Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - Bajo la superficie

Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Bajo la superficie by Daisy Johnson

21 reviews

mariebrunelm's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: N/A

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Gretel has been looking for her mother for 16 years. In the years they had together, they lived on a boat on a canal and invented words of their own, including one for the thing lurking on the water. As Gretel digs into her past looking for hints of her mother’s whereabouts, she remembers the people whose path she crossed and how they each left their mark on her and her mother’s life.

This dual-timeline novel will probably feel quite different depending on your mood. It is thoughtful and subtle, but also quite bleak because of its description of family relationships. I was expecting a little more whimsy and a lot less queer rep, so I might have been a little frustrated by the down-to-earth approach (although there *is* a presence of folklore), but I was pleasantly surprised by the trans rep, however messy the characters are. It got me thinking that most of the trans rep I’d read before was in fantasy books, and that I haven’t encountered a lot of trans characters in contemporary fiction. That’s mostly because I read more fantasy than contemporary books, but still.

The subtlety of the narrative meant that it took me a few chapters to understand the dual timeline and the relationships between the characters, but that was also a case of my brain being frozen by stress as I read this in the week leading to my trip to Oxford.

This book could be read as a variation on the Oedipus myth, although this aspect is more present in the last third, but I’m sure a more literary-minded reader will find a whole lot of interesting things to say about this novel.

Rep: trans and lesbian rep.

Content Warnings

nm25's review against another edition

2.0

challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

booksandbabble's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

spookyaz's review against another edition

2.0

challenging dark sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

river_dithers's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This book was definitely an odd read. I had read Fen by Johnson and was excited to see the emerging fantastical elements, but this book felt darker and less empowering. The descriptions were beautiful and Gretel was a loveable character, but I found it difficult to overcome her mother and the story of Margot. I wanted to see Margot live. Sometimes the plot felt murky, as it became difficult to distinguish between the separate narratives, but I really enjoyed how the ending rounded out, and how Gretel's career ebbed into the early memories.

Content Warnings

savvylit's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Everything Under is a book in which the setting is the most key feature. The river Isis and its community of drifters make up the bulk of this ethereal story. Johnson effortlessly invokes the rhythms of river-living in a way that transports.

The mother-daughter dynamics in this book are well-explored and devastating. Gretel's perspective in particular is heart-wrenching and challenging. Johnson gives the book a mysterious element as we wonder alongside Gretel: who was Marcus and why did he change the trajectory of their life?

Overall, this is a lovely and genderfluid retelling of a classic myth. The characters and the setting were so real-seeming. My only complaint would be that something in the structure felt a little too confusing; it was o

Content Warnings