Scan barcode
kittkat's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
Also… Das ist gerade etwas schwierig zu bewerten. Ich habe mir zu viel Zeit gelassen und dadurch hat sich die Story zu stark langgezogen. Völlig mein Fehler. Eigentlich ist es eine wirklich sehr interessante, tragische Geschichte. Der Schreibstil und die Erzählperspektive haben mir sehr gefallen. Ich würde das Buch auf jeden Fall irgendwann nochmal lesen (und dann wahrscheinlich auch eher als physisches Buch).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content
Moderate: Classism and Outing
Minor: Police brutality
sophee_568's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
New all time favorite book. It's devastating. Made me cry. I love everything about this book and I can't wait to reread it. It gives off Call Me By Your Name vibes but without the weird age gap. No misogyny too. 💞
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Outing
Minor: Violence and Police brutality
kwichris's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I typically don't like reading books that center around romance. This book, however, managed to embed historical context and emotionally complex situations that added more to this story than a simple romance that cannot be. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I found myself relating to or finding understanding in the main character's reactions/feelings/thoughts regarding the situation they find themselves in - a love that they cannot express publicly, a country divided post-war, and uncertainty of their own future. For a first entry, the author has crafted quite a nice story, and I would recommend it to anyone that likes a little historical context and input that shapes the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Grief
Moderate: Classism, Alcohol, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Outing, War, Sexual content, Drug use, and Antisemitism
Minor: Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Vomit, Police brutality, and Genocide
captainrenjamin's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Homophobia, and Outing
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, and Grief
Depicts an oppressive society where being queer is illegalmaess's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Outing, Alcohol, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Pregnancy, and Toxic relationship
shoohoob's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The last 10 or so pages really sold this book for me. I love Giovanni’s Room and was excited to read a book similar to it, but this one didn’t capture my attention as much as I had hoped. I did really enjoy reading about 80’s communist Poland as I don’t know much about it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Outing
waybeyondblue's review
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Chronic illness, Outing, Infidelity, Biphobia, and Sexual content
risemini's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Sexual content, Death of parent, Death, Homophobia, Outing, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship
hxcpanda's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, Outing, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual content
Minor: Police brutality and Antisemitism
atoft's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I am done pretending that I've erased you from my mind. Some things cannot be erased through silence. Some people have that power over you, whether you like it or not. I begin to see that now. Some people, some events, make you lose your mind. They're like guillotines, cutting your life in two, the dead and the alive, the before and after.
Swimming in the Dark is both short and epic. While I finished it in just a couple of sittings, its window into a tense and oppressive time in Communist Poland feels expansive. Both the decay and mundane cruelty of the city and the hopeful escape of the countryside are richly drawn. The book works equally well as historical fiction as it does a queer romance.
Ludwik's chance meeting with Janusz is a spark of hope leading to a beautiful, secretive summer of romance away from the harsh reality of the world. For Ludwik it represents the possibility to be free of the shame and guilt that has haunted him since childhood. At the same time, it's a relationship that seems doomed after their return to the real world, not only due to the inherent threat of being found out, but due to Janusz's continued loyalty to the Communist Party and his willingness to make connections and carve out a life for himself within its suffocating constraints, while the fabric of their community is crumbling around them. This contrast between his worldview and Ludwik's, informed by his mother and Granny's secret evenings listening to pirate radio, is really effective at interweaving their fraught relationship with the wider political context of the novel. The two are also surrounded by a wider cast of characters that continue this pattern, not only in Ludwik's family but also his friend Karolina and her seemingly futile wish to run away with him, his professor's resigned acceptance of the corrupt academic process, his sickly landlady who can't get the medicine she needs above the board, and Janusz's friends with their close ties to the party Secretary and seemingly unending access to Western luxury.
At the same time, the building of their relationship itself is beautifully detailed. From the self denial and furtive attempts to figure one another out, to their joyful queer intimacy together, the hope and futility is really emotional.
The book is framed in a letter written by Ludwik to Janusz one year later. I think I could have done without this framing device being explained so explicitly, especially since the rest of the prose has a tendency to drift back and forth to earlier periods in Ludwik's life anyway.
Swimming in the Dark is another beautiful gay coming of age story. While I can certainly point to more hopeful and inspiring entries in the genre, in terms of balancing hope and tenderness with emotion and heartbreak, it already ranks among my favourites.
"You can't make people love you the way you want them to."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Outing and Homophobia