The swimmers are unknown to one another except through their private routines (slow lane, medium lane, fast lane) and the solace each takes in their morning or afternoon laps. But when a crack appears at the bottom of the pool, they are cast out into an unforgiving world without comfort or relief.
One of these swimmers is Alice, who is slowly losing her memory. For Alice, the pool was a final stand against the darkness of her encroaching dementia. Without the fellowship of other swimmers and the routine of her daily laps she is plunged into dislocation and chaos, swept into memories of her childhood and the Japanese American incarceration camp in which she spent the war. Alice's estranged daughter, reentering her mother's life too late, witnesses her stark and devastating decline.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Awards
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Release date
February 22, 2022 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593552049
- File size: 118090 KB
- Duration: 04:06:01
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Publisher's Weekly
Starred review from December 20, 2021
Otsuka (The Buddha in the Attic) delivers a quick and tender story of a group of swimmers who cope with the disruption of their routines in various ways. The regulars at a pool range in age, ability, and swimming habits, and are connected by an incessant need to swim. When a crack shows up in the deep end of lane four, the swimmers all grows nervous about the pool’s future. While the “nonswimmers” in their lives (also known as “crack deniers”) dismiss the swimmers’ concerns, the swimmers collectively discover how the crack “quietly lodges itself, unbeknownst to you, in the recesses of your mind”—except for cheerful Alice, who has swum in the pool for 35 years and now has dementia. Some members stop going to the pool out of fear, while others try to get close to the crack. Just before the pool is closed, Alice determines to get in “Just one more lap.” Otsuka cleverly uses various points of view: the swimmers’ first-person-plural narration effectively draws the reader into their world, while the second person keenly conveys the experiences of Alice’s daughter, who tries to recoup lost time with her mother after Alice loses hold of her memories and moves into a memory care facility. It’s a brilliant and disarming dive into the characters’ inner worlds. -
AudioFile Magazine
This production sounds more like a memoir than a novel. At its opening we hear the gentle, almost soporific, voice of narrator Traci Kato-Kiriyama introducing a diverse group of swimmers who are doing laps in an underground swimming pool, oblivious to the demands of the world above. Sadly, when cracks appear in the floor, the pool is closed. Alice, one of the older swimmers, is in the early stages of dementia. She, like the pool, is cracking up. The second part of the story follows Alice into a care facility. Kato-Kiriyama recounts Alice's decline and her interactions with her daughter in a perceptive and delicate manner. With compassion, she tells the depressing but all too believable story of how soul-crushing dementia can be. D.L.G. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine -
Library Journal
June 1, 2022
The swimmers are a dedicated crowd who love their basement pool to the point of alienating their loved ones. They have built an important social system as they fly through their laps. When a series of mysterious cracks appear, concerns for safety lead to the pool closing. The dedicated natators are kicked out and left treading in no water. The story flips to focus on Alice, who is showing signs of disintegrating memory. She finds herself pulled into her past, including a childhood in a Japanese concentration camp. She moves to a memory care center and flutters in and out of the present, while her daughter is pulled into the story. The key relationship between mother and daughter reveals the decline of Alice through the eyes of her daughter, who is herself dealing with the shortcomings of their connection. Traci Kato-Kiriyama is utterly convincing in each of the phases of this book as she depicts a full range of characters. VERDICT Otsuka's (The Buddha in the Attic) remarkable work should have a place in every library.--Christa Van Herreweghe
Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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