A review by deedireads
The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

adventurous dark hopeful sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

The Spear Cuts Through Water is a sweeping, imaginative, gorgeously and uniquely told story that completely knocked my socks off. I highly recommend listening to the audiobook as you read along in print.

For you if: You like books with experimental storytelling styles and epic prose.

FULL REVIEW:

“Once, the Moon and the Water were in love. … And though they occupied different spheres, they were able to visit one another through less direct means, for there is no barrier in this life that love cannot overcome. The Water would send up to the skies plump storm clouds, swollen with its essence, its cool mist and salty breath kissing the Moon’s dry and cracked surface. And the Moon, when it wished to visit the Water, would cast its reflection into the Water’s surface, and in the Inverted World that lies suspended below our own, in glass and still water, they would meet, and dance, and make love. … It was in that world of reflection where they built the theater that is the locus of our tale.”


You know that feeling when you read the first few pages of a new book and you’re just like…wow? The Spear Cuts Through Water did that for me, and then some. I started the audiobook in the car and was so hypnotized by the opening chapter I felt like I was driving through a dream. And it just kept getting better from there.

This book’s cover blurb says it’s like nothing you’ve ever read before, but that’s not just a gimmicky marketing line. On one level, we have the book’s narrator, who speaks to us in the second person and remembers the old stories about the Old Country (unnamed, but Jimenez is Filipino-American) that his lola used to tell him as a boy — she’s the one speaking in the quote above. But he is also sitting in a magical theater, watching a play that tells an epic tale of ancestry, battle, a god, a throne, and yes — love. And even as the narration melts into the recounting of that story, we get (sometimes single-sentence) interjections from the characters, adding their voices to what becomes a chorus.

It’s this experimentation with form and narration — combined with breathtaking but slower-moving prose — that makes me say that this book will be perfect for those who like to read both literary fiction and fantasy; the book requires a bit of a close read, a bit more engagement. But it’s very much worth the effort.

I listened to the audiobook as I read along in print, which I do often. But with this book, I can’t imagine NOT experiencing it in both formats. The way the text is laid out on the page adds so much to the storytelling style (and could be a bit confusing if you’re listening only), and Joel de la Fuente’s audio performance is just so rich and beautiful. (You may recognize his voice from Interior Chinatown or How Much of These Hills Is Gold.) Please take my advice and do this one both ways.

I loved this reading experience. I loved the story. I loved the characters. I loved the queer elements. I loved its homage to ancestry and myth. I loved how hypnotized I felt. I just loved it. You bet your bottom I’m going to go back and read Jimenez’s The Vanished Birds now. And literally anything he writes in the future.
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