Monday, February 13, 2012

Review: Night Swim



Night Swim by Jessica Keener
Genre: YA, Young Adult
Pages: 284 (paperback)
Source: TLC Booktours
Author's Website | Facebook | Twitter

Description:
Sixteen-year-old Sarah Kunitz lives in a posh, suburban world of 1970 Boston. From the outside, her parents’ lifestyle appears enviable – a world defined by cocktail parties, expensive cars, and live-in maids to care for their children – but inside their five-bedroom house, all is not well for the Kunitz family. Coming home from school, Sarah finds her well-dressed, pill-popping mother lying disheveled on their living room couch. At night, to escape their parents’ arguments, Sarah and her oldest brother, Peter, find solace in music, while her two younger brothers retreat to their rooms and imaginary lives. Any vestige of decorum and stability drains away when their mother dies in a car crash one terrible winter day. Soon after, their father, a self-absorbed, bombastic professor begins an affair with a younger colleague. Sarah, aggrieved, dives into two summer romances that lead to unforeseen consequences. In a story that will make you laugh and cry, Night Swim shows how a family, bound by heartache, learns to love again

My Rating:

My Review:
The Kunitz family looks perfect on the outside, but on the inside they are falling apart.  Sarah's mother is clearly unhappy and seems stuck in the past when her family needs her most.  Yet, she is described so eloquently that she doesn't seem like a bad mother, but rather, like an individual that wasn't quite meant for this world.  Sarah's father wants to keep his family whole but can't quite seem to get control, which he is well aware.  Sarah and her siblings attempt to navigate the world the best way they know how.  Sarah and Peter disappear into their music and the younger siblings disappear into the world of fantasy, animals, and books.
Tragedy strikes and like many of teenagers, Sarah doesn't know how to cope.  Unfortunately there is little help to guide her way.

Oh a tangled web Ms. Keener weaves.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story, but I find it quite difficult to write the review.  It's one of those stories where you try to describe it but in the end you say, "Well you just had to be there."  I can't write a description or synopsis of this book to fully describe this book because the beauty is in the writing and how Ms. Keener unveils each part of the story.  She takes an ordinary, and perhaps sad, story and weaves it into a song that you can't quite get out of your head.  The story sounds quite simple but it is so much more than that.  The writing is fabulous, making the reader turn each page with eagerness and trepidation at the same time.  The characters are flawed and human.  I wanted to shake each and every one of them but thought they needed a few hugs as well.  While I wouldn't call this book, plot driven, I did find myself tearing through the pages.

Ms. Keener creates a complex story that deals with loss, racism, sex, and consequences.  Yet, hope and healing seems to be the true theme.  While the story is touching, it is the writing that sets it apart from all the rest.


This book satisfies the 2012 Multicultural Book Challenge



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27 comments:

  1. Oh wow! It seems like a good contemporary/realistic fiction read. I'm more of a fantasy/dystopian gal but I don't mind reading contemporaries especially if they are well-written. I will surely be adding this to my TBR. Great review! :)

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    1. I agree with you. I usually stay way from contemporary-ish reads. But this one is superb.

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  2. Ooh, I've heard good things about this one. I completely understand on the "you had to be there". I just read one of those myself.

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  3. Sounds like a great historical about a family many might be more familiar with than we think. The blurb sounds good and I'm wondering what the fall out and resolution is for each character. I'm glad the writing was awesome for you. Sounds like a winner.

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    1. Honestly it is very realistic read and I'm the resolutions are a bit open-ended. It doesn't leave the reader feeling like there is no ending. There aren't really unanswered questions. It's interesting.

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  4. Wow. I'm blown away by your review. Thank you!
    Warm wishes,

    Jessica

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    1. Well, there's nothing like a reader/reviewer who truly gets an author's work. I'm really touched by the level of your understanding. xo

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  5. This sounds like my type of book. One that draws you in and, in the end, leaves you mezmorized. I am definetly putting this on my TBR list!

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  6. Awesome? Now that is a good grade that makes me sit up and take notice

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    1. I don't throw those around a lot. So I hope that it does make people take notice :)

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  7. Great review! Sounds like a good book, and thanks for adding to my TBR :)

    Kayla

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    1. Thanks! Let me know if you read it. I'll want to know what you think.

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  8. Just love your review!!! Definitely going to go add it to my TBR!!!I just love those books that just make you want to tear through the pages!! :)

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  9. "She takes an ordinary, and perhaps sad, story and weaves it into a song that you can't quite get out of your head."

    That's it! I'm SOLD!! Wow! I'm often at a loss for words when I read a truly remarkable story, and have a hard time writing reviews for them too. Yours is wonderful! Thanks for introducing me to this book!

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    1. Thanks! It took me such a long time to write this review. I'm so glad it wasn't horrible. It is so hard to describe awesome and try to explain something so artistically amazing.

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  10. Wow, this sounds awesome! I want, I want, I want :D
    Alexis, what are you doing to me? My to-read list just went to value 582 :|
    I must be the worst bookish person ever, lol. Who has 600 books they wanna read all listed, haha?

    *hugs*

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    1. You can't possibly be the worst. I feel your pain. Though I'm the same. I want to read them all but don't have the time. If only I had no responsibilities, didn't have to eat, and didn't have to sleep. Grr!

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  11. Never heard of this book before! Sounds really good. I agree with you on having trouble writing a book about books like this one. I find myself doing that a lot with books that are so complex. It's like...well you just have to read it to find out. lol Great review!

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    1. I know but I feel so bad saying that! But I feel like I can't do the book justice.

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  12. I think you enjoyed this one more than I did but still I liked it. This family just broke my heart with how broken they were long before any tragedy occurred. I agree on the writing, it was beautiful and I'll be watching for what the author does next.

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    1. I definitely was more impressed by the writing. Otherwise it would have been too sad for me. They were really broken. But I loved how there was no simple answer to it...or a simple reason.

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  13. I'm so glad you enjoyed this one! Thanks for being on the tour.

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