The Whale Caller : A Novel

by Zakes Mda

The Whale Caller is Zakes Mda's most enchanting book yet—a romantic comedy of sorts in which the changing face of post-apartheid South Africa is revealed through prodigious, lyrical storytelling. As the novel opens, the seaside village of Hermanus is overrun with whale watchers. But when the tourists have gone home, the Whale Caller lingers at the shoreline, wooing a whale he calls Sharisha with cries from a kelp horn. When Sharisha fails to appear for weeks on end, the Whale Caller frets like a jealous lover, oblivious to the fact that the town drunk, Saluni, is infatuated with him. After much ado—which Mda relates with great relish—the two misfits fall in love. But both are ill equipped for romance, and their on-again, off-again relationship suggests something of the fitful nature of change in post-apartheid South Africa.

Genres: Fiction, South Africa, Africa, Literature, African Literature, Read For School, Animals

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Zakes Mda is the pen name of Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda, a novelist, poet and playwright.

Although he spent his early childhood in Soweto (where he knew political figures such as Walter and Albertina Sisulu, Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela) he had to finish his education in Lesotho where his father went into exile since 1963. This change of setting also meant a change of language for Mda: from isiXhosa to Sesotho. Consequently Mda preferred to write his first plays in English.

His first play, We Shall Sing for the Fatherland, won the first Amstel Playwright of the Year Award in 1978, a feat he repeated the following year. He worked as a bank clerk, a teacher and in marketing before the publication of We Shall Sing for the Fatherland and Other Plays in 1980 enabled him to be admitted to the Ohio University for a three-year Master's degree in theatre. He completed a Masters Degree in Theatre at Ohio University, after which he obtained a Master of Arts Degree in Mass Communication. By 1984 his plays were performed in the USSR, the USA, and Scotland as well as in various parts of southern Africa.

Mda then returned to Lesotho, first working with the Lesotho National Broadcasting Corporation Television Project and then as a lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Lesotho. Between 1985 and 1992 he was director of the Theatre-For-Development Project at the university and founded the Marotholi Travelling Theatre. Together with his students he travelled to villages in remote mountain regions working with local people in creating theatre around their everyday concerns. This work of writing theatre "from the inside" was the theme of his doctoral thesis, the Ph.D degree being conferred on him by the University of Cape Town in 1989.

In the early nineties Mda spent much of his time overseas, he was writer-in-residence at the University of Durham (1991), research fellow at Yale University. He returned for one year to South Africa as Visiting Professor at the School of Dramatic Art at the University of the Witwatersrand. He is presently Professor of Creative Writing at Ohio University.

Reviews

[Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE WHALE CALLER REVIEW

🐋 🌊 THE BOOK: Two wounded persons fall into one another. He, the Whale Caller, is not able to connect with people and not able to laugh. Nor can he make love. He only longs for the southern right whales to return to South Africa from their migration. She, Saluni, cannot stop drinking herself into a stupor or flying into rages. Slowly, uneasily, they begin to connect. Eventually, they are able to love one another on many levels: emotionally, spiritually, physically. Until the whales return and he is ecstatic to see his special one, Sarisha. His human lover is not so ecstatic. Her fragile ego cannot handle his passion for and devotion to the whale. Outrage consumes her. The story proceeds from the return of Sarisha. From there the beautifully written novel broke my heart.

🐋 🌊 THE MOVIE: I was able to find the movie (circa 2016) on Amazon Prime for free. I read the book first and that is the order I recommend. Others who just watch the film do not get the whole story, nor do they understand what they see. The movie does not end as the novel ends. Nevertheless, the acting is superb, the seascapes and landfalls luminous, the footage of the whale breaching exhilarating. There is music, there is dancing, there are the wonderful voices of the SA people. The movie gave me the images I needed to place in my mind alongside the imagery the novel offered.

🐋 🌊 THE WHALE: I could not help comparing the whale in this story with the whale in Moby Dick. It would make an excellent compare and contrast essay. Moby Dick is a villain, in the eyes of Ahab, and because of what he does to Ahab’s ship and crew. Yet he is also a victim of the whale hunting fever of Ahab’s era and is wounded by the whalers’ attacks. In the eyes of Saluni, the Whale Caller’s lover, Sarisha is the villain who steals Whale Caller’s heart and takes him away from her. Yet the whale is also a victim of Saluni’s ferocious jealousy and hate. To my mind, both whales are metaphors of transcendence.

🐋Highly recommended🐋

[Kemunto Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful and tragic story that follows The Whale Caller, a man with a talent for blowing the kelp horn, and his two loves: Saluni, the village drunk, and Sharisa, a southern right whale, both at odds with each other. Sharisa migrates to Hermanus, a seaside town in Cape Town, from the southern seas yearly and The Whale Caller entrances her with the beautiful sound. Together they dance, completely obsessed with each other. Sharisa leaves Hermanus for the colder southern seas, as her kind do, and each time The Whale Caller will wait for her, ironing his tuxedo for when she will be back. Once while the whale is away on her voyage, The Whale Caller meets Saluni, a woman as strange as him, and before he knows it, they fall deeply in love, a fascinating thing to witness. Saluni wants The Whale Caller all to herself and does not rejoice when it's time for the whales to migrate back to the warmer seas. She will be forced to share her lover with the whale but is determined to do anything to keep him away from Sharisa.

“I bathed myself in you, Saluni,” says a breathless Whale Caller. “Your waters of life mixed with mine to wash our souls. It was a wonderful cleansing ceremony, Saluni, and I am cleansed."

“It is something you cannot do with Sharisha,” jokes a breathless Saluni.

“You do not know that, Saluni, you do not know that.”

There's many parallels between the two, Sharisa and Saluni. I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of this, it's a fascinating tale. I love the absurdity of it, and how none of it is explained in the book. It's written and we move on, yes they speak to a grotto and yes this is completely within reason. I love this and it's become very important to me. The short passages mentioning the original inhabitants were beautiful and they remind me of places that are safe, wild, home🌾🌼.

"He can see even deeper in the mists, before there were boats and fishermen and whalers, the Khoikhoi of old dancing around a beached whale. Dancing their thanks to Tsiqua, He Who Tells His Stories in Heaven, for the bountiful food he occasionally provides for his children by allowing whales to strand themselves. But when there are mass strandings the dance freezes and the laughter in the eyes of the dancers melts into tears that leave stains on the white sands. The weepers harvest the blubber for the oil to fry meat and light lamps. They will ultimately use the rib bones to construct the skeletons of their huts, and will roof the houses with the baleen. Ear bones will be used as water carrying vessels. Other bones will become furniture. Or even pillows and beds. Nights are slept fervidly inside variable whales that speckle the landscape."

Reading this was a wonderful experience and I'm glad I stumbled on a new found favourite. I will be reading more of Zakes Mda's works. 5 stars from me!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Jemppu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captivatingly original characters with unassumingly eccentric frames of mind. Cetacean obsession rivalling Melville. In combination with most nonchalantly understated wit, relished with chance casually lyrical musings, Mda's writing creates pervasive, yet delicate atmosphere of uniquely surreal stillness.

4 to 5 stars.

Definitely encouraged to check out more of the author's work.

________
Reading updates.

[Margaret Rowley · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are books that are like junk food- they go down easily, and you forget them (presumably until you start to pack on the "pounds" of craving that kind of simple reading all the time... an analogy too far?), and then there's this. I cannot get it out of my head. I finished this book in one day, because I couldn't put it down- the upstart sentence structure, the dots of political commentary, the nostalgia for a way of being that has always-never existed kept me turning the pages.

This is the story of, I think, a man who loves two women who are the same woman, articulated in some ephemeral way that is difficult for the reader to grasp. Except one of the women is a whale. This doesn't seem to be an impediment to the relationship. In the end, there is an element of danger, and we are kept guessing about its origin: is it the whale that is dangerous? the woman? the bored twins? Or maybe, finally, it is the whale caller himself who is dangerous, made deadly by his choice to not choose between his lovers.

[Omar Hafiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I first began to read this novel, I really liked its rather tranquil atmosphere and I wasn't sure what to expect as its core theme. I really enjoyed the idea of a simple introverted man who had a whale as his best friend.

Yet I have to say the ending of the story was very frustrating for me.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this a while ago. When I think about it I remember an appealing strangeness.

[belton :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

what the f*ck is this book......

and why the f*ck did I eat it up......

this was one of the weirdest things I have ever read in my entire life. I never thought I would live to see the day when I would read a book about human x whale sex (well, it's not really sex, but at the same time they did have sex. it's confusing).

this was my first south African book and it was really great!!!! I read this for my world literature class, and my professor had warned us that it would be a weird book, and she really did not lie. Before starting this book, she told us that this book is basically a threesome with a whale, and I was so insanely confused. I had no idea what that entailed. But it was the greatest threesome I've ever read LMFAOOOOOOOO (well, probably not the greatest, but certainly the most toxic)

Also, before I talk about anything else, the ending made me so incredibly sad?????? That was probably the worst ending to a book ever?????? (worst, meaning the best way possible) It was so insanely tragic and it pulled at my heartstrings and it actually ripped a few heartstrings and god I actually couldn't. So incredibly devastating. That ending alone blew my mind. I'm sad now.

the romance in this book was odd. You could probably argue that there was no love between the whale caller and Saluni at all, and I probably will argue that. It's insanely toxic, and I think the story demonstrated that really well. Also, the romance between the whale caller and the whale??????? I literally wrote "wtf" in my book so many times because it was soooo weird. But it was so fascinating because you're left wondering, is this a one-sided relationship? Did Sharisha (the whale) actually like the whale caller back, or was she only responding to his mating calls on his kelp horn? Did she like the whale caller, or did she like the call?

But going off of that, there are also themes of human vs. nature and how the whale caller must choose between humanity (aka Saluni) and nature (aka Sharisha). It's a fascinating look on identity and how humans are supposed to coexist with nature, how humanity and machines are destroying nature, but at the same time asking the question, how should we love nature, and how much? Such interesting topics, and I loved the way the book dealt with it.

I love weird books, but usually only when the weirdness is trying to explore something deeper about humanity. I don't necessarily like weird books that do the weirdness "just because," but I want there to be some sort of meaning behind it, and the meaning behind this one was super great. I really loved it. I highly recommend this book if you love unconventional relationships and just super weird sh*t.

My professor told us that we may love this book or we may hate this book, but one thing for certain is that we will never forget this book. And I for sure won't LOL. This book is extremely memorable, and I really did like exploring these themes in class. It's a solid book, and I love how this is my first impression of South African literature LMFAO. I dig it. Ok bye!!!!!!!!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

My daughter was assigned this book for a college course. She said with a grin, “It’s about a guy who is sexually attracted to a whale”. My first thought was, what kind of crap is her tuition paying for? What a waste of time and money! I became curious as she explained her thoughts on what the book was really about so I decided to read “The Whale Caller”. My initial response was wrong. At surface level, yes the book is about a man who has an unnatural obsession/attraction to a whale and often gets worked up to a frenzy when he’s “with” her. The real meaning of this piece of literature however, really lies within the reader and what their interpretation is. Whether you see obsession with the unattainable; or the inability to change someone/something that you love; or the greatness there is in a god-like higher power; or vindication for wrong-doings; or you just see a book about a kinky guy and a “fish” that’s up to you. After all that’s what reading is all about isn’t it?

[Jacob Lines · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book because Drucilla Cornell talked about it in her book Law and Revolution in South Africa. It was a decent novel. The story was interesting enough, but the characters weren’t terribly attractive. The Whale Caller himself was weird (being in love with a whale and all) and wimpish, Saluni was stupid and selfish, and the Bored Twins were selfish, reckless, and creepy. I guess that Professor Cornell saw depth of meaning in this, but I missed it. I won’t call it a complete waste of time, but I could have spent this time reading something that would have made me smarter or more human. Maybe it was a waste of time.

[Mk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fine book, Mda's "Ways of Dying" was just so much better.

[Dana · Rating 1 out of 5]

like.......... wtf lmao

[Arianna Mandorino · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a hard novel to read, because it's a novel about people with obsessions—sometimes absurd obsessions, to the point where they feel grotesque. A man obsessed with a whale, a woman obsessed with a man, a man obsessed with a woman, a woman obsessed with children, with fame, with wine… they don't learn how to reciprocally love in an healthy way until it is too late; love to them is a sickness; it is painful.
This is very well conveyed in the writing, which is very good, as I've come to expect from this author. There are other themes throughout—Christian themes of penance, pilgrimage, communion with nature—but the chief theme is always obsession.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I preferred Saluni’s POV over The Whale Caller’s. However, this book just wasn’t my cup of tea.

[candice ૮꒰ ˶• ༝ •˶꒱ა · Rating 3 out of 5]

what a truly bizarre little book

[Francesca Capoccia · Rating 4 out of 5]

wow

[Roland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal note: We spent 6 weeks in Onrus (a suburb of Hermanus) in 2006, thus more or less at the time of publication. Knowing the locations really helped and made the book super attractive, but it is hard to stay neutral now. For example, it is difficult to say if it would have been possible to follow the journey in the end - perhaps this is not important, though.

The Whale Caller is a different book, 'different' not meaning 'don't know how to express my dissatisfaction' but rather 'not like most other books you're likely to come across'. It is a mystical book in that the relationship between the whale caller and the Southern Right Whale Sharisha is disturbingly sexual and clearly real in the book. (The Bored Twins are another near-mystical elements in the way they seem inhuman, sometimes even reminiscent of tokoloshe.) It is a book of pilgrimage in that two large long walks are essential to the understanding of the whale caller - and of those who live outside the norm of steady jobs and mortgages. It is a book about the heights and depths of love and affection (cf. the relationship between the whale caller and Saluni: Such sexual heights, such ruthless, brutal battles, too).
Mda throws in a whole lot of other aspects from social crit (the politicians discussing the demise of the whale) to travel book writing (explanations of the New South Africa).
What will remain is the almost serene personality of the whale caller, a truly attractive, different man.
What one would like to know is if this has been read as an allegory of the New South Africa. Any such review would be most welcome.

[Beth Bonini · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel is set in the seaside village of Hermanus - a harbour town on South Africa's Western Cape, known for its whale watching. Every year, the southern right whales migrate to Hermanus for the season which peaks in September and October. We were there in August, and sadly did not get to see the magical sight of whales frolicking in the harbour. In some ways, this novel provided that texture, and colour and sense of place - but not, unfortunately, in a way that felt very accessible to this reader. Still, I'm a huge fan of "You Are There" reading - and when a South African Bookstagram friend recommended this book, I couldn't resist visiting Hermanus as a fictional world.

I like to say that I don't care much about plot, as long as the writing captures my interest, but I definitely felt that this novel lacked forward momentum and the impetus to keep reading. It is about a bizarre love triangle between three characters: a retired fisherman/whale caller, the town drunk (Saluni) and a southern right whale named Sharisha. There are also some minor characters in the form of the "bored twins" - who play a rather tragic role in the novel. The Whale Caller and Saluni are essentially solitary people, both down-and-outs in their own singular way, and the novel is in some ways their very dysfunctional attempt at a love story. Too bad that Saluni is crazy, mean, selfish and jealous of a whale. There is an odd tone to this book - almost, not quite, magical realism. I wanted to like it more than I did.

2.5 stars for local colour, but it lacks both plot and likeable characters

[Jennifer Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mda's The Whale Caller is so rich that it's difficult for a reader to distinguish between fantasy and reality. The characters are so flawed and distinctive, and their story so sweet, that the world becomes something almost idyllic, despite its downfalls and poverty. Centered in off-kilter romances and fantasy, the book is something of a lovesong to what imagination can accomplish for its characters, and of course for the reader.

Yet, for me, I have to admit that the ending very nearly ruined the book for me, and certainly ruined the world of the book. Having read it, and been so shocked by it, I couldn't really recommend the book to other readers unless they could commit to neglecting those last few pages. I adore Mda's writing, but that ending... well, it would be enough to put me off of his work if I weren't already a fan, not for the believability, but for the too-easy horror, that is all to believable, just as much as the rest of the story is surprisingly believable.

I don't know what to say beyond the fact that Mda's writing and world-building an character creation are marvelous. And that I now hate him, just a bit, for writing this ending.

[Margitte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zakes Mda is one of the delightful discoveries on the South African book scene.
His books are written with so much compassion, irony and a sense of humor
while introducing brilliant stories and customs to the reader. I love his books.
This was my first read and inspired me to buy his other books as well.

[Ali · Rating 2 out of 5]

This mainly felt to me like a book about unlikeable characters being unpleasant to each other for no reason. As such, it managed to make me feel sad without actually emotionally engaging me: I didn't care much about the characters, but I found their behaviour frustrating.

The horrifying ending was especially unsatisfying, crammed as it was into the last few pages.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a strange, strange book with a touch of magical realism, the refreshing scenery of Hermanus, South Africa, and lots of sexual imagery between a man and a whale. I wanted to read this in a classroom setting - there's so much critical reading and analyses to do on this lovely work of literature.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This poignant story set in south Africa about a poor male pensioner who uses a kelp horn call to lure a female right whale to interact with him, his human relationship with the toothless town whore delves into man's longing for love.

[Lauryn]

WARNING! DO NOT READ THIS BOOK! IT IS SO WEIRD AND SO TOTALLY POINTLESS THAT I AM ACTUALLY CROSS THAT I HAD TO WASTE PRECIOUS MINUTES OUT OF MY LIFE READING IT. THE WORST STORY EVER!

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ummm.. I dunno. It was a bit crazy for me. I'm more into romantic novels/drama or page turner books. Nevertheless, it was still something interesting to read.

[Sisikelelwe Tshofela · Rating 5 out of 5]

very well written..imaginary

[Nancy Mcdaniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a magical story
I have loved all of Mda's books but this was one of my favorites. How can you NOT love a story of a man who can talk to whales?

[Salvatore Leone · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I liked about it was the use of symbolism throughout, and the author's obvious love of nature but this is essentially a romance, not my favorite genre.

[Mpho Kubjane · Rating 5 out of 5]

My new favorite book!A true depiction of what love is,no fairytale...I'll never get over the part where the whale caller plans a candle lit dinner for himself and the whale!!

[ronja · Rating 2 out of 5]

The classic love triangle between man, woman and whale. Just the usual ya know.

[Wyna Modisapodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A titillating, spellbinding, fascinating read with a whiff of magical realism . In true Zakes Mda’s strokes of genius ,he paints this deeply rich ,captivating visceral bond between the Whale Caller (the main character) , who interestingly is called that throughout the book without his true name being revealed (and his race for that matter) and this Southern Right Whale , which the Whale Caller has named Sharisha, his true love . The deep organic love that the Whale Caller has for Sharisha was most intriguing part of the book for me and was very illuminating in shedding light on behavioral patterns of this whale species. The portrayal of Hermanus , the main setting of the book was very magical , as its tones , sounds , feel , texture, colours and rhythm were very palpable and vivid . The post apartheid political-socio ills are also subtly and delicately intertwined without overshadowing the other myriad of themes touched in the book. I also loved , the sneak peek of pre colonial life in the present day Western Cape. However , I battled to connect with the other main character Saluni (the Whale Caller’s toxic love in my view) as the character seemed a bit far-fetched for me ,together with the Bored Twins (who also didn’t have real names through the book) who at some point I wondered if they existed or were fiction of Saluni’s imagination . The book is open to many vastly opposing interpretations and it will percolate for sometime with me ,while I’m trying to makes sense of some of its unique intriguing nuances . I’m vacillating between 3-4 rating so it is a comfortable 3.5 for me , which was difficult since I’m a big Zakes Mda fan.