Breathing Water
T. Greenwood (Adult Fiction)
“Do not ask me for haunted. Do not ever ask me for haunted, because I will give you haunted and you will never be the same.”
Effie Greer is living a fugitive life. When you are a fugitive, you don’t sign leases, you don’t bother unpacking, and you don’t make any friends. But after three years, she finally feels safe enough to return home to Lake Gormlaith, Vermont. There, she refurbishes her grandmother’s lake house, reconnects with an old school friend, and develops an interest in a mysterious and kind artist. Only time will tell if Effie can truly leave the past behind and begin anew.
Breathing Water jumps from the years 1991, 1994, and 1987 and deals with issues such as domestic violence and substance abuse. Despite its strong and promising beginning, the story just seems to aimlessly float along with no real purpose or direction. At times, the text seems overly flowery (“The rust-gold-orange-purple of the woods behind him blurred through the spray of the hose…”) and the transitions between time periods are awkward and require the reader a few moments to continually readjust. Also, I found the main character to be a bit contradictory. As a survivor of abuse, she is prone to keeping secrets although she eventually finds great relief and peace once she finally divulges her abusive past to friends and family. Despite this, she finds it absolutely reasonable to keep secrets from her new love interest. So, we are led to assume that some secrets are acceptable and absolution is purely discretionary.
All in all, not the worst novel I’ve ever read, but it was lacking on several fronts: the characters were somewhat flat, the plot was thin, and finally reaching the end of the book was akin to treading water—there’s just not that much to hold onto.
Rating: 3/5
* Book cover image attributed to www.goodreads.com
The Dusty Jacket 