Editorial Review

In Whalers by Kyle Farnworth, Ethan Callahan teaches English language arts to sixth graders in a New England town where nothing beyond everyday life seems to happen. He struggles with drinking too much and with frustrations over the limitations the administration puts on teaching tomorrow’s young minds, but his life takes a sudden turn when one of his students goes missing. With his life now spun upside down, Ethan begins to question the point of everything, even his own existence.

Whalers is written from a first-person perspective, which is integral to sharing its message. There is even an element of a meta-narrative present when Ethan, the protagonist, directly addresses the reader. In literary fiction like Farnworth’s story, the theme is brought to the forefront. The protagonist may not go on a grand adventure and drastically change the world, but the microcosm of the individual’s world and his journey within is what matters.

On the surface, nothing substantial stands out about Ethan’s seemingly mundane life. In fact, that he is a sixth-grade English teacher who isn’t satisfied with his job and also with the direction the rest of his life is going as he travels into his mid-thirties is highly relatable to the average person. But telling stories is precisely at the foundational level of how we relate to each other on a day-to-day basis, and beneath the surface of every life lies an ocean running deep with existential questions.

Farnworth’s novel ultimately isn’t about Ethan saving the day and finding the missing student, although that certainly plays a part. It’s about Ethan being forced to confront his own shortcomings when circumstances beyond his control push him to the breaking point, and that’s the question: Does he break, or does he grow? We’re faced with choices every day, and it’s our decisions, one after another, including getting out of bed every morning, that ultimately make up our lives and who we are.

Ethan is old enough to remember life prior to the digital age it’s become, the world in which his students immerse themselves in technology at all hours of the day and know nothing else (or better). It’s admirable to witness him desiring to return to the tradition of how teachers taught students until the demands of computer programs took over, where human interaction was so important. This is a timely message in today’s world, where people are finding how much they need human connections rather than a phone or computer screen between them.

Ethan’s biggest flaw is his drinking. The reader knows Ethan has a serious alcohol problem when he must drink several beers nightly in order to fall asleep. When Ethan’s life spirals out of control, he must confront this aspect of himself. Realizing that his alcoholism started socially, devolving into an addiction, puts social pressure on him to make the right choice when he’s around his friends and family and they’re drinking. It’s unfortunate that it the reader knows that Ethan needed his friends’ and family’s support in the story, as we witness them still drinking in front of him, and he doesn’t say anything about it.

Whalers is a deep-dive into the human psyche that asks some tough questions we must all ask. Farnworth delivers a strong narrative with universal themes that stand the test of time. For readers who aren’t afraid to explore the darker underbelly of everyday life, Whalers is a solid choice.