Grayson by Lynne Cox

Summary:

Grayson is Lynne Cox’s first book since Swimming to Antarctica (“Riveting”—Sports Illustrated; “Pitch-perfect”—Outside). In it she tells the story of a miraculous ocean encounter that happened to her when she was seventeen and in training for a big swim (she had already swum the English Channel, twice, and the Catalina Channel).

It was the dark of early morning; Lynne was in 55-degree water as smooth as black ice, two hundred yards offshore, outside the wave break. She was swimming her last half-mile back to the pier before heading home for breakfast when she became aware that something was swimming with her. The ocean was charged with energy as if a squall was moving in; thousands of baby anchovy darted through the water like lit sparklers, trying to evade something larger. Whatever it was, it felt large enough to be a white shark coursing beneath her body.

It wasn’t a shark. It became clear that it was a baby gray whale—following alongside Lynne for a mile or so. Lynne had been swimming for more than an hour; she needed to get out of the water to rest, but she realized that if she did, the young calf would follow her onto shore and die from collapsed lungs.

The baby whale—eighteen feet long!—was migrating on a three-month trek to its feeding grounds in the Bering Sea, an eight-thousand-mile journey. It would have to be carried on its mother’s back for much of that distance, and was dependent on its mother’s milk for food—baby whales drink up to fifty gallons of milk a day. If Lynne didn’t find the mother whale, the baby would suffer from dehydration and starve to death.

Something so enormous—the mother whale was fifty feet long—suddenly seemed very small in the vast Pacific Ocean. How could Lynne possibly find her?

This is the story—part mystery, part magical tale—of what happened . . .
Summary taken from Goodreads.com

The main reason I read this book is because I've been on a bit of a nature kick lately and I needed something light and easy to read before bed a few nights ago. This was the perfect book for that. I read it in a few hours on Friday night/Saturday morning.

            The story in itself is something special that should be savoured. The author painted a breath taking picture of her experience with Grayson the lost baby whale on that early morning when she was still a teenager.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I'm so glad that I gave it a chance because too me it looked a bit too "fluffy" if you will and while it was sappy her experience is one that deserved to be printed in a book. I only have two problems with it and mostly it's with the dialogue she had with Grayson in the book during those parts the words seemed forced and unnatural to be coming from her lips in such a situation. But alas that's not to say that she didn't speak that way. Who knows? I'm not her.

I also wish that when she would insert facts into the story that she did it in a way that created potholes in the story throwing the flow off. But alas maybe it's me being jealous of her for sharing those few hours with Grayson, which in itself is a remarkable gift.

I recommend this book to to nature lovers and I hope to read more of her books soon!

★★★