The Dolphin House

April 4, 2022
Set in 1965 and based on a true story, the engrossing latest from Schulman (Theory of Bastards) explores a young St. Thomas woman’s connection to dolphins. Cora, 21, who is Deaf but can hear underwater, comes across four dolphins that are part of a research project led by Dr. Blum, a Harvard professor. Blum, sensing the connection between Cora and the dolphins, hires her, initially to keep the dolphins happy and study their interactions, and eventually to teach them English. Blum also orders the construction of a “homearium” for Cora to live in with an adolescent male dolphin, Junior. Cora commits to the work, both due to her fascination with the dolphins as well as her desire to keep Blum from performing dangerous surgeries on them. But as she succeeds in her tasks, she draws ire from Blum’s colleagues, who view her as unqualified since she lacks formal training. Schulman does a good job describing Cora’s experience communicating with her hearing colleagues (“She repeated her words, pushing the words out with her gut, trying to feel for the right level of sound in her mouth”) and touchingly conveys her bond with the dolphins. This is worth plunging into.

March 1, 2022
If you could tell the story of the ignored, would you? In Schulman's (Theory of Bastards, 2018) fifth novel, Cora works as a waitress in St. Thomas. On a break, she happens upon dolphins caged in a lagoon. Cora has lost her hearing due to a childhood fever and so can hear more clearly than most humans under water, which makes her a perfect helper for Blum and Tibbit, researchers working to teach human language to dolphins. Cora is adept at understanding nonverbal language, giving readers the benefit of knowing through her observations what characters mean and not just what they say. Meanwhile, her experiences of sexual harassment, rape, and generally being demeaned recall painful norms for the book's 1960s era, and ultimately lead to the scandal that shuts down the experiment. Schulman occasionally flashes back through Cora's life to give readers a fuller picture of the character's motives, which can sometimes make for a slightly disjointed story. Still, patient readers will enjoy this novel of the human need for connection, conversation, and community.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from March 15, 2022
A woman navigates life in 1960s America, finding her way while interacting with dolphins in a scientific-research project. In 1965, hearing-impaired Cora is a waitress in a Florida club, one in which her tight-fitting bunny costume includes ears and a tail. While using her earnings to pay off new hearing aids that "masqueraded as cat-eye glasses," Cora manages a tricky situation nicely until, that is, one man's wandering hands wander a little too far. Then, inspired by a sign for South Pacific, she buys a one-way ticket to St. Thomas, where she crosses paths with Dr. Blum, a research scientist studying dolphins. In the water with the mammals, Cora discovers a wonderful new angle to her world: she can "hear" the dolphins spectacularly underwater--and they respond to her, too. As she wins their trust, the scene is set for a tale that's both inspiring and ghastly--Blum is conducting physical research on the dolphins, after all--but the relationship between Cora and the mammals is joyfully detailed and a pleasure to follow. Schulman builds a lovely picture of the growth of mutual trust and enjoyment among the dolphins and Cora as she works to train the sea mammals to communicate linguistically with humans. Given the time frame, casual sexism is par for the course on the part of Blum and his male colleagues. The men are most likely to be found glued to the television, iced cocktails in hand, but that just leaves Cora more space to interact with the dolphins. She develops Blum's research processes, educates herself by reading Blum's science books, and even challenges him. Then, when Cora moves into a purpose-built homearium with one of the dolphins, the situation takes an intriguing turn. Both woman and dolphins come to vivid life in this fascinating and beautifully realized novel.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.