Gus Openshaw's Whale Killing Journal [Hardcover]

Keith Thomson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 24, 2006

Cat food cannery worker Gus Openshaw has a whale to kill. With a rickety boat and a heavily restrictive whale-hunting license, Gus sets out to exact his revenge on the blubbery bastard that ate his wife, his child, and his arm.

After assembling a misfit crew, Gus begins his chase, detailing in an online journal his encounters with pirates, a small navy, and a certain island princess. What emerges is the hilarious document of one man's quest for revenge that would do Captain Ahab proud.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As screenwriter Thompson's fiction debut opens, cat-food cannery worker Gus Openshaw has just set off in hot pursuit of the white whale who ate his wife, kid and arm—a beast he insists on calling "Dickhead," in one of the book's many broad winks in Melville's direction. Gus, in addition to sharpening his harpoon and gathering a crew, also somehow finds the time to keep updating his blog, whose entries constitute the book. That's no mean feat since, along with crew members who include semireformed pirate Nelson and cleaver-happy chef Duq, Gus must contend with attacks by pirates, shipwreck after shipwreck, imprisonment in a remote island jail and the violent opposition of a whale-protection organization named Bluepeace. Ludicrous scenarios loom behind every wave: as Gus and his crew prepare to do battle with the whale, a war with the Tortolan Navy forces a desperate search for munitions during which Gus falls in love with an arms dealer's intern who turns out to have a secret royal pedigree. Despite the author's pen-and-ink scrimshaws that end each chapter, the characters remain indistinct. They, and their adventures, are ill-served by the bloggy style, which sinks this strained farce long before Dickhead even nears harpooning range. (Apr.)
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From the Publisher

Known for publishing novels of a quirky nature, such as the runaway success Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn in 2001, MacAdam/Cage is pleased to announce the publication of Gus Openshaw’s Whale-Killing Journal by Keith Thomson.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 255 pages
• Publisher: MacAdam/Cage (March 24, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596921722
• ISBN-13: 978-1596921726
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,271,800 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Keith Thomson has been a semi-pro baseball player in France and editorial cartoonist for Newsday. Now a resident of Alabama, he writes about intelligence and other matters for The Huffington Post. His novels include the New York Times Best-Selling ONCE A SPY (Doubleday, 2010) and TWICE A SPY (2011).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Laughs Ahoy!, April 19, 2006

By 

Bart King (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gus Openshaw's Whale Killing Journal (Hardcover)

Okay, sorry about the cheesy review title, but as my friend, Herm Melville said, this is the best "guy-tries-to-get-revenge-against-a-whale book" published in 155 years. So I got carried away.

Our Story: Gus Openshaw is a cannery worker/blogger who has never read MOBY DICK. He is seeking revenge against the darned whale that ate his right arm and his family, and Gus relates his tale in the form of a blog recounting his battles with the elements, mutineers, and litigators.

The plot's not just an excuse to trot out absurd action and boisterous humor, although it does that too. It's actually a pretty ingenious maritime story, and it ends up doing comic takes on a multitude of genres. Plus, it has pictures!

Extra Credit for the remote controlled giant squid robot. This book was funny enough for me to search out Thomson's previous novel. If it's only 5/6ths as funny as this one, it will be worth the effort.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who knew that blogs, renegade militaries, robotic armies, pirates, drug dealers, and lost colonies were involved in whale hunts?, September 12, 2006

By 

Jessica Lux (Rosamond, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gus Openshaw's Whale Killing Journal (Hardcover)

Gus Openshaw was a cat food cannery worker working "the worst stinking job you can get" when a super sized sperm whale with a B-shaped scar on his head ate Gus's wife, kid, and right arm. The whale got away, but only for the time being. With his life insurance settlement, Gus sets out on a voyage of revenge. He posts his captain's log and ruminations on life in a web log, the entries of which make up the book Gus Openshaw's Whale-Killing Journal.

Gus's two-month ocean odyssey is a whirlwind of zany adventures told in smart prose and accompanied by scrimshaw illustrations. At one point, Gus gives a detailed physical description of the criminal whale, and the harpooner/scrimshawist on staff whips up a police scrimshaw sketch of the alleged murderer. The reader is also treated to rum-fueled scrimshaws of female vixens along with portraits of the many madcap characters encountered during the journey.

Thomson's sophomore is a 5-star work of fiction, hands down, but it does follow a pattern of crisis / almost dying / alive / good news / super-bad news / laugh-out-loud funny scene / surely-they-will-die!! / hope / possible escape / alive / bad news, all of which are executed repeatedly in a random order. Who knew that Internet exchanges, renegade military forces, F-15 fighter jets, robotic armies, pirates, drug dealers, lost European colonies, and icebergs would be involved in a modern-day whale hunt? Wireless internet is a key plot device, one that works both for and against our renegade whale-hunting crew.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Whale of a Blog/Book, January 19, 2010

By 

Johnson Clancy (Tuscaloosa, AL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gus Openshaw's Whale-Killing Journal (Kindle Edition)

Huffington Post writer Keith Thomson writes an account, in the first person, of a Oakland man named Gus Openshaw who works in a catfood cannery ("literally the worst stinking job there is") until his wife and infant son are eaten by a whale. Gus loses his arm in the process of trying to rescue them. In the time-honored tradition of victims of amputation by whale, he sets to sea to get revenge.

Gus keeps a blog, beginning with his purchase of a cheap boat. He enlists the aid of the blogosphere in posting sightings/giving him advice. The trail takes him into the Caribbean, where he adds a crew befitting a man with no money, including a scrimshaw artist/harpooner whose poor luck whaling reduces him to doing his artistry on cocktail napkins (the book is filled with his illustrations). The psychotic ex-Viet Cong interrogator who serves cook is the most capable of the lot.

Every imaginable challenge, ranging from pirates to tropical storms to a battle with the entire Tortollan navy, befalls Gus. And Gus and his bargain-bin crew themselves is probably their own biggest challenge. The writing/comedy is first-rate, Monte Python with more action. Each blog entry/chapter ends in a cliffhanger, usually with Gus facing certain death. The twists and turns in the story are incredible. Even the whale is a good character. And there is love in the form of a tropical island princess (who works for an illegal arms dealer constructing a robot, torpedo-launching squid), poignant friendships and bonds among the crew, and a surprise ending that's much better than the ending in that other whale-killing book, the one by Melville.