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anou_reads_books 's review for:
Tears in the Water
by Margherita Scialla
lighthearted
medium-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
The message is amazing but the execution was lacking.
First of all, the representation this book gives is wonderful and authors should take note of it but that is also were this book has its flaws.
Each and every character represented some other gender or sexuality, which is great, but that's all it was. The characters felt like spokepersons for a different type of sexuality (to generalize: a different type of queer), they all had some other sexuality and their sole purpose in this book was to preach about this sexuality and what it meant. They, essentially, could have been cardboard cutouts with information about the different sexualities/genders. They had no personality, aside from what I already described, which made it really hard, as a reader, to connect with them and the story (stuff they were going through).
The characters also had no reasoning for their actions, they just did things. Like the mean guys: Olivia and Ryder. Their only purpose in this book was to be mean to the main characters but there was no explanation as to why they were being mean. Olivia is a thin rich white girl, because ofcourse in a book that is about defying stereotypes and set roles, the mean girl is thin rich and white (I believe she had blond hair too). Her looks are the only reason given why she is mean towards the main characters, there is no other single piece of information about her, provided to the reader, to clarify why she is so mean. Also, the main character is complaining about Olivia being mean but she is just as mean when she sees Olivia getting with Ryder (who the main character knows is just out for a quick fuck) and is satisfied that Olivia is being played. It is also the last time we ever hear of her (and Ryder) It's the same with Ryder, who is just the stereotypical bully and only exists to trouble the life of the main character for one page or so. Why are they there?
The main character, Alex, does not have a personality aside from being anxious and having a gender identity crisis. We are in Alex' head for almost 300 pages and it is constantely the same, always secondguessing everything in the same repetitive monologue. Her train of thought is relatable because anybody with anxiety relates to what Alex describes and how it takes over your life. In the beginning, I really related with that but after the tenth time reading the same monologue it became boring really fast. We get it. In the end, Alex is just a really selfish person because she expects everybody around her to just be their for her and comfort her, while not seeking help elsewhere. She has this whole monologue about how she knows she is selfish and should lessen that but ultimately does not. Her friends are too nice for her, she never wants to talk about things because she doesn't want to be a burden (relatable) but at the same time she expects her friends to just know what is wrong with her and to not act on her triggers, which she doesn't even know herself. It's all so messy but the bottomline is: get a therapist who studied to help you.
Alex has a boyfriend, Tate, who is only there to be her boyfriend and make her life easier (by putting up with all her shit). The chemistry between them was really non-existing and their relationship came, literally out of nowhere. Out of the blue, Tate asks her to be her boyfriend with no build-up, at all. So, they're together and that's it. If they didn't say it, you wouldn't know they were together and the only reason they keep repeating the term 'girlfirend' is for Alex to find out she is gender questioning, weren't it for Tate to say 'my girlfriend', it felt as if it wouldn't have happened at all. It all comes down to the fact that the characters are extremely underdeveloped.
Not only the characters, but the world is underdeveloped as well. This story takes place in a made-up country in the Mediterranean Sea but that does not matter at all because not once is it mentioned that they are in this country. They could've been on the moon and you wouldn't know because nothing is mentioned about the setting. The reasons for it being a fictional country seem to be the drinking age which is 18 but then again, what does it matter? They drink like one time and if it had been any other country in Europe, the drinking age would have been 18 too. This just seem an unnecessary explanation for countries where the drinking age is over 18. But then again, it does not matter because their age isn't mentioned, for all we know they could have been 22? The author also mentiones that the sports can differentiate from the real life version of them, again does not matter because the only sports mentioned, with a bit of detail, are swimming and volleyball which isn't even talked about that much. The world is basically non-existing because the only places the characters are is their room, the swimmingpool, the volleyball court and some random places at university. There is no worldbuilding outside of these places which makes it feel as if they are the only ones in this university and this university the only building in this world is.
Another issue, they attend university but never go to any classes or mention something about classes. They are only there to practise their sport and to eat, it seems. What about you diploma? You aren't getting a diploma in swimming because what does that even mean.
The writing is a whole other problem.
The writing was very juvenile and beginner-like. I understand English is not the authors first language but that does not excuse this writing because some things could have been easily fixed during editing or proofreading. Some sentences were grammatically very weird for example: "Tate's reply didn't come right away like it did when he was free, so I understood he was still training.' There is inherently nothing wrong with this sentence but it is just framed weirdly and unnatural. It also shows the next problem which is that this whole book is written in the pattern of 'I did this and then I did that and then this happened', the whole time. That is the way you learn writing when you just learn English (or any language) and it does not read well for a book. After a while it gets very repetitive and boring to read which takes you out the story and keeps the reader at a distance. The conversations between the characters, also, felt very stiff and written English, by which I mean the sentences in the conversations make sense in writing but not in speaking. No one would talk like that. Example: 'That is a rather general and random question. Would you mind elaborating a little.' It makes sense when you write it down but when someone speaks to you like that it's just weird.
Alex is also used to say these long monologues about different sexualities, ... and to say it's okay to be that way but this is also the character that's afraid of talking to other people. It just doesn't make sense. She gives Uriah, her aro-ace friend, about what being aromentic/asexual entails despite not having any experience going through those feelings. She gives Tate a whole monologue about how he should feel accepted as a trans person and should not mind these negative comment of others. She always, out of the blue, gives a text-book monologue about some sexuality or gender thing which, again feels very unnatural and very non-friendly. She just knows everything at the right time because she is *the main character*
Throughout the whole book the same vocabulary is used for expressing different things, there is no variating in synonyms or something like that. It is always the same word used for expressing something, hence also why it feels juvenile.
All in all, the representation is excellent but not enough to save this book.
First of all, the representation this book gives is wonderful and authors should take note of it but that is also were this book has its flaws.
Each and every character represented some other gender or sexuality, which is great, but that's all it was. The characters felt like spokepersons for a different type of sexuality (to generalize: a different type of queer), they all had some other sexuality and their sole purpose in this book was to preach about this sexuality and what it meant. They, essentially, could have been cardboard cutouts with information about the different sexualities/genders. They had no personality, aside from what I already described, which made it really hard, as a reader, to connect with them and the story (stuff they were going through).
The characters also had no reasoning for their actions, they just did things. Like the mean guys: Olivia and Ryder. Their only purpose in this book was to be mean to the main characters but there was no explanation as to why they were being mean. Olivia is a thin rich white girl, because ofcourse in a book that is about defying stereotypes and set roles, the mean girl is thin rich and white (I believe she had blond hair too). Her looks are the only reason given why she is mean towards the main characters, there is no other single piece of information about her, provided to the reader, to clarify why she is so mean. Also, the main character is complaining about Olivia being mean but she is just as mean when she sees Olivia getting with Ryder (who the main character knows is just out for a quick fuck) and is satisfied that Olivia is being played. It is also the last time we ever hear of her (and Ryder) It's the same with Ryder, who is just the stereotypical bully and only exists to trouble the life of the main character for one page or so. Why are they there?
The main character, Alex, does not have a personality aside from being anxious and having a gender identity crisis. We are in Alex' head for almost 300 pages and it is constantely the same, always secondguessing everything in the same repetitive monologue. Her train of thought is relatable because anybody with anxiety relates to what Alex describes and how it takes over your life. In the beginning, I really related with that but after the tenth time reading the same monologue it became boring really fast. We get it. In the end, Alex is just a really selfish person because she expects everybody around her to just be their for her and comfort her, while not seeking help elsewhere. She has this whole monologue about how she knows she is selfish and should lessen that but ultimately does not. Her friends are too nice for her, she never wants to talk about things because she doesn't want to be a burden (relatable) but at the same time she expects her friends to just know what is wrong with her and to not act on her triggers, which she doesn't even know herself. It's all so messy but the bottomline is: get a therapist who studied to help you.
Alex has a boyfriend, Tate, who is only there to be her boyfriend and make her life easier (by putting up with all her shit). The chemistry between them was really non-existing and their relationship came, literally out of nowhere. Out of the blue, Tate asks her to be her boyfriend with no build-up, at all. So, they're together and that's it. If they didn't say it, you wouldn't know they were together and the only reason they keep repeating the term 'girlfirend' is for Alex to find out she is gender questioning, weren't it for Tate to say 'my girlfriend', it felt as if it wouldn't have happened at all. It all comes down to the fact that the characters are extremely underdeveloped.
Not only the characters, but the world is underdeveloped as well. This story takes place in a made-up country in the Mediterranean Sea but that does not matter at all because not once is it mentioned that they are in this country. They could've been on the moon and you wouldn't know because nothing is mentioned about the setting. The reasons for it being a fictional country seem to be the drinking age which is 18 but then again, what does it matter? They drink like one time and if it had been any other country in Europe, the drinking age would have been 18 too. This just seem an unnecessary explanation for countries where the drinking age is over 18. But then again, it does not matter because their age isn't mentioned, for all we know they could have been 22? The author also mentiones that the sports can differentiate from the real life version of them, again does not matter because the only sports mentioned, with a bit of detail, are swimming and volleyball which isn't even talked about that much. The world is basically non-existing because the only places the characters are is their room, the swimmingpool, the volleyball court and some random places at university. There is no worldbuilding outside of these places which makes it feel as if they are the only ones in this university and this university the only building in this world is.
Another issue, they attend university but never go to any classes or mention something about classes. They are only there to practise their sport and to eat, it seems. What about you diploma? You aren't getting a diploma in swimming because what does that even mean.
The writing is a whole other problem.
The writing was very juvenile and beginner-like. I understand English is not the authors first language but that does not excuse this writing because some things could have been easily fixed during editing or proofreading. Some sentences were grammatically very weird for example: "Tate's reply didn't come right away like it did when he was free, so I understood he was still training.' There is inherently nothing wrong with this sentence but it is just framed weirdly and unnatural. It also shows the next problem which is that this whole book is written in the pattern of 'I did this and then I did that and then this happened', the whole time. That is the way you learn writing when you just learn English (or any language) and it does not read well for a book. After a while it gets very repetitive and boring to read which takes you out the story and keeps the reader at a distance. The conversations between the characters, also, felt very stiff and written English, by which I mean the sentences in the conversations make sense in writing but not in speaking. No one would talk like that. Example: 'That is a rather general and random question. Would you mind elaborating a little.' It makes sense when you write it down but when someone speaks to you like that it's just weird.
Alex is also used to say these long monologues about different sexualities, ... and to say it's okay to be that way but this is also the character that's afraid of talking to other people. It just doesn't make sense. She gives Uriah, her aro-ace friend, about what being aromentic/asexual entails despite not having any experience going through those feelings. She gives Tate a whole monologue about how he should feel accepted as a trans person and should not mind these negative comment of others. She always, out of the blue, gives a text-book monologue about some sexuality or gender thing which, again feels very unnatural and very non-friendly. She just knows everything at the right time because she is *the main character*
Throughout the whole book the same vocabulary is used for expressing different things, there is no variating in synonyms or something like that. It is always the same word used for expressing something, hence also why it feels juvenile.
All in all, the representation is excellent but not enough to save this book.