Whale Music (novel)

For other uses, see Whale music (disambiguation).

First edition

Whale Music is a novel by Canadian writer Paul Quarrington. It was first published by Doubleday Canada in 1989.

The novel's protagonist is Desmond Howl, a reclusive former rock star who has lived in isolation from the public eye since the death of his brother, Danny, in a car accident. Rather than engaging with the outside world, Howl spends all his time in seclusion, composing symphonies for the pod of whales that congregate near his dilapidated seaside mansion. Howl's life is turned upside down when he finds a mysterious woman named Claire asleep in his living room one morning.

The character of Desmond Howl is loosely based on Brian Wilson.

Howl is a heavy drug user and alcoholic whose diet mainly consists of jelly-filled doughnuts. Drugs and alcohol give Howl a false sense of reality and damage his short-term memory, which results in a nonlinear narrative style. Rarely making it through a paragraph without distraction and topic switches, Quarrington's writing style aims to make the reader feel as though they are inside Desmond's drug-fueled mind. Most of the story is told through Desmond's flashbacks, giving the reader a glimpse into the reclusive rock star's past.

Plot

The story begins with Desmond finding a naked woman asleep on the couch in his seaside mansion. Rarely receiving visitors, he becomes confused about how she entered his home. Once the woman awakes, she tells Desmond that she is from Toronto. Desmond thinks that Toronto must be a planet in a nearby galaxy and that Claire must be an alien. Her spaceship must have crashed into the nearby ocean and that's the reason why she is on his couch, seeking refuge. He tells the young "alien" that she may stay with him until she decides she is ready to return to her home planet. Claire moves in and starts helping Desmond with chores such as cooking, cleaning, and running to the store so that Desmond never has to leave the house. Besides his mother (who often shows up unannounced) Desmond does not allow visitors inside of his home. After Claire's arrival, Desmond's mother (also named Claire) snoops around his house looking for checks he has yet to cash. Desmond's flashbacks reveal aspects of his childhood, including his brother and abusive father. His brother Danny was always their father's favorite and he took a deep interest in everything he did. This caused Danny to often quit hobbies as the pressure their father placed on him proved to be too much. Desmond, however, tried as hard as he could to please their cold father, but nothing he did was ever good enough.

Their father was a musician when he was younger and had a single hit on the radio. He pushed both of the boys into music. Danny quickly grew bored of it and quit, whereas Desmond tried to learn every instrument he could in hopes of receiving his father's approval. After Danny grew tired of most of his interests due to his father being overbearing, he ended up becoming very interested in "going fast." He began doing things such as riding down big hills on his bike but eventually progressed to stealing someone's car. Following this event, Danny was sent to military school. During this time, Desmond got into music and learned to play countless instruments. When Danny returned home from military school, Desmond tried to become close once again with his brother. They ended up bonding while Danny was working on his car and Desmond went out and started singing with him. The pair soon wrote their first song about Danny's car called "Torque, Torque." Their father heard them playing and recommended that they needed to create a band and push the boys into doing so. He then declared himself their manager. They then went around looking for someone to help mix their music, and ended up working with "Fred the Head." Fred was very passionate about mixing songs and even showed Desmond how to do it. Desmond was very excited about this and stepped into mixing. He and Fred would spend hours locked away and mixing songs. Their father then started looking for a record label to sign the boys. He found one and they released the boy's first song. The boy's song quickly rose to the top of the charts.

Their father then decided that the boys needed other band members and put out an ad for teenage musicians. They wanted the other band members to fit the "California look." The band quickly rose to stardom, and the boys started doing drugs and drinking heavily. The majority of the band members engaged in promiscuous sexual activity with the 'groupies' who followed them. Desmond never preoccupied himself with women, preferred to drink, do drugs, and play music. However, through his flashbacks, it was revealed Desmond did marry a young groupie called Faye. While married to her, Desmond stopped partying heavily and acquired an office job. He would go to the office, write songs all day then head home to his wife. One day he went home and found Faye in bed with their mutual friend Farley O'Keefe. This marked the beginning of Desmond's voluntary seclusion. He kicked Faye out and began withdrawing and staying in his house. He also began heavily drinking and doing drugs. Danny then got into a fatal car accident while drunk, plunging from a cliff into the ocean below. This proved to be Desmond's final straw and he fully withdrew himself from civilization, refusing to leave his home, and stopped allowing visitors in completely. He starts doing drugs even more heavily as a way to avoid reality. The copious amounts of drugs fry his brain which is the reason for his poor short-term memory. As his isolation continues, he begins experiencing vivid hallucinations. He spends all of his time working on the "Whale Music" which is a series of songs he is writing for the whales that often swim by his seaside home.

"Whale Music" is his passion project and the only thing that brings him joy. This brings the reader to the present, where he finds Claire. Things go well with Claire until she invites Desmond's friends over for dinner. Desmond gets angry at Claire and reminds her that he does not allow visitors into his house. They get into a fight until finally, Desmond agrees. Desmond then says he is going to the studio to work on the Whale Music, but promises he will be back in time for dinner. When Desmond returns, dinner is over. He and Claire get into a massive fight that results in Claire walking out of the house. Desmond then goes back to working on Whale Music. After a while, he stops being angry and realizes that Claire left for good. He decides to go after her and steps out of his house for the first time in years to go look for her. When he steps outside a small dog runs at him and he kicks it across the yard. The dog ends up being okay. Desmond apologizes to the dog and promises him a steak if he follows him into town.

When they get into town Desmond buys the dog the steak as promised. The dog then decides that he prefers walking with Desmond and starts following him everywhere. He then heads for a nearby bar to look for Claire. He asks if anyone there has seen her and a man says that he did at the strip club and offers to take Desmond. The trio then heads to the strip club. Upon arrival Desmond finds Claire. He jumps on the stage and demands she return home with him. A security guard approaches to kick Desmond out. He ignores the guard and keeps trying to persuade Claire to go with him. The security guard keeps saying his name which he finds odd as he doesn't think anybody would recognize him. Eventually, Desmond turns around and the security guard ends up being Farley O'Keefe. Desmond runs at Farley in the hope of punching him but before he makes contact he is thrown to the ground. The security guard then starts screaming and Desmond assumes that he hit him when he notices that the dog has attached itself to Farley's leg. Desmond and Claire both end up getting arrested. Down at the station, everyone is put into a separate room. Desmond's record company provides him with a lawyer and Farley agrees to not press charges resulting in Desmond getting released from custody. He asks about Claire but they say that she is in the country illegally, therefore, will not be released. Desmond then tells the officer that they are engaged and they release Claire as well. In the parking lot, Farley approaches Desmond to ask why he's so mad at him as they used to be friends. Desmond tells Farley that it's because of his infidelity with Faye. Farley reminds Desmond of what happened that day stating that Desmond walked in on Danny in bed with Faye, not him. Desmond's memories then snap into place and he remembers the fight. He then also remembers how he kicked Danny out that day and refused to speak to him. He also remembers that Danny died before he had the chance to forgive him.

Desmond finishes the Whale Music and has a party at his house to celebrate. They have huge speakers lined up all over the property that point towards the ocean so that the whales can hear. Desmond and Claire sit on the rocks beside the ocean at the bottom of the property. No whales show up for a while and Desmond looks sad. Claire says she had never heard one of the songs that were playing and asks Desmond what it is called. Desmond tells her it's called "Have you guys seen Danny" she begins crying and asks Desmond why he can't be happy and then Desmond admits that he wrote all the songs because he never got the chance to forgive Danny.

Awards and recognition

The novel won the 1989 Governor General's Award for English fiction, and was a shortlisted nominee for the Stephen Leacock Award in 1990. It was also adapted into a film in 1994. Quarrington co-wrote the film's screenplay, with director Richard J. Lewis, and the Canadian indie rock band Rheostatics composed the film's soundtrack.