Not Mark Haddon’s usual fare and unfortunately not my cup of tea. It was, without a doubt, too clever for me.

I’m not well versed in Greek mythology and have only read the obligatory (school) Shakespeare so, although I was completely absorbed in the plot surrounding Angelica and Darius I had no idea what was going on for a lot of the book. The movement between timelines didn’t help but I think my disorientation was more down to unfamiliarity with the original works that this was reworking.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

My thanks to Random House U.K. Vintage Publishing/Chatto & Windus for an eARC via NetGalley of Mark Haddon’s ‘The Porpoise’ in exchange for an honest review.

‘The Porpoise’ is essentially a retelling of the story of Pericles, Prince of Tyre (Apollonius/Appolonius). Yet rather than being only set in the ancient world it is blended with a modern-day tale that echoes elements of Pericles’ story with interludes that visit George Wilkins, Shakespeare’s collaborator on ‘Pericles’, at the end of his life in the early 17th Century.

I was not familiar with the source material of the Shakespeare/Wilkins play or the earlier myths though this was no barrier to my enjoyment. I appreciated that in his Author’s Note Haddon provided extensive background and his sources.

This novel is beautifully written, adventurous, multi-layered, complex, and breathtaking in its blending of myth, legend, and literature. Over a day after finishing I find myself feeling stunned.

I am totally in awe of Haddon. It takes great confidence and skill to not only write such elegant prose but to set aside conventions, including movement through time, tackle uncomfortable subjects such as incest and jealousy, while creating a work that while clearly literary remains accessible.

I fell in love with ‘The Porpoise’ and have never read anything quite like it. On completion I immediately bought my own hardback as I certainly want to reread to experience it again and again.

I have read and enjoyed a couple of other books by the same author and was looking forward to this one. It is however something of a disappointment overall.

I felt the beginning was going well and had the makings of an interesting novel surrounding loss and grief with more than a smattering of incest thrown in. However, somewhere in the hospital the story evolved into a retelling of Shakespeare's Pericles with no real connection between the two. At first I thought we were in the dream of Darius but this turned out not to be the case. I simply don't understand how we went from the moneyed lifestyle pf Phillipe in France and England to raging through the Greek mythology as told in plays by Shakespeare.

I think the book was saved from a one star review simply by the ability of the author to build scenes that dragged the reader into their midst. However it cannot truly be called a narrative rather disjointed pictures

The Porpoise is by far Mark Haddon's strangest and most unique novel, and that's exactly what I loved about it. From the beginning, you are launched head first into the action which is quite a shock to the system. It is apparently inspired by Pericles, Prince of Tyre, written in part by Shakespeare, so those who enjoy Greek Mythology will likely find much to love here. Exquisitely written, fascinating and a highly original and dramatic story which broaches some dark and disturbing topics, this is a difficult book to put down. Due to divisive topics and it being more than a little odd I feel this is what readers call a Marmite read - one you'll either love or hate.

This is a thoroughly ambitious novel that switches between reality and myth many times until the two merge. An engaging, absorbing and surprising page-turner with its roots set deeply in the 16-century tales of old. It had an ethereal, almost dreamlike atmosphere to it which was rather mesmerising and the twists and turns keep you reading despite the uncomfortable subject matter. I have been a huge fan of Haddon since the publication of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, but this is rather far removed from that tale. A highly entertaining and different read. Recommended to those who enjoy unusual fiction. Many thanks to Chatto & Windus for an ARC.

I didn't know what to expect when I started this book. I like literary fiction because if written well, it explores ordinary lives and finds the extraordinary. Characters have to be realistic and complex for this to work.

This is a different type of literary fiction, the characters are not ordinary, but rich, hedonistic and seemingly living outside the moral code ordinary mortals abide by. There is also large sections of the story where the characters are mythical, and you are unsure whether this an alternative reality, a story, or a journey back in time. These characters mirror many of the contemporary players.

The main focus of the story is an abused child, powerless with no voice, and no one to protect her, from her father, and his immorality. Reading what happens to Angelica evokes a myriad of emotions; anger, disgust, and sadness the most prevalent. This story is worthwhile reading because it gives her voice, and shows as she matures she attempts to take her life back into her control. Outsiders so-called heroes profess to help her escape but they don't, she is ultimately the strength in this story.

There is an adventure, suspense and great storytelling in 'The Porpoise', it perhaps helps to have some knowledge of the older stories that are weaved into the contemporary tale, but I didn't, and I was still intrigued and motivated, to see what happens next.

Just dive in, and let the stories absorb you. If you try to understand everything in this book, you will spoil the storytelling experience. Looking for something different to read? This is for you.

I received a copy of this book from Random House UK, Vintage Publishing - Chatto & Windus in return for an honest review.

I'm in two mind about this book: on one side it's well written and some part are enthralling. on the other side I found the plot confusing and the book feel flat.
Many thanks to Random House UK and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Beautifully written, often disturbing and at times disjointed, The Porpoise by Mark Haddon is hard to pin down, but overall a fascinating read. It opens in dramatic style with a plane crash, the only survivor being a new born baby. Her father, unable to fully accept the reality of what has happened, takes her away to bring up in seclusion. In a twisted way he sees in her all that he has left of his wife, and their relationship takes a very dark and disturbing turn. Years later a young man attempts to come to her rescue and ends up having to flee aboard a friend's boat and it is at this point that the book moves into more unusual territory. Switching between current reality, the ancient myth of Appolonius and even Shakespeare's version of the tale, Pericles, the author draws strong parallels and creates a new version of the story where reality and fantasy are difficult to separate.
While I cannot say I loved this book ,I can say that I admired the prose style and the craftsmanship and skill that went into its creation. I fully expect it to divide readers, but it is certainly one that at will provoke discussion.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Mark Haddon writes beautifully, there's absolutely no doubt, but for me this was just too far out there. Very uncomfortable start and then somehow just gets very weird. I enjoyed bits and pieces of the writing but I started skipping parts and I don't think I know anyone I'd recommend this to.

A rollercoaster of a read through genres and times. For a full review have a look at https://joebloggshere.tumblr.com/post/184708195726/the-porpoise-by-mark-haddon-a-roller-coaster-of

This started off really lovely and poignant and sad, and then it became... confusing?

Haddon plays with the various myths of Pericles of Tyre (Appolinus / Apollonius) and it's all very well done, very well written, very heart-wrenching. I don't know the original mythology well enough to tell you how accurate the retelling is or how much liberties Haddon as made. However, taking each section, each shift and retelling on its own, Haddon crafts each of them perfectly, entrancingly.

The problem lies with the fact that throughout the twists and turns of the mythology and symbolism, the storyline gets muddled. A character from the start (or the "real life" story) merges in the character of the myth, but instead of staying parallel, instead of staying true to type, the types seem to interchange and jump about until you're wondering: didn't Pericles start off as Darius? Why is he now seemingly Philippe? Is Angelique Chloe or Marina? Or both? It felt like several storylines and characters were lost in the shuffle and then conveniently forgotten about. Could this be because I don't know the core myth? Maybe. Still, it feels like something is missing--somewhere during the jumps between myth and life, some connections seem to have broken or were messed up.

Another thing that wasn't made clear enough for me: how does the myth relate to the real world? Is it all in Angelique's head? Or maybe in Darius's (since the shift starts during his timeline)? Are the intersections real intersections or are they just convenient shifting points for Haddon?

The material itself is also potentially triggering. It deals with grief, abuse and incest, leading to murder and self-harm. These are never fully resolved. There is no happy resolution. Instead, the ending is rather dark so if these are subject matters you have trouble with, this is not the book for you.

Note: review will post on blog.annatsp.com on 8/5/19

This book is beautifully written. I had not heard of Pericles and maybe if I had the story would have been easier to understand. I found it hard to keep reading after incest is talked about. It was very uncomfortable reading.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Well, I was looking forward to reading The Porpoise based upon the description proffered by NetGalley.
It started really well, so I hunkered down for a great page turner. But then it got a little weird. I think the clue may have been the unusual species of fish in the Channel. Next, The Porpoise loses Purpose and becomes a different vessel altogether, plying foreign seas with some weird crew members. I thought it may have been due to the hallucinations Darius may have suffered with his suppurating injuries. However, we've travelled through time and legend. This becomes the main section of the novel. Whilst not quite what I was expecting it was an interesting meld of similar stories across time.
Would I have read it had I have known? Probably not

Thanks to NetGalley and The Publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Porpoise is a very well written but confusing re-telling of Shakespeare’s play Pericles, which itself is inspired by the classical myths.. Having no knowledge of either, I felt I wasn't clever enough to fully appreciate what the author was trying to convey in his retelling.

The three stories were connected so tenuously, jumping from different locations and times points at a whim, at first I did wonder if there was an editorial error in the book. But the writing and the intrigue was so enjoyable that I stuck with it hoping that it would all come together in the end, but it didn't, really.

I think this book should come with a trigger warning as it deals with some very unsavoury subjects, thankfully not graphically.

Great writing but confusing layout makes me unsure of whether I would recommend it

Who would expect a novel, based on the myth of Pericles, to be a page turner? But this is just what Mark Haddon has successfully achieved with this excellent book "The Porpoise". The story starts in the 20th century where a tragedy is about to unfold that changes for ever, the life of Angelique and, Phillippe, her wealthy father. Haddon then seamlessly blends the evolving story into that of Pericles and his endless travels in search of the daughter he once abandoned. Along the way Haddon takes us on a gruesome, but not irrelevant, diversion involving the 16th century and William Shakespeare. At the end of the book all the threads are drawn together, bar one, and that is whether Pericles, Marina and Emilia ever reveal their past lives and so find happiness.. An absorbing and beautifully written book.

There are some spoilers in this but I couldn't really talk about the novel without including them, so if you haven't read it yet do that first! The reason is that this is a weird book and I think some people will not like it at all but Mark Haddon is such a good writer that he is able to make the story persuasive. What's not to like? The book opens with a ghastly plane crash and then unfolds into a somewhat detached account of predatory incestuous sex between father and daughter. A young man comes to court the daughter and appears to be brutally killed.

Then, the story lurches into a retelling of Pericles and the myths behind the Shakespeare play and, now, we seem to be with Pericles on a boat called The Porpoise. We turn up somewhere, marry the king's daughter, get back in the boat, apparently drown the new wife who seems to have died in childbirth and so it goes on. Along the way William Shakespeare turns up along with his playwriting collaborator George Wilkins and they provide a little interlude wandering through Elizabethan London and meandering down the Thames. At the end, the myth appears to be resolved and the aged Pericles meets up with wife, presumed dead, and daughter presumed lost forever. Mark Haddon leaves it there so the happy ending is kind of slightly deferred but looks likely! The father and daughter we started off with are burned to death in an accidental fire so it's not so happy for them!

So, what we have are some vaguely linked men in power who sexually exploit and predate on women and, mostly, get their comeuppance. The Gods seem to be marginally in attendance - Diana the Huntress turns up most - but they aren't much help. I think it's fair to say that the women suffer horribly and George Wilkins gets what he deserved.

Having said all that, I hugely enjoyed the novel. I think it is named after a boat because it is essentially a voyage, quite a lot of it at sea. I developed a few theories which didn't work out. I thought the whole thing might be in Angelica's, the poor daughter from the start, mind as she shuts down the immediate events in awful life. Then, I thought we might be in Pincher Martin territory and all in the head of the murdered young man, Daniel, who comes to court her. That didn't really work out either but I still liked the ride.

Part of the reason is that Mark Haddon writes so well and knows how to build up a scene although some of these are, frankly, harrowing. This isn't a children's book! I sort of suspect he was intentionally exorcising the 'dog' which has followed him around for fifteen years but he still has the knack of being able to sustain a disconnected narrative and so, as he twists and turns, you really want to follow.

I'm not sure I'd recommend this book for your book club although I'd happily buy it for a friend - but probably not one who loved The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time!

The Porpoise
Mark Haddon



Mark Haddon’s The Porpoise has the feel of myth from its first pages. While it is clearly a modern story, there is a slight remove from the action and characters, there is the feeling of fates put in motion and characters who are an unable to avoid those fates. And it starts with a tragedy – an unwise plane trip, a pilot showing off and paying the price and one survivor – the as yet unborn baby of the woman he was transporting, birthed at the scene of the crash. Haddon’s narrative will revisit this classic story in a number of guises, exploring it from other angles as he digs deeply into Greek mythology.

This is ostensibly the story of the infant survivor of that crash, Angelica. But Angelica’s life becomes unutterably, and in some ways, classically tragic. In order to escape that life, she retreats into the ancient Greek world of Pericles, a character made famous by Shakespeare in a play that he co-wrote with Elizabethan author George Wilkins. That story begins with Pericles working out the answer to a riddle posed by the King of Antioch that points to his incestuous relationship with his daughter, causing him to make a lifelong enemy of that King and go on the run. Much of the rest of the narrative follows the story of Pericles, a story of valorous acts, children abandoned, miraculous rescues and godly intervention. All this as Angelica leads her own quiet, painful revolt against her own situation.

Greek mythology is having a bit of a Renaissance in modern literature. Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls took a new look at the Trojan War, as did Madeline Miller’s Song of Achilles which she has recently followed up with a book from a god’s point of view – Circe. The Porpoise takes as its centrepiece another classic Greek tale, following the broad outline of the story as told by Shakespeare and Wilkins but giving it new resonance. Coming strongly through Haddon’s version of the tale, besides the usual themes of honour and justice, are the ideas of the responsibilities that come with parenthood and the ways in which people deal with grief.

The Porpoise is not the book readers might think it is going in. And even during its length it twists and turns sometimes in a dreamlike way, following the vicissitudes of its ultimate narrator, Angelica. But this is essentially a vital retelling of classic Greek stories. Stories which, while they involve heroes and princesses and kings and queens shows these characters in a very flawed, human light and proves once again why these stories are so enduring.

3.5 stars.
I think my overall experience of this book is a bit "it's not you, it's me". Had I been more familiar with the story that this is reimagining (Apollonius/Pericles) then I might have had a better time reading it. I absolutely loved the beginning although it got a bit dark quite quickly, but then when we segued off to the next part of the story, I have to admit that I lost my way a bit. I did stick with it and eventually got to where we were going without too much pain but, I have to admit, that I did harbour thoughts of quitting along the way. If I had known what it was all about before I started the book maybe I would have passed it by but the blurb, although hinting at a past/present thing with fantasy elements, it didn't quite prepare me for what I actually got.
But, by the time I got to the end I was fully immersed in the story and was able to look back and see things that mow made more sense than at the time of reading. I think I could do myself a favour and re-read with hindsight. And I would definitely do that, if I had the time, as I think it would change my overall opinion of the book as a whole. Sadly, my tbr prevents me from doing so at present. Obviously, my ignorance about Shakespeare's Pericles also made the parts between him and Wilkins a bit confusing in the middle section of the book (another me thing but needs said).
There were parts of the book that I really enjoyed but, as the book should be more than the sum of those parts, and with some that left me confused, it did feel quite disjointed overall. I do like my books to flow well, even the ones that do jump around in time and place. It makes for a more comfortable read. But, I did read through my discomfort and was rewarded at the end with something I guessed and which thoroughly satisfied me.
All in all this just wasn't the right book for me. That said, it wouldn't put me off the author as I have enjoyed some of his other books already. I think I'll just stick to his original works in future. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

If you pick up this book because you enjoyed the Curious Incident... by Mr Haddon, then please check the reviews of The Porpoise. It is not at all in the same vein.
The Porpoise is a ship, not a creature.
The story twists between several strands of increasingly dysfunctional characters, in increasingly distasteful situations.
The blurb is somewhat intriguing, but (unless it changes), it does not address the madness and mayhem, even if beautifully and lyrically described, that is the Pericles myth, which is the basis for the book.
On the other hand, you may be of a more literary bent than me, and find it fascinating.
I expect it will be praised by those who understand these things, but I did not enjoy it.

This is a well written book with some lovely prose, and I didn't know the story of Pericles so it was interesting to read. However, I found the time shifts particularly when Darius is suddenly on a mythical voyage and the introduction of Shakespeare much too difficult to follow and felt it would have lent itself better to two separate books.
Thank you to netgalley and Random house for an advance copy of this book.

Many thanks to Random House UK and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and I still teach the text in school. I believe that Mark Haddon is a brilliant author but I could not get along with The Porpoise. I usually really enjoy dual narrative, fantasy stories especially when they are based on myths or in this case a play as well. I found that his style of stream of consciousness was unnecessary here as it made the story dull and overworked. The amount of descriptive language and imagery is bordering on purple prose as it is just too detailed on every page. I have a feeling that people will either love this book or hate it. I feel that I respect Haddon for the risk he is taking with this book as it is ambitious however it is not for me.