[books]

The Will to Live:
encore’s summer book club introduces The Belly of the Whale

By: Tiffanie Gabrielse

What is it like being trapped in the proverbial belly of a whale? Aside from the obvious fright, the surroundings are arguably depressing. It’s quiet. There’s only time to think and dwell on the very thing that has swallowed us. Once inside, trapped and confined, we can only count the ribs, strike a V-shaped nick that tracks the long days still barely breathing on our own and look up toward the blue sky through the spout to pray.

Foreclosures, new ailments being discovered daily and the rising gas prices; there’s a barrage of numerous issues that seem anxious to watch us get swallowed. Sadly, the summer is no exception. That in mind, I ask not where do we want to go today, but importantly where should we go today?

Journey with me, my encore book club readers, not as we travel across the ocean or to an unknown land far away, but through the darkest corners of the human psyche to find the human spirit. Enter with me into the depths of The Belly of the Whale by Linda Merlino.

Published by Kunati, Inc.—a young publisher setting the industry aflame with a innovative, provocative and controversial approach to publishing—Merlino’s first novel features Hudson Catalina, a teacher, wife and mother who’s just lost two breasts to cancer. Emotionally and physically spent, Catalina struggles to find strength to continue to live. Hope, she believes, has abandoned her. Deciding to give up and stop her chemotherapy treatment, nothing within her life can pull her from the depths of her internal exhaustion—not her husband and children, her best friend or her passion for teaching high school.

In a final and significant act to celebrate her daughter’s 5th birthday, Hudson’s life faces a dramatic crossroad when a troubled former student confronts her at Whales Market Place. Trapped within his own tormented beast, young Buddy Baker arrives hell-bent on afflicting revenge on life by inflicting pain on those who get in his way. Before dawn breaks four people will be dead, and Hudson Catalina is confronted with something arguably more dangerous than her disease. She is confronted with the choice to live or allow herself to die.

Belly of the Whale is beyond the story of a young woman with breast cancer. As readers go along, I suggest answering the following questions: How hard do we fight to survive? How dire does the situation have to be to change our path and our trajectory? As a form of assignment, within the review share opinions about the circumstances and situations Merlino artistically shed light upon that makes us have the will to fight, endure and change our mind about life.

As a self-proclaimed “lined paper junkie,” Linda Merlino began Belly of the Whale long hand, only to have it develop rapidly and fill a carton in the back seat of her car among the soccer balls and other usual items we leave as unintentional décor. Now published and ready for readers to dive into, within her novel Merlino demonstrates her ability as a writer by depicting the depth of diversity within her characters.

In an interview written by Mayra Calvani published June 3rd, 2008, Merlino describes her new release: “The inspiration for this book came from a character in the book named Willy Wu. He is mentally challenged. He is the young man we encounter in our community grocery store, the young man who bags our groceries and collects the cart. We do not understand how much he processes, and we do not know what he is capable of. Could a young man like Willy be a hero? I asked this question and wrote a story to answer it.”

Twenty-four hours within our heroine’s life, the day she gives up hope and the will to fight, she is taken hostage, and Hudson explores the possibility that she doesn’t want to die after all. She wants to climb out and tame the very thing that has consumed her.

Belly of the Whale is a motivational and entertaining read for encore’s summer book club. Taking into consideration every detail, writing the entire piece took three years for Merlino. Concerned with authentic emotions and accurate therapies, Merlino resourced through magazine articles, newspapers, online articles and “talking” to doctors and breast-cancer victims.

She explains in her interview, “The first year consisted of accumulating information, doing research and compiling articles in a scrapbook fashion. The second year I wrote but not with the fixed discipline needed to finish the manuscript. The third year I dedicated almost all my time outside of my day job to the writing of my manuscript. I said ‘no’ to almost all requests beyond family. The message on my voicemail went something like this: ‘I am underground; please leave a message, but do not expect to hear back from me until my manuscript is complete.’”

Hudson Catalina’s story of rising above despair, abuse and murder does more than spit us out of “the belly of the whale.” We are shown why we should embrace the will to live. It’s perfect for us because it achieves and accomplishes what we want this summer, what we need this summer in a novel; we will be enriched by the experience.

Be sure to purchase Belly of the Whale at Pomegranate Books where a 15 percent discount is given to encore Book Club members (just ask the clerk how to join). Also, head to the store on July 2nd as Merlino will be instore for a reading and signing. One-to-two paragraph reviews are due for Belly of the Whale by July 25th for publication in encore.