This Is the Water: A Novel

this is the review of a strangely written book.

this is you reading the review of the book. you are wondering why it is written this way.

this is you realizing this reviewer is imitating the writing style.

this is a cat purring by you leg.

this is a chair that is easily forgotten once you sit on it.

will you the book?. Will u use the audio verson? will you realize how annoying this can be? will you eat today? will you answer your phone.

this is the reviews end.

when it first started in almost just clicked off but I am very happy I didnt. it's told in a way I've never heard before but it wound up being really good

I’ve never read a book written in the second person before. In fact, I had to consult Google to make sure I was right about what I was experiencing! For those of you who don’t know, second person is like third person except the protagonist is referred to as “you” (or another second person pronoun, but in this book, it was “you”). I was amazed at how the author referring to one character as “you” made me empathize with them more. I still felt a disconnect I associate with third person narratives, but to a lesser degree. I loved what the author did with the second person perspective. It allowed her to give us a more complete picture of the story, occasionally zooming out from the main character to share other characters’ perspectives or far away events. She sometimes moved to unrelated events, animals in the main character’s yard for instance, in a way that made the story more poignant. Don’t ask me why! That’s one of those tricks that only the best authors know and if I knew, I’d be writing a book right now instead of writing a review.

One trick the author used which I do recognize is to choose metaphors and similes which are completely new but which resonated with me perfectly. I also enjoyed her use of repetition, with a repeated “This is…” sentence structure used throughout the book. Despite the second person perspective, parts of the book seemed very stream-of-consciousness. This isn’t a device which always works for me, but in this case, I felt the author shared the right mix of important and mundane details to express who each character was. The plot felt a bit contrived, relying on too many coincidences and tying up a little too neatly. It also raised some interesting ethical questions though and that, plus the beauty of the author’s writing, will keep me thinking about this delightful, unique story for days to come.

This is the review first published at Doing Dewey.

Vermont is rarely a setting for novels, nor are girls swim teams usually the nucleus of the protagonists. Here are both and this is a domestic thriller and a mystery and a character study of a wife and mother living deeply inside her own head. The books opens with Annie heading into her fifties and wondering why she and her husband are becoming unfamiliar with each other's skin. Husband Thomas is actually the most amusing and well-drawn character, communicating with his wife only facts he gleams from science magazine articles.

But there's trouble in Northern Kingdom paradise in the form of a serial killer who slices the throats of his victims. His preference is young girls because they fight the hardest and he tries to absorb their life forces as he looks into their dying eyes. The swim team becomes his target.

There is a major plot hole which leads to resolution and a satisfactory ending, but the trip through a swimming season is very well worth every stroke. Beautifully written all the way.