Reviews

Aquamarine by Carol Anshaw

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abbylaceyxoxo's review against another edition

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reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

katikins's review against another edition

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Honestly I just couldn’t get into it. It’s 2024, we shouldn’t be using the r-slur to describe characters with developmental disorders. I understand trying to set the scene using language contemporary to the era, but it dragged me out of the story every time.

Content Warnings

jn0el's review against another edition

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5.0

I read this book before I moved to Portland, before my life really started. In my sheltered, plastic world, this novel stood out for its authenticity, its daring. I picked it up for very superficial reasons: I liked the cover, I'd been a competitive swimmer, and aquamarine is my birthstone. I nudged my paradigm ever so slightly. I realized that the path I was on was the not the only path I could take. In fact, looking back the reading of this novel may have been a watershed moment. I took the reigns of life and from then on directed.

misha_ali's review against another edition

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5.0

I originally gave this four stars but upgraded to five after some musing.

Going into this, I was unsure that I would get the point of yet another sliding doors style story where a person makes a small choice differently and we see the impact it has on their life. While it's true that this is essentially the story of an Olympic athlete competing in the biggest swim race of her life and then fast forwarding to three completely different versions of her life twenty years later, each version pulled me in and engaged me fully, so kudos where it's due.

Each of the three versions of Jesse's life are significantly different except for one thing: regret. In various flashes of insight, we get hints about Jesse clearly being in love with her biggest competition at the time, Marty, and the regret that haunts her about them completely losing touch subsequently. Each version of Jesse's life features roughly a similar cast but even the ones closest to her in one life are relative strangers in another. If you like fully fleshed out characters, this is a really engaging book.

I also enjoyed the questions raised by Jesse's memory. She admits to turning Marty's character into whatever suits her best at the time to inspire passion, but it's really interesting how she's unsure about Marty's and her own actions and motivations as time goes on. The questions that haunt her are interesting:

Spoiler

Did Marty seduce Jesse the night before to gain an edge for the big event? Did Marty care for her at all, since she discards her immediately after returning home to Australia? Did Jesse subtly let Marty win because she was in love with her?

Regret and memory are the threads that bind the three narratives.

I'm definitely interested in reading more of Carol Anshaw's writing after reading what she did with this idea.