Customer Reviews

Freeing Keiko: The Journey of a Killer Whale from Free Willy to the Wild

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

 

 

I was disappointed with this book. I picked it up because I witnessed first hand the process of moving Keiko from Mexico City to Oregon, and in my opinion it was far more organized and professional than what the author describes. I was also disappointed by his extremely negative and condescending portrayal of the people involved, like Keiko's trainers and veterinarians.

These faults would maybe be more tolerable if the book was better written. However, the author has a short, direct style that does not engage the reader's imagination, and jumps from one subject to another - for example, stories and interesting anecdotes pertaining Keiko's transportation from Canada to Mexico only occupy a couple of paragraphs and are never satisfactorily concluded.

The book does pick up slightly afterwards, but the overall style and tone do not improve significantly.

Overall, it seems to me that in his zeal to indict businessmen and an entire Third World country as greedy, corrupt, insensitive and stupid, the author does a disservice to the memory of Keiko and the story of his liberation, and the efforts of all the parties involved.

This book provides more then just a good read on the world's most famous killer whale. It shows the behind the scenes story of the controversy, the politics, and the cult following that surfaced because of the making of one kid's movie about a boy who helped a whale return to his family.

Honestly though, the best part of this book is that it shows the many sides of humans, more so then the whale himself, in dealing with such a pioneering project involving the world's largest underdog...an underweight and sick killer whale...who would go on to surprise the world with the lessons he teaches us about his species and our own. What the film SeaBiscuit did with telling the story of a man and his horse...this book does with the world and one whale.

Very good read...

I enjoyed this book tremendously, and I think that it addressed and clarified a lot of misinformation that was put out in the press. I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about the Keiko project.

This book was extremely interesting to me since I have loved dolphins & whales since being a kid! Also, I had actually had the chance to see Keiko at the Oregon Coast Aquarium and on the same vacation saw wild killer whales in the Ocean in Washington! Let me tell you, seeing them in the ocean is by far more enjoyable than any marine park. After much research about captivity of dolphins & whales, I have found out of the cruelty in capturing of ALL of these marine animals as well as few live very long at all in captivity! Killer whales rarely live past their teens in captivity with few exceptions. Some live days or just one or two years. In the wild they can live from 50-90 years. Lolita is one of those whales that needs to be released to her family like Keiko, she is at a park in Miami! The movie, "Free Willy" shows what these parks are about, money! This book is about Keiko the star of "Free Willy!" I recommend this book, however I don't agree with talking about evolution and animal psychics! God created Keiko & everything and anyone can say anything about what a whale or any animal thinks! This book does show how these animal psychics are fake due to different opinions between two of them. Also, one of them states that Keiko is lonely and wants to be around people, when at that time he is overwelmed with people's attention that he distances himself near a boat. I did not like that the author cuts down the "Free Willy" movie and is very critical of it. Had it not been for that movie, Keiko would have died in Mexico and he would not have written this book. Those few things are why I didn't give it five stars. The author seems to go off on comparisions to unrelated things of Keiko, Iceland, etc. that were boring in the first part of the book! Unfortunately, Keiko died. At least he lived 5 years out of captivity, in the ocean where he was captured. He did also interact with other killer whales, though he never found his family. Keiko swam over 800 miles in the ocean, much better than in circles in a cement, chlorinated tank. According to this book he also swam to depths of 350 feet! Though this book does not say if captivity is good or bad. This book just reaffirms my recent change of thought that captivity is BAD for All marine animals! I am going to read Ric O'Barrys book next, Behind the Dolphin Smile! He was Flipper's trainer who is now against dolphins & whales in captivity due to Flipper's death! Keiko had a rough life, yet is the most famous whale ever! His life had a sad ending, however if he had not been released, he still would die. I view Keiko's release as successful, and hopefully more captive killer whales and dolphins will be released because of Keiko! Also, mistakes made during Keiko's release, could be useful to future releases! If you like killer whales or dolphins this book is great with the exceptions I mentioned earlier!!!

This is a cracking good adventure story with easy to absorb natural history, plenty of human conflict, eccentric characters, and a fine sense of humor. And, unlike its hero, it is by no means presented in black and white, but a myriad shades of grey. Brower does not shy away from controversy but wades into its middle, frequently expressing his own opinion of matters in dispute but never preaching. Top marks.

The book was a present so I haven't read it, but in arrived in a timely fashion and in exellent condition. I appreciate that the packaging was small enough to fit in my mailbox. Many times when I place and order, something very small will be in a large box, which makes me have to pick it up at the post office to get it. Thanks

As a long-term employee of the Keiko Project, I looked forward to reading this book. Unfortunately, it is an example of shoddy journalism at its worst. The author spoke to very few people who had worked on the project; the book is full of factual errors or omissions; and the presentation of the story is very one-sided. In addition, it is poorly organized and contains no index. Photo credits are not given (even though the author did not take the vast majority of the photos). In short, the book is not worth the purchase price.