I've been meaning to read this for literal decades at this point, so finally swiped my Mum's copy and spent the morning with it. Loved it. I don't know that I quite sympathise with Kahu's desire to love her miserable grandfather - her granny, to me, is much more appealing, and doesn't have to be prodded by apparent death to give even a smidgeon of affection to the poor kid. That being said, the characters are so finely drawn that it's almost hard to believe how short the book is: less than 150 pages in this edition.

It's just beautifully written, and the narrative voice is both entertaining and compelling. I ended up going to read about the historical whale stranding the narrator describes, and honestly, I wish I hadn't. Chainsaws, really?! I suppose the horror of that scene acts as a counterbalance, though... something to illuminate, for the reader, just how much of their own sympathy is given over to the whales, and to Kahu.