Let me start by apologizing to anyone who has commented and didn't see it published. Today I recognized I had over 10 comments in Spam awaiting approval. Many from friends and I don't know why on earth they went to Spam. In my haste, I clicked on "delete forever" instead of publish. So...some I won't know about as I only briefly scanned the list. Apologies.
Book chat / Under Water by Tara Menon. Look at that cover - it's visually stunning.
nThis is a story about Marissa and Arielle's deep friendship and the insurmountable grief that occurs with Arielle's death. This is not a spoiler as this is described in the book flap.
Marissa has PTSD. The beginning depicts a vile dream sequence, obviously symbolic of the loss of her dear friend Arielle.
The chapters of this book take us back and forth from Thailand in 2004 to New York in 2012. Disastrous events occured in both years, a tsunami and a hurricane, both involving catastrophic damage and death by water and wind. Marissa experiences both.
In present time Marissa starts her day writing copy for travel destinations to exotic places. I like the jar of words she has to evoke imagery such as secluded, sparkly, gleaming, cinematic, etc. I liked the ritual of her pulling a slip of paper with a description out of that jar. As you read about her life it's clear she hasn't reconciled her friend's death these many years later as it affects so many things in her daily rituals and thoughts.
In the 2004 time period in Thailand, and years as they grow up together, the narrative establishes their wonderful friendship. Both of their parents were marine biologists and this plays a part in their experiences and activities, especially in the water where they spend quite a bit of time.
There is much sadness in this book as Marissa dwells on environmental catastrophes and death. It's not a constant but it's enlightening. You will read about the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami as well as Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
I liked the vivid descriptions of marine life, the colors of everything from the sky to the beach and visuals you could just inhale as you read. The story was good but it would have been a stronger book if it didn't skip from 2004 to 2012 every other chapter. Let us read several chapters and really get into this friendship and their experiences and then take us to 2012 for a few chapters of that time line.
Based on the writing I would read another by this author. 3.75 stars
This was a buddy read with Susan at The Cue Card.
📚📚📚
Next up is The Collector by John Fowles for my Classics Club goal and more of the library books to work on my summer goal.
I think when I start a new reading goal end of August I'll try and keep the reviews here short and elaborate more on Goodreads.
Oh, Women in Translation month is August and I plan to read Tata by Valérie Perrin. Are you going to participate in the WIT month? Any book suggestions you can share?
