The Dolphin People

I was very curious about what direction this book was going to take. Was it going to be a book about Nazis? The part of the story about the tribe believing that the members of the Linden family were dolphins in human form seemed kind of odd in the description; would it be too strange for my tastes? Would the story seem realistic? The story starts out with Erich, his mother and brother all on a ship bound for Venezuela. They don't know what to expect, but after being on the losing side of WWII, the option of starting a new life in Venezuela seems pretty attractive to them. It's interesting seeing things from Erich's point of view. He has been raised to think of the Third Reich as the ideal, has been involved in Hitler Youth, and yet is still so innocent about what was really going on in Germany during the war. Bits and pieces of his and his family's past in Germany are revealed slowly throughout the book, and the way that they are juxtaposed with the actions of the Yayomi tribe lets the reader reflect on the similarities of savagery that are enacted by different segments the human race. There are parts of this book that have graphic sexual content, yet it is almost entirely in relation to the rituals of the Yayomi tribe and the Linden family's reactions to them. In this respect it is like reading about a tribe in the National Geographic magazine. You get descriptions of many naked people and their sexual practices, but it is more like an anthropological study than a gratuitous story. However, Erich is a sixteen-year-old boy who has been suddenly thrust into a society filled with naked people. He is the protagonist, and when he first sees the naked women he reacts like any other teenage boy would (which means that until he gets used to being around naked women, you get to read a lot about their breasts). The author uses Erich's uncle Klaus (a former Nazi) as a comparison of savagery and brutality with the natives. The question throughout seems to be, who really is more brutal and savage? Is there any difference at all? Are the natives more noble despite their brutal rituals? The native's belief that the Linden's are dolphins who have taken human form is written in such a way that it seemed perfectly believable. The native's belief also plays a key role in the story, and the Linden family uses it to their advantage whenever possible in order to excuse some of the family's peculiarities and their disregard for the natives' customs. But the anthropologist has them play up the story, and they are constantly in danger of taking the lie too far and endangering themselves in the process. I liked this story far better than I had expected, and that is really a credit to the author. The plot moves along quickly - part suspense, part anthropological study. At the beginning I was rooting for the Linden family to escape from the natives and return to society. By the end I was so fascinated by the characters that I didn't really care if the

This is a really great book. I loved it and you will most definitely enjoy it as well.

Since the other 2 reviews tell what it's about I'll just say I loved it. Once you start it you'll have a hard time putting it down.