marvelous descriptive talent.
Helpful Score: 2
After having heard great things about this little book, I eagerly popped it in the player on a trip. Unfortunately, we never finished it. The narrator's voice, enunciation, inflections, were annoying, distracting from the story, but worse, this book needed a serious editing. Too much description of the water, the sky, nothing that mattered to the story. It went on forever, it seemed, with nothing happening. Trying to build suspense with words was grossly overdone, and seriously, it can only go on so long before someone asks wearily, "Can we shut this off now?" We all agreed...
Helpful Score: 2
What a wonderful way to spend three hours; Grayson is a delightful (true story) encounter a swimmer has with a baby gray whale. It really keeps you hooked too; waiting to see what happens. It is ready by the author/swimmer also. A once-in-a-life-time, life changing experience.
Helpful Score: 1
Absolutely wonderful true story. This would be great for kids also. Especially nice for teachers. Story of Lynne Cox training in the ocean and is befriended by a baby gray whale that has lost his mother and if Lynne goes to shore to get out of water the baby whale will follow her and die. He will also die if mother is not found, as baby whales have to have milk very often. Lynne and the baby whale "Grayson" come to trust each other and as close as a animal and human can get to communicating--they do. I loved every minute of the time spent with this cd.
While on training off the coast of CA, she befriends a lost baby whale and swims alongside trying to locate his mother.
I loved this audio story- the gorgeous descriptions of the turtles and dolphins playing; the interaction between the author/swimmer and the baby whale was tender and touching. I could almost have been there, looking at the beautiful sunrise with them. I was rooting for the baby and Lynne to find the missing mama whale. I was in awe of Lynne's strength and endurance. Of course, I grew up watching Sea Hunt on the old television show, and wanted to be an oceanographer after high school- until I watched the movie Jaws!! I was scared several times that what Lynne was sensing in the ocean depths was a mankiller shark...beautiful and engrossing- I did not want to get out of the car and walk into work. Kept going out at lunchtime from work to see what happened next.
Very short, very interesting little book. The author/narrator goes a little overboard with adjectives but it is a good story.
I love this story. Very inspiring.
Andrew K. (kuligowskiandrewt) -
You're swimming alone in cool water, paralleling the California coastline, BUT you're realizing you're not alone in the water. In another genre, this will be the first line of a book about some sort of monster - real creature or imagined. Here, the author describes her experience with a baby gray whale who has become separated from his mother.
The book is a short, entertaining read (or, on 3 CDs, less than a 3 hour listen). The author walks a fine line with anthromorphism - neither taking the poet's approach of unequivocably assigning the whale and other sea creatures human emotions, nor taking a scientists' absolute denial of them. Ms Cox does walk a fine line between paralleling the whale and swimmer's challenges with others that the reader may encounter during life - after thinking about it, I still cannot decide if these add a depth to the narrative or if they distract from the basic story. I suspect each reader will have a different opinion on this topic.
I've thought about acquiring this book for over a year; now that I've finished, I wonder "what took me so long?"
The book is a short, entertaining read (or, on 3 CDs, less than a 3 hour listen). The author walks a fine line with anthromorphism - neither taking the poet's approach of unequivocably assigning the whale and other sea creatures human emotions, nor taking a scientists' absolute denial of them. Ms Cox does walk a fine line between paralleling the whale and swimmer's challenges with others that the reader may encounter during life - after thinking about it, I still cannot decide if these add a depth to the narrative or if they distract from the basic story. I suspect each reader will have a different opinion on this topic.
I've thought about acquiring this book for over a year; now that I've finished, I wonder "what took me so long?"
