Customer Reviews

The Dolphin Smiles

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Intense, demanding, and surprisingly rapturous. Words that blow the concept of chick-lit out of the water. Finally, a book about women that matters."

"Dense, poetic, a novel that made me reconsider both the potentials and limitations of psychoanalysis. It felt like the trauma was stripped bare, and I was left with both excitement and despair about the potentials of how life might be different. An unsettling book that raised more questions than it answered, a perturbing danger percolates within the shimmering sheen of verbal hynposis."

David Salvage's new novel, The Dolphin Smiles, is truly remarkable in its fusion of passionate feeling and intelligence. In this knowing account of love, fulfillment, and disappointment among its gifted heroines, the reader is captivated by the accuracy and beauty of Salvage's insightful language. Through his characters, he depicts with precision the essence of women's sensuality, capacity for insight, sorrow, and even triumph. It is not to be missed!

The Dolphin Smiles is a gripping story about women's relationships, written with stirring intensity, depth, and pathos. David Salvage's love of language, people and life comes alive through the skillful development of his characters. At its heart, is the poignant, loving relationship between two sisters, one who is lost to her internal demons and one who struggles to make sense of them, never giving up on either her sister or herself despite family tragedy and emotional brutality. The story is woven with threads that are mysterious, erotic, surreal yet recognizably reflective of life in our times. The Dolphin Smiles is a compelling exploration into the relationship between image and interior nightmare, culture and psychology. This debut puts Salvage on my radar as a writer of brains, heart and formidable talent.

I thought all of the women in this book were brilliantly realized and true. The fiery determination of Bruna. The ethereal madness of Iris. The ethereal vision of Martine. The tragic struggle of Lily. And at the center of it all the mystery of Pamela herself. The brilliant depressive struggling to find the key to heal her away out of the box of pain. I was pleasantly bewildered by the ending? Does she make it? Half of me hopes so, but half of me wonders if there's a deliberately crafted intention -- kind of like the Turn of the Screw -- that makes it impossible to know so we have to keep wondering after the last page is closed....

Dolphin was an intense experience, demanding and worthwhile. It was refreshing to dive
into a novel with sensuality and soul. Wonderful pace and language. I am glad to see
this book getting the praise it deserves.

This was a strange and emotionally evocative novel. Stylistically it veered between the guts of Chuck Palahniuk and the elegance of Shirley Hazzard. And yet, it had something all its own. Full of strange twists, surprises, tricks of time. It's that kind of book that stays with you after you put it down leaving you wondering and wanting to read it again.

Salvage deserves kudos for writing this beautiful first novel. There are paragraphs like poems in The Dolphin Smiles. They lure you back, over and over. The characters sweat, bleed, laugh, and cry with superb psychological immediacy. This is a book which is impossible to put down.

A powerful and no-nonsense novel that touched on the major themes of life - family, death, the bond between lovers, the mystery of sex, the inevitability of change. I would highly recommend this book to any parent seeking a way of understanding a gay teenager, and to anyone who wants a compelling read that delves into the world of women. The Dolphin pushes far beyond the Hours to tell the real story of women in love with each other--

David Salvage's style of writing is lyrical and haunting, engaging on such a deep level. He has a gift for activating memory with his words, so his writing is about so much more than the narrative; he truly awakens something essential in the reader. Dolphin offers an experience of total immersion, which few novels can do.