Water Dancer: A Novel

by Jenifer Levin

Using the competitive world of long-distance swimming as a springboard, this intriguing novel probes the nature of strength, intimacy, and commitment. Water Dancer is the story of a world-class swimming instructor who returns to swimming after a self-imposed hiatus due to the death of his only child.

Genres: Fiction, LGBT, Queer

Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Jenifer Levin is known for her novels Water Dancer (nominated for the PEN/Hemingway Award), Snow, Shimoni’s Lover, The Sea of Light (nominated for the Lambda Literary Award in Fiction), and her short story collection Love and Death, & Other Disasters. Her essays and short fiction are widely anthologized. She has also contributed feature articles to the New York Times, The Washington Post, and Rolling Stone, among others. One of the first openly gay authors to be published in the mainstream press, The Washington Post named her part of the “lesbian literati”.

Levin graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in Comparative Literature, subsequently studying Medical Anthropology and South Asian history. She traveled widely in Europe and Southeast Asia, lived and worked in Israel, and studied Tibetan Buddhism for 10 years. A former competitive swimmer, she has coached women’s running and weight-training and completed several marathons.

Levin has two sons whom she adopted as toddlers from Cambodia. Her essays about Cambodia—a country devastated by war, poverty, and genocide—before and after the intervention of the United Nations, and her experiences adopting and raising special needs children, have appeared in several anthologies.

She and her family live in New York City.

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I nearly gave this book a 3 and then thought about the context within which it was written and published in 1982. This book explores many facets of sexuality and identity, power, etc., and even popular culture today is only beginning to venture into the nuances of a world that in 1982 was locked behind the bedroom door. Reading this book nearly 40 years after its publication, it does seem quaint, confusing, slow going. Levin takes you inside the mind of a swimmer; she’s less inclined to take you inside the mind of a young, seemingly androgynous girl who is exploring her own sexuality. That may not be the point of this book, but I can understand why some readers might want a deeper dive (forgive the pun) into the sexuality and less detail on the life of an open water, long distance swimmer and the coaches, pacers and others who surround her. At times the writing bogged down for me; I love the ocean but wasn’t transported by the intense detail in the swimming and training scenes. I think Levin introduced a few too many characters at the end that watered down (again, forgive the pun) the tight knit, fascinating world she had created among the swimmer, Dorey; her coach Sarge; coach’s wife Ileana; the pacer (connected to Sarge’s and Ilana’s past) Anne; the doctor and family friend, Tycho; and Sarge and Ilana’s dead son, Matt. So much is left unsaid in this book, for the reader to deduce if they choose, and I can’t help but wonder whether I’d come to different assumptions and conclusions in 1994 than I would today.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating book re long distance and open water swimming. But the relationship issues in the book got really weird and confusing at times.

[Bellamy · Rating 5 out of 5]

the novel is kind of like its subject material - it rewards pacing yourself and a little endurance. I didn't find it "easy" to digest - much was left unsaid, particularly in the mind of its central spoke, Dorey the swimmer. Another reviewer pointed out that given when it was written (I hope Reagan's enjoying Hell), this book might be received differently by a reader in 1990 than by contemporary audiences. Nonetheless, I think the characters are each individual, potent, and none of them are - easy. I loved all the weaving details about how they all met and came to be in each other's lives.

What landed it for me was how visceral and real much of it felt - particularly in how when we have a Goal and set out on a Journey, its often not the anticipated struggles that really slow us down.
This book was confronting, physical, and I think a really powerful meditation on the human spirit and the profundity of the connections we form.

I really loved all the female characters and have to note that I was reading this on a break at choir one afternoon, and a woman maybe twice my age came up to me and said, "Oh, Jennifer Levin? I love her. I only read women authors now. Too many years of being forced to read men, men, men."
She's a great writer. There is poetry and simplicity in the prose and all of the characters - men and women - are rendered with a deft hand.

I was deeply moved by the big event and will give no spoilers but I loved how the final challenge was written.

[Zena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ennui on the water.

[HeavyReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found it!

I've been thinking about this book and The Sea of Light, also by Jenifer Levin, but I couldn't remember the titles of these books, or the name of their author. Finally, with a little bit of trial and error internet searching, I found them. Yippee! That's two more books in my life that have been successfully accounted for.

Amy Laura recommended this book and The Sea of Light to me. In fact, she loaned me her copies to read. She was a big fan. I liked these books too, and have obviously remembered them all these years.

I vaguely remember the main character of this one having sex with her coach's wife. She may have had sex with the (male) coach too. I can't remember for sure.

[Rea Nicole ✰]

*DNF*

The premise of this novel caught my attention but unfortunately it is a did-not-finish for me. I made it 50% through the book and I just couldn’t stay attentive. While the author is obviously talented as the words are poetically crafted, I have lovingly dubbed this novel the “lesbian fiction Anna Karenina.” There wasn’t much momentum to the plot, the characters were a muddy gray instead of colorful, and most of what I read was inner ramblings and thoughts on life by several characters. This is truly my opinion alone and does not reflect the quality of the book-but it just wasn’t for me.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love comes in many forms and transforms itself under unique circumstances-about a long distance swimmer and her coaches...

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of my all-time favorites.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Water dancer takes you into the world of competitive swimming, and into the world of one swimmer in particular. Excellent character development and story! This is a very memorable book.