Drowning

by Lee Grove

Coming together after almost forty years, members of the Drowner family contemplate and reveal the shattering deceptions and betrayals that scarred their lives

Paperback

First published May 22, 1991

Reviews

[Fabian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The drowning effect is the only novelty in "Drowning," a maudlin portrait of a (surprise! surprise!) dysfunctional fam.

I don't really know what attracts me to such droll, sad, fractured people- but I think I can begin to explain it simply by saying that life is a circus of contrasts: I read about what isn't pertaining to my life in blooming reality, only to get a taste of it. I love to read about people's miserable lives (in exquisite contrast I guess to my own).

Anyway, I really enjoyed the structure of this novel, with each long chapitre accounting an individual P.O.V. (of the father, the mother, the sisters, the brother, the niece...). Some sections are eerie and inhumanlike, while others are familiar & relevant. There is indeed an infused style and theme resounding in all of this, as a whole. It is well-titled. It is even overly ironic with the name of the doomed drowning clan: the Downers. Yes: the characters all suffer minor or major afflictions, yes: it is a bit of a downer, no: this is not all too unfamiliar. At least I got my blu nouveau literary fix.

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this one up for a trip to Florida -- that's where the majority of the story takes place -- and was pleasantly surprised. The story revolves around a well-to-do family in the 50s whose lives take an unexpected course when the father's former lover shows up at the dinner table one night and steals him away. He eventually returns to the family, but the course is set and it has tragic consequences on all.