Whalesong, Chinaberry

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Whalesong

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A Chinaberry Audio Classic
Robert Siegel

It was early spring, 1997, and I was standing on the shore of San Ignacio Lagoon in west central Baja California, Mexico at sunset. This lagoon is one of the safe harbors for wintering California Gray Whales -- a place where the cows give birth and their calves are mothered. Out in the lagoon were dozens of flukes and fins, exhalations of spray, and the sounds of live whales. The next morning 8 of us would be in a 20-foot lifeboat-like craft, hoping to be even closer to these magnificent mammals.

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We zipped quickly through the water to a spot where the lagoon meets the Pacific Ocean, and came to a bobbing and silent rest. Whales we had seen and heard the evening before from a mile or so away could be seen now from a distance of only yards.

What happened next has left me struggling for words to describe it ever since. To this day, I sometimes cry about it when I look at the pictures of our vacation. A mother, easily twice the length of our boat, and her calf loped toward us, dove beneath the water's surface about 50 feet away, and surfaced right next to our boat, brushing it ever so slightly with their huge bulks. Like puppies eager for a pat from our hands, they sought our scratches on their noses, our rubs on their tongues, our kisses on their faces. We were sprayed with their spoutings. We stared at, and were stared back at by, the biggest mother and baby eyes you have ever seen... windows to some cross-species commonalities and understanding. And when our time in the whales' domain was over for that morning and we left to return to camp, they swam alongside us most of the way back. It was an unbelievable life experience. There was no fear, only exhilaration and gentle curiosity. My life has not been quite the same since. Those close encounters of the third kind that happened out on that lagoon that day and the next changed how I look at things, but I can't really tell you how.

Wow. Well, I may not be able to adequately describe my experience with the Gray Whales, but Robert Siegel's novel is the next best thing to such a close encounter.

I cannot imagine any other book doing a better job of taking us into the mysterious ocean depths to experience existence from a non-human point of view. While listening to this audio, I had a sense of what it must be like to live in an environment of water, yet also need the air above for sustenance. This is a breathtaking and astonishing fable, rich in mythology and philosophy. It is the story of a humpback whale, Hruna by name, and his journey into love, mystery, and spiritual awakening. Please don't assume that this is a story containing unbridled anthropomorphic license, for nothing is further from the truth.

To experience this story is to feel comfort. To experience this story is to feel a connection with intelligent beings who still live in the sea from whence we all came. You become Hruna sliding through the cold water as you listen. Never again will you see the ocean the same way. Never again will you think that a whale is a whale, is a whale, is a whale.

I am amazed by how this book put into words what the whales' eyes said to me, but I could not verbally express, following my trip to the whale nursery of San Ignacio Lagoon.

Don West's voice is simply spellbinding as he speaks from the depths of the ocean as Hruna, the humpback whale. Whalesong is a magnificent, compelling production. You listen as effortlessly as the whales swim. And you will likely find that the story will still be with you long after the last words have been spoken.

This production is the recipient of several important audio awards, we are proud to say!

(Ages: 11 and up)

UNABRIDGED

#8747 - COMPACT DISC - 3 CDS / 3 HRS
Regularly $19.95
Sale price $12.97

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