Beluga: A Farewell to Whales

by Pierre Beland

A powerful of one man's transforming journey to discover how the St. Lawrence River beluga whales live, why they are dying mysteriously of cancer, and what we can do to prevent this tragedy in the future. "Important reading for those concerned about the environment". -- Publishers Weekly

Genres: Natural History, Animals

224 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1996

Reviews

[hare · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved Pierre Beland's writing; as cetaceans go, belugas are quite fascinating.

Further reading:
Beluga Days: Tracking the Endangered White Whale
Can't say which one I liked better; they don't overlap so there's no reason to choose between them.

[Malli (Chapter Malliumpkin) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't stop crying!!!



As someone who loves animals, I sobbed constantly through this book. My heart was just broken reading this. At the same time this book is a lot more educational than what people would believe. I think this is one of those books that people need to pick up and just educate themselves. There's such a large amount of information packed in this book that really make the gears in the brain work.

Also, the pictures! I love the fact that this book included pictures. Not just a couple of pages with pictures, but the chapters having set photos above the chapters title. Super nice to help give the reader a bit of an idea of what's going on in each chapter and what it talks about.

The only reason why I just so happened to rate this book a four star is because I couldn't stop crying. Seriously, this book now has tear stains on the majority of these pages. My emotions were just all over the place while reading this book. Either way, this book was a really good read. I wish more books tugged at people's emotions when they read while also being educational like this book did. It really is a great read and I highly recommend it to my fellow book lovers and animal lovers. This is a book that needs to be read!

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beland covers the beluga whales in both a scientific and informative way and a human interest, nottoo-sentimental way - this is a difficult thing to do when writing about animals. The title, "A farewell to whales" doesn't quite make sense til you get to the end and you realize that Beland is, well he's heartbroken. He's studied these animals so long, seen the toxicity they're exposed to, and isn't too optimistic about their future. It's a different approach- more fatalistic than I expected. Less a call for action and more a heartfelt goodbye.

[lynna · Rating 5 out of 5]

heartbreaking, but wonderful. i heart belugas!