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Like Water
| Title | Like Water |
| Writer | |
| Date | 2024-10-11 13:13:11 |
| Type | |
| Link | Listen Read |
Desciption
A gorgeously written and deeply felt literary young adult novel of identity, millennial anxiety, and first love, from the widely acclaimed author of The Mystery of Hollow PlacesIn Savannah Espinoza’s small New Mexico hometown, kids either flee after graduation or they’re trapped there forever. Vanni never planned to get stuck—but that was before her father was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease, leaving her and her mother to care for him. Now, she doesn’t have much of a plan at all: living at home, working as a performing mermaid at a second-rate water park, distracting herself with one boy after another.That changes the day she meets Leigh. Disillusioned with small-town life and looking for something greater, Leigh is not a “nice girl.” She is unlike anyone Vanni has met, and a friend when Vanni desperately needs one. Soon enough, Leigh is much more than a friend. But caring about another person stirs up the moat Vanni has carefully constructed around herself, and threatens to bring to the surface the questions she’s held under for so long.With her signature stunning writing, Rebecca Podos, author of The Mystery of Hollow Places, has crafted a story of first love and of the complex ways in which the deepest parts of us are hidden, even from ourselves.
Review
This book made me feel very… raw. It’s a book that strips bare the outer machinations of a novel and heads straight for the emotional core of the protagonist. And it’s a book I absolutely loved.I actually totally get why a lot of people didn’t like this book; Like Water has a fairly small amount of action and relies primarily off your connection to the characters. If you’re not one for character-driven reads, this is not going to be a book you enjoy. I promise.Maybe my favorite part of this book is the protagonist, Vanni. She is a girl trapped in a small town and working as a mermaid and coming of age. But she's primarily dealing with fear of the future and struggling to repress that fear. Vanni’s dad has Huntington’s, and she is so scared of that future. She's also bisexual and hasn't figured it out yet. I found her such an easy narrator to connect to and I loved her.Leigh, her love interest, is also a remarkably developed character. Leigh’s arc is both around figuring herself out and also figuring out she’s genderqueer and I love it so much, I love it so much and I’m so happy for her. I'm thinking that I just want one thing to be good and right, because one good, right thing can be enough. And, oh, I love the main relationship. Vanni and Leigh are two very flawed people, and their relationship is too good for this world and too pure.This is a super character-driven, gritty, and emotionally raw story about finding love, and finding hope for a future when it seems as if there's none. I binged it in about two hours and I am so glad I did, even though it was… a year later than I planned. Lol. Blog | Goodreads | Twitter | Youtube
