The Swimmers: A novel
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE WINNER • From the award-winning author of The Buddha in the Attic and When the Emperor Was Divine comes a novel that "starts as a catalogue of spoken and unspoken rules for swimmers at an aquatic center but unfolds into a powerful story of a mother’s dementia and her daughter’s love" (The Washington Post).
The swimmers are unknown to one another except through their private routines (slow lane, medium lane, fast lane) and the solace each takes in their morning or afternoon laps. But when a crack appears at the bottom of the pool, they are cast out into an unforgiving world without comfort or relief.
One of these swimmers is Alice, who is slowly losing her memory. For Alice, the pool was a final stand against the darkness of her encroaching dementia. Without the fellowship of other swimmers and the routine of her daily laps she is plunged into dislocation and chaos, swept into memories of her childhood and the Japanese American incarceration camp in which she spent the war. Alice's estranged daughter, reentering her mother's life too late, witnesses her stark and devastating decline.
The swimmers are unknown to one another except through their private routines (slow lane, medium lane, fast lane) and the solace each takes in their morning or afternoon laps. But when a crack appears at the bottom of the pool, they are cast out into an unforgiving world without comfort or relief.
One of these swimmers is Alice, who is slowly losing her memory. For Alice, the pool was a final stand against the darkness of her encroaching dementia. Without the fellowship of other swimmers and the routine of her daily laps she is plunged into dislocation and chaos, swept into memories of her childhood and the Japanese American incarceration camp in which she spent the war. Alice's estranged daughter, reentering her mother's life too late, witnesses her stark and devastating decline.
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Community Reviews
thenextgoodbook.com
Wish I could give this 4 1/2 stars... Full review on the site.
This made me think of our lives- the unending routine of our lives and then the end of all of our routines.
Wish I could give this 4 1/2 stars... Full review on the site.
This made me think of our lives- the unending routine of our lives and then the end of all of our routines.
I love to swim and I wanted so much for this book to be better. The first third of the book is about the swimmers at a community pool. They are described by their characteristics. He's a lane hugger, likes to swim slow, etc. One of the swimmers, Alice, is mentioned several times. She has dementia but continues to swim daily. Then a mysterious crack develops in the pool (is this even a real thing?) and eventually the pool is forced to close.
The second part of the book is about Alice and the ongoing progression of her dementia and how her daughter is coping with it. The aftermath and effect of Alice's death is told in the last third of the book. In this part the author does a good job with the relationship between the mother and daughter (the disembodied narrator) . There are also some flashbacks to Alice's younger years and her life in a Japanese relocation camp.
What was most glaring about this book was the unusual third person narrative that was so dispassionate and conveyed thoughts in short, choppy sentences. There are a lot of lists, some of them repeated. This is the kind of book you keep reading, hoping it will get better, but it never does.
The second part of the book is about Alice and the ongoing progression of her dementia and how her daughter is coping with it. The aftermath and effect of Alice's death is told in the last third of the book. In this part the author does a good job with the relationship between the mother and daughter (the disembodied narrator) . There are also some flashbacks to Alice's younger years and her life in a Japanese relocation camp.
What was most glaring about this book was the unusual third person narrative that was so dispassionate and conveyed thoughts in short, choppy sentences. There are a lot of lists, some of them repeated. This is the kind of book you keep reading, hoping it will get better, but it never does.
this one was a bit too quirky for me. kind of liked the beginning but then it veered into a much different book than i thought it’d be going in, v different from description. also kind of a downer ending for no real reason.
I didn't especially enjoy this book and I wouldn't recommend it, but I did feel devastated by the end of it.
Rather short calm mysterious novel chosen for Seattle Reads” 2023 . Swimming laps, friends and acquaintances, a crack, dementia.
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