Author: Julie Otsuka
Year published: 2022
Category: Adult fiction
Pages: 192 pages
Rating: 4 out of 5
Location: (my 2025 Google Reading map): USA
Summary: 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.
Review: I was a competitive swimmer from the age of 12 through my first year of college. The pool was my life. I smelled of choline all the time, my hair was tweaked, I had goggle marks, and Speedo tan lines. This book was for me. I read quotes from the first chapter out loud to my swimmer friends because I knew they would relate. Even the cover is evocative for me.
I have read both of Julie Otsuka's other novels and enjoyed them: Buddha in the Attic and When the Emporer was Devine (links to my reviews).
In addition to the swimming connection, the second half of the book is about Alice, the character with dementia. We hear her perspective, her husbands, and her daughters. The entire book is told in the third person, in a gentle voice, as lists of things that are happening and being felt. This book is a gentle read and stirred so many emotions for me as my father is losing his short term memory.
I am not sure that this book is for everyone, but if you are looking for a book that makes you feel, doesn't really have much of a plot, is quick, and may hit a nerve (depending on your life situation), then I suggest picking it up.
Challenges for which this counts:
- Cover Love--aquatic animal
- Diversity--main character and author are Japanese American
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