Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Swimming Lessons

This is not the first story I've read where letters from the past intersected with the present, but the presence of them in the home the entire time, within the pages of books Ingrid's daughters touched and moved and never thought about again, added an aching, unresolved tension to the narrative. Altogether I felt the book was engaging and unique. Each of the principle women almost have a magical quality to their behaviors and beliefs. I appreciated how familial intimacy was displayed through their expressions of oddity, such as Flora's collecting and discarding of teeth, her naked mermaid swims with her mother, and Nan's lifelong proclivity towards motherhood.

Most characters involved here had personalities and motives that flowed and crashed like the ocean in Ingrid's backyard. Even her perspectives were difficult to pin down, thought she spent all her writing time describing them. I didn't really like any of the characters much, though I understood them and why they acted and thought the ways they did, all except Gil. It's Gil who we start the story with, who we first feel empathy towards, and who we come to realize hides a monstrous selfishness underneath his persona of a witty, loving, apologetic writer and father. Much like Ingrid, I, the reader, grew to quit forgiving Gil, to quit loving him, to quit lying to myself that he loved her, although much too late. Ultimately this story is really about the marred adulthood of a young woman who was held responsible for her older professor's trespasses against her and marooned with him by both her educational institution and her closest friend. This betrayal, and many more waiting in her future, forms the context of her life, up until her apparent death. Whether Ingrid's death was purposeful, an accident, or never really happened at all is left ambiguous. The truth of her story is left less important than how it was read by the people left behind, namely her daughters, who grow into oppositely minded adults believing their mother either died by suicide or would one day return to them. The novel ends with familial tensions never fully resolved or satisfied, but dissolving by the weight and tides of time.

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noraleonard's review

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challenging reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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wisforwitching's review

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dark emotional slow-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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