Cover Image: Treasure of the Blue Whale

Treasure of the Blue Whale

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Member Reviews

Couldn't get this to download at all. So unable to give honest review. Sorry. Will change in future should I ever come across this book .

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Kind of dry to start but really picks up a few chapters in. I loved the depictions of the townspeople, especially interesting from the perspective of a child. Would ultimately recommend!

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As a teacher, I found myself liking this more for my students than I did myself. It was an interesting read.

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A heartwarming story! Treasure of the Blue Whale is a story of love, craziness, frailty, greed, and wonderful characters told in a heartwarming and light-hearted way. It’s a wonderful, laugh-out-loud coming of age story that I highly recommend. I loved it!

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This book is a wonderful depiction of how sometimes what we want isn’t what we need. Through one summer the reader becomes closely acquainted with the parts of life that bring connection, fulfillment, and joy; the idea that our material possessions don’t bring life as much meaning as the people we bring Into our lives.

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A story about Whale vomit might not be high up on people’s reading list but in this case that would mean they were missing out on a gem. It turns out that ambergris is one of the most valuable substances on earth and after the 10 year old Connor stumbles across it on his local beach and agrees to share the profits with the other towns people all sorts of trouble follows. It’s a heartwarming tale about what really matters in life. While I was reading it I could imagine Tom Hanks playing the old Connor looking back on this eventful summer, he would capture the nostalgia and humour perfectly.

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A quaint tale about a tale finding itself suddenly rich and the hijinks that ensue. Written as a revisited memory, the writing style is captivating. However the story isn't crazy rich with unexpected twists and turns.

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A fun light read that you will keep thinking about long after you have finished. I enjoyed it so much I finished in one day.

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With thanks to netgalley

The treasure of the blue whale was a good book, that I enjoyed it and found it rather funny in parts.

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A sweet tale of a boy narrated when he is decades older - set in 1934 California.

What made me want to read the story was its timeline, its premise and the protagonist. I've never read anything with that combination before, and so it was refreshing and more than a little disarming to hear of the boy's tale - his family, his town, the townsfolk... it evoked the charm of nostalgia that was textbook spot-on. If the work had not been invented yet, after reading this book - it would have to be!

It brings to mind other boy-narrator stories, telling the tale of a time gone by, and of people since gone by. Placed so close the Depression, the background and context is very interesting as well.

Any possible parallels to life under COVID-19 is purely unintentional, but the hope is intentionally universal. It was indeed heartening to read this in the current environment, where hope is difficult to come by, and hard times are seemingly refusing to go by.

Thanks to NetGalley, Regal Pub. and Steven Mayfield for a complementary copy of the book - for providing my honest and original review.

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Excellent writing!! I cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy and read it again! Thank you Netgalley for receiving a free copy in exchange of an honest review.

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Refreshingly Old School

This is a whimsical, but grounded, tale with an "Our Town" meets Mayberry-on-the-Sea vibe. The clever and satisfying frame is that our hero, Connor, is telling this story, drawn from his Depression-era childhood, from the point of view of Connor now in his nineties. As a consequence, we get a story that is, in the telling, very immediate, but that is also filtered through Connor's lifetime of experience and hard earned insight and wisdom. (Think of Scout from "To Kill a Mockingbird", but in a book with a more antic and slightly preposterous plot.)

Since we see and hear the story, in first person, from the earnest and somewhat deadpan young Connor, we have to fill in some gaps here and there regarding what's really going on, but that adds to the charm of the tale. Young Connor, as told by grown up Connor, has a keen sense of adult follies and foibles, and so we come to enjoy and appreciate the fundamental decency, the foolishness, and the occasional crankiness, of the citizens of Tesoro, California. Older Connor also has a tendency to toss off parenthetical remarks along the trail, and they are just edgy enough to balance a story that might have gotten a bit saccharine.

Is it a "fable for our times". Well, with the focus on consumerism, material goods, greed and redemption, I guess it is, if you care to take it that way. Or is it more of a witty, wry coming of age story? Well, of course. A caper thriller? In a sense. However you choose to approach this book, the rewards are many and varied, and that's a nice way to leave it.

(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

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When Connor finds a huge boulder on the beach of Tesoro, a small town in Northern California, he is surprised when it is identified as a valuable piece of synergies worth millions. The Depression has hit Tesoro hard and Connor decided to share the bounty. The townsfolk spend on credit but someone is out to undermine their good fortune.

This is a quirky and gentle coming of age book set in small town America in the 1930s. It's perfectly enjoyable, a little bit silly and ultimately heart-warming

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This was very nearly a 5-star rating, but I thought it went on slightly too long. Other than that, this was a charming and insightful view into the Great Depression era through the eyes of a child and through the experience of a small town that unexpectedly comes into the prospect of great wealth by means of the "Treasure of the Blue Whale". Great character and plot development, and many laugh-out-loud moments.

It's a happy read, sure to bring a smile!

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Interesting story but it was difficult to keep my interest. I think it would be an enjoyable read for most, but just wasn't for me.

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This book reads like a combination between a fairy tale, a memoir and a sailor’s yarn. I found the story and characters captivating and more complex than I expected. To me this book perpetually felt like an immensely readable parable. I especially appreciated the timeless qualities - historical 20th century fiction with an old-fashioned feel and highly relevant modern topics including greed, capitalism, poverty, mental illness. Very enjoyable read.

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1934, In the small, coastal town of Tesoro, ten-year-old Conner discovers something that, unbeknownst to him, is actually a great treasure that can greatly help his family:a piece of ambergris. While the good-hearted child decides to distribute the wealth that comes to him with the rest of the town, one man will do all in his power to steal the wealth all for himself. And, of course, trouble will ensue.

Although the Treasure of the Blue Whale has a very promising and interesting plot, it was quite a struggle to continue reading to the end. It is quite straightforward, not difficult at all. However, it seems as if the author sometimes got lost in small details and many things that were so unnecessary to the plot, that reading the story often became a bit of a slump. Definitely a great concept, but (in my personal opinion) a bit of a poor execution.

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The first day of summer vacation finds a stinky blob of something washed up on the beach in Tesoro, California, the answer to a young boy’s dreams. Ten-year-old Connor O’Halloran manages to reach the intriguing mess before the local lighthouse keeper, thus laying claim to it, and then sets out to find out what it is and what to do with it. It turns out to be the treasure in “The Treasure of the Blue Whale” by Steven Mayfield.

The lighthouse keeper tells him it’s a hunk of ambergris, barfed up by a whale, and that it’s extremely rare, being highly sought after by perfume makers as an important ingredient in their most luxurious scents. And, he goes on to say, that it’s extremely valuable, likely worth millions of dollars. Word quickly gets around to the poverty-stricken inhabitants of the tiny town that the O’Halloran family, consisting of Connor’s mentally ill mother, Mary Rose, and his six-year old brother, Alex, is rich. Connor decides that he will share the wealth with the town as a whole, hoping that his personal generous share will help find a competent doctor who can assist his mother with her depression and bouts of mania.

Connor, now ninety and narrator of the story, says the huge mass is revolting and “certainly the most disgusting object I had ever encountered,” so to mitigate the looks and smells of the blob, the boy secretes it in an old boat house where it deteriorates down to a football sized white lump, seriously creating a major degradation to its worth. The decrease in the worth initially treasured by the townspeople, has been usurped by the town’s miserly banker, who convinced most of the inhabitants to sign over their rights to him in the form of loans with which they purchase all sorts of things, now have their dreams of wealth dashed.

A few citizens resisted the siren song of the loans and remain unencumbered and out of debt, including Conner’s family. Those few scheme together to figure out a way to foil the banker’s selfish plot. Whether or not they succeed form the major plot line that I leave to you to discover when you read the book. The author, helpfully, includes the reader in the audience of the comical hearings so it will know what’s going on.

The childish delight in having discovered something valuable, and the dismay as its value plummets, is a very tangible part of this intriguing tale and becomes a reader’s delight as unfurled by this talented writer. The surprise resolution is sure to please the delighted reader.

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Connor, now ninety years old, tells the story of when he was 10 in the summer of 1934, during the Great Depression. He lived in the small, sleepy seaside town of Tesoro, on the northern California coast. While walking along the beach one morning, he discovered a huge smelly mass which was identified as Ambergris, a rare substance used in the manufacture of perfumes. The value of the mass was determined to be at least in the millions. He decided to share his good fortune with the whole town. What follows is a whole list of foibles, fumbles, and shenanigans by the townsfolk who came into a large sum of money after having almost nothing. It’s a story of love, craziness, frailty, greed, and quirky characters told in a heartwarming and light-hearted way. It’s a wonderful, laugh-out-loud coming of age story that I highly recommend.

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This is a charming and delightfully witty tale of small town America, who’s inhabitants find treasure and community in the midst of the Great Depression.

This lovely cast of characters is led by 10 year old Connor O’Halloran, (though narrated through the wisdom of his 90 year old self) who outruns a lighthouse keeper to win possession of a half-ton of ambergris. When he’s told his treasure is worth millions, he consults his mother, younger brother, and Miss Lizzie Fryberg. They decide to split the riches between everyone in town, excepting Cyrus Dinkle because he’s mean (and already rich.)

But Cyrus means to get his hands on the treasure. Hijinks ensue, of the giggle-enducing and hopeful, inspiring variety. To share more would spoil this treasure of a tale.

Thank you to Regal House Publishing and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my review.

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