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Killers of Eden
Hardcover
Published January 1, 1973
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 9, 2014
I found this book while doing research on Killer Whales. I found it fascinating that the Killers helped the whale hunters the way they did. It was an interesting read based on a true story. Another little interesting tidbit was that it somewhat gave a look into World War 2 (I think) from an Australian perspective.
January 16, 2022
Tom Mead reportedly spent 15 years researching this novel, and evidently zero minutes developing his literary sensibilities. Books like this are exactly the reason that a story should never strive for verisimilitude. If you simply present all the events of a character's life, the story is shapeless and dull. The trick is to choose the most insightful, relevant, and transformative moments of a character's life and present only those moments. This book goes more for option 1 rather than option 2.
The "story" (in the journalistic sense) at the core here is fascinating. One or more pods of killer whales who actively predated on baleen whales off the coast of NSW began working with shore-based whalers as white settlers arrived in the region. The practice continued for three human generations, centred around the Davidson family of Eden. Mead strives to present this journalistic story in fastidious detail.
But the story in the literary sense is, of course, muddled and unsatisfying. For example, the dialogue in this thing is routinely quite terrible. Every character in the book has the same voice, and any character will abruptly say "anyhow" at any given point in dialogue. One wonders whether this is a literary tic of the author, or perhaps he's just transcribing verbatim the interviews he conducted with surviving elderly Davidsons. The dialogue sometimes has the rambling, confused structure of an old person incompletely reminiscing through skeins of time, so this is a strong possibility.
The other problem is the characters. There are so many characters it is unbelievable. George Davidson, the most common POV character (there is no protagonist), has somewhere between 2 and 20 siblings, and goes on to father somewhere between 8 and 800 children, several of whom go on to marry and have kids of their own, and they all keep recycling each other's damn names. This would be fine if Mead spent even a single solitary sentence differentiating any of the characters from the others, but he doesn't (he devotes a confused paragraph to one character that goes on to die a few pages later, but that's it). They're all just props in his reconstruction. And that's to say nothing of the colossal roster of nobodies outside the Davidson family, many of whom share first names with the Davidson progeny. How many Bills, Jacks, Jims, Georges, Roys, Alexes, Elsies, Effies, and Sarahs do you think there can be in one country town around the turn of the century? As far as I can tell from Mead's vague narrative, functional infinities of them.
And none of them have anything interesting to say or do. None of them has an iota of an inner life. None of them has a flaw. None of them is required to grow or change. Probably the most developed of the novel's characters is Tom the bull killer whale, erroneously described as the "leader" of the "pack" (in a matriarchal species, are you high?). His insight into the affairs of the humans is fascinating; he has more insight into the characters' inner lives than Mead himself seems to. We don't get a POV from him, obviously, but his behaviours on the periphery of the story help keep it from becoming a tedious "and then this happened, and then this, and then this," which is clearly Mead's woebegotten instinct.
Thankfully there are plenty of stirring episodes of adventure on the seas, and Mead's one great literary achievement is his ability to convey these episodes with excitement. He's actually also very good at describing wave conditions in the same patch of water dozens of times without becoming repetitive. That's a genuine skill. Those moments on the sea and with the whales are by far the novel's strongest, and they constitute the reason you'd pick this up in the first place. It's a shame all the human stuff feels so try and underbaked.
This is probably the most thoroughly researched treatment of the Eden killer situation we'll ever get. Which feels like a slap in the face. This is such an interesting event in Australia's history! The captivating bones of the story are here, but Mead's journalistic instincts towards tedious verisimilitude robs the novel of any engagement or true excitement. There are major life events at the end of the novel, but other than this there is no sense of structure. Read this only if you are a hardcore enthusiast of whaling history; otherwise, avoid this and just stick to internet summaries or Danielle Clode's superior nonfiction treatment of the same period.
The "story" (in the journalistic sense) at the core here is fascinating. One or more pods of killer whales who actively predated on baleen whales off the coast of NSW began working with shore-based whalers as white settlers arrived in the region. The practice continued for three human generations, centred around the Davidson family of Eden. Mead strives to present this journalistic story in fastidious detail.
But the story in the literary sense is, of course, muddled and unsatisfying. For example, the dialogue in this thing is routinely quite terrible. Every character in the book has the same voice, and any character will abruptly say "anyhow" at any given point in dialogue. One wonders whether this is a literary tic of the author, or perhaps he's just transcribing verbatim the interviews he conducted with surviving elderly Davidsons. The dialogue sometimes has the rambling, confused structure of an old person incompletely reminiscing through skeins of time, so this is a strong possibility.
The other problem is the characters. There are so many characters it is unbelievable. George Davidson, the most common POV character (there is no protagonist), has somewhere between 2 and 20 siblings, and goes on to father somewhere between 8 and 800 children, several of whom go on to marry and have kids of their own, and they all keep recycling each other's damn names. This would be fine if Mead spent even a single solitary sentence differentiating any of the characters from the others, but he doesn't (he devotes a confused paragraph to one character that goes on to die a few pages later, but that's it). They're all just props in his reconstruction. And that's to say nothing of the colossal roster of nobodies outside the Davidson family, many of whom share first names with the Davidson progeny. How many Bills, Jacks, Jims, Georges, Roys, Alexes, Elsies, Effies, and Sarahs do you think there can be in one country town around the turn of the century? As far as I can tell from Mead's vague narrative, functional infinities of them.
And none of them have anything interesting to say or do. None of them has an iota of an inner life. None of them has a flaw. None of them is required to grow or change. Probably the most developed of the novel's characters is Tom the bull killer whale, erroneously described as the "leader" of the "pack" (in a matriarchal species, are you high?). His insight into the affairs of the humans is fascinating; he has more insight into the characters' inner lives than Mead himself seems to. We don't get a POV from him, obviously, but his behaviours on the periphery of the story help keep it from becoming a tedious "and then this happened, and then this, and then this," which is clearly Mead's woebegotten instinct.
Thankfully there are plenty of stirring episodes of adventure on the seas, and Mead's one great literary achievement is his ability to convey these episodes with excitement. He's actually also very good at describing wave conditions in the same patch of water dozens of times without becoming repetitive. That's a genuine skill. Those moments on the sea and with the whales are by far the novel's strongest, and they constitute the reason you'd pick this up in the first place. It's a shame all the human stuff feels so try and underbaked.
This is probably the most thoroughly researched treatment of the Eden killer situation we'll ever get. Which feels like a slap in the face. This is such an interesting event in Australia's history! The captivating bones of the story are here, but Mead's journalistic instincts towards tedious verisimilitude robs the novel of any engagement or true excitement. There are major life events at the end of the novel, but other than this there is no sense of structure. Read this only if you are a hardcore enthusiast of whaling history; otherwise, avoid this and just stick to internet summaries or Danielle Clode's superior nonfiction treatment of the same period.
January 8, 2020
“Rusho” to extinction!
I felt that this was a rather poorly written work on an interesting subject. Historical fiction, or fictional history? Is there a difference? Tom Mead’s work was clearly intended to be history, but only in parts and seemingly as a thin veneer for a good old yarn. When imagined dialogue from one hundred years ago enters into things, historical credibility goes out the door and we have entered the Fiction shelves.
Of course, the subject - whaling - is not exactly the flavour of the month these days, and it makes for some sad reading to any whale lover. (Casual racism abounds, too, a reflection of the times.) Mead inadvertently records a decreasing number of whales in the Eden, NSW area by the 1920’s. Not surprising! Add to this the unusual, and maybe unique, human exploitation of one species of whale (Killer Whales) in order to round up and herd another species of whale (Humpbacks and Fin Whales) towards whalers for harpooning and it seems even more troubling to a modern reader. These moments were intended to be exciting, but just seem so wrong in 2020.
Still, it wasn’t always this way. These whalers were heroes in their day, the whaling industry was supported by many and whale products were highly sought after. There was no stigma whatsoever attached to it. Except, perhaps, not a very good living to be made from it.
1.5 stars, bumped up to 2.
I felt that this was a rather poorly written work on an interesting subject. Historical fiction, or fictional history? Is there a difference? Tom Mead’s work was clearly intended to be history, but only in parts and seemingly as a thin veneer for a good old yarn. When imagined dialogue from one hundred years ago enters into things, historical credibility goes out the door and we have entered the Fiction shelves.
Of course, the subject - whaling - is not exactly the flavour of the month these days, and it makes for some sad reading to any whale lover. (Casual racism abounds, too, a reflection of the times.) Mead inadvertently records a decreasing number of whales in the Eden, NSW area by the 1920’s. Not surprising! Add to this the unusual, and maybe unique, human exploitation of one species of whale (Killer Whales) in order to round up and herd another species of whale (Humpbacks and Fin Whales) towards whalers for harpooning and it seems even more troubling to a modern reader. These moments were intended to be exciting, but just seem so wrong in 2020.
Still, it wasn’t always this way. These whalers were heroes in their day, the whaling industry was supported by many and whale products were highly sought after. There was no stigma whatsoever attached to it. Except, perhaps, not a very good living to be made from it.
1.5 stars, bumped up to 2.
February 10, 2013
Spent every schools holiday in Eden between 1963 and 1977, over looking Aislings Beach. We fished from the wharves at both Snug Cove and Cattle Bay and took picnic's to Quaratine Bay and Boyd Town. and my mother who spent much of her youth in Eden after WW2, knew many of the whaling stories and the Museum and Botd Town were popular destinations when the weather grew blustery.
The Whaling Museum http://www.killerwhalemuseum.com.au/ is a great place to include when you visit and my copy is a 2002 edition purchased at the shop.
This book is a well researched recounting of a unique industry unique to Eden and an excellent read. It is excellent to have the life experiences of the men and their families who relied on shore based whaling and enjoyed the only relationship with killer whales as their dogs in print. If you have an interest in Australian history get yourself a copy.
The Whaling Museum http://www.killerwhalemuseum.com.au/ is a great place to include when you visit and my copy is a 2002 edition purchased at the shop.
This book is a well researched recounting of a unique industry unique to Eden and an excellent read. It is excellent to have the life experiences of the men and their families who relied on shore based whaling and enjoyed the only relationship with killer whales as their dogs in print. If you have an interest in Australian history get yourself a copy.
April 3, 2018
Towards the end I found this book hard to read, the killers became a bit of a background story to the rest of the townsfolk. It was a nice snapshot into life at the time but I preferred Killers In Eden the non-fiction story of the killers.
November 11, 2019
Een mooie geschiedschrijving van de bijzondere walvisvangsten in Eden, Australië. Goed geschreven en leuk om te lezen. Bij het lezen herbeleef ik de dagen die Lukas en ik samen in dit stadje hebben doorgebracht. Wanneer mag ik weer terug?
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews