Swimming Lessons

 

   My latest read is one that I was quite excited to read. At work I was constantly walking by this book and admiring the cover, I mean how could you not be intrigued by it?! When I started the book I was already in love with Ingrid, the leading woman in this novel.

  Within the first chapter, we are introduced to Flora and her "boyfriend" Richard, which had me thinking this was going to be a typical novel about falling in love at a young age in a magical city. But boy was I wrong. This is not the typical novel about falling in love!! Everything about this novel is unique in regards to love. The characters. The way in which love presents itself. Everything.

  Claire Fuller's leading character Ingrid Coleman is insomniac, and spends her early mornings writing letters to her husband Gil. However, these letters are not "I love you, Gil! I cannot believe how lovely our life is!" Like everything else in this novel, these letters are one of a kind. Each letter holds a story in which Gil and Ingrids marriage came together and fell apart. Honestly, I thought these letters were the best part of the novel.

  I also really admired the way in which Fuller incorporates the letters into her book. Every chapter alternates between a letter written to Gil, and the next would be about Gil and their daughters in the present time. Letter, present, letter, present, and so on and so forth.

  In the present time, Ingrid and Gil's two daughters Nanette, who they call Nan, and Flora. Throughout the novel, we see a lot of character development between these two. When Flora is first introduced, she is somewhat naive to the world around her. Whereas Nan is hyperaware of everything. This is mainly because she had to raise her sister from 15.

  Claire Fuller really presents these sisters in an interesting dynamic, they both bring out the bad in each other while simultaneously bringing the best out of each other. The best example of this was towards the end of the book where Nan makes her younger sister aware of the situation with their Father and breaks her warped sense of reality. At the same time, Flora demonstrates how much more aware of her Mother she was compared to Nan. I think these few paragraphs really show the sisters individual differences, and the aspects that make them stronger together.

 However, throughout the novel I was not always intrigued by the stories surrounding Flora, Nan, Gil, and Richard. I quite honestly cared more about what was happening in Ingrid's letters to her husband. Her letters were not always lengthy or focused on her particular feelings, but the stories around events in her and Gil's marriage that lead them to their downfall. Without giving any spoilers, that's as far as I can go!!!

  I also felt that these letters brought a lot of dimension into this book, all of which kept me really interested into what would be the end result for Mrs. Coleman. The back of the book pulls readers in by talking about whether or not Ingrid Coleman is really dead, and reading her letters made me question what was going on with Ingrid and if she was really alive and hiding somewhere. Sometimes, I honestly found myself wanting to skip the chapters about Nan and Flora and only read Ingrid's letters. Granted, I am glad I didn't do that because the story surrounding Nan and Flora got much more interesting... when the book started I was so not interested in Nan and Flora, but in the end I was more interested in them.

   As for the writing style of this author... I highly adore how Claire Fuller wrote this story. Everything about this book kept me wondering. Especially the tone Fuller presented. Her novel carries a heavy soul in the words, and it definitely flows throughout the entire piece of work. Though I had to look up quite a few of the British words that came up in the words, I thoroughly enjoyed the dictation that Fuller chose to use. There were numerous times in this novel that I was taken aback by the way Miss Fuller presented her ideas... The style of writing is quite unique.

  If you are interested in the downfall in a marriage, and aren't always reading stories to have the big romantic ending in the moonlight in a romantic city, then you would adore Claire Fuller's story about Ingrid and Gil's disintegrating marriage. All in all, I would give this book an 8/10!

  Make sure to grab a copy of Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller at your local bookstore today!