Swimming with Strangers

by Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum

This Life She's Chosen, Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum's acclaimed debut story collection hailed as "haunting and inspired" by The Boston Globe introduced readers to her penetrating and delicate voice. In eight new stories, Lunstrum further explores the nuances and complexities of women's relationships with their lovers, friends, and families in a new collection. Authentic, probing, and graceful, Swimming With Strangers reveals the currents hidden beneath the surface of seemingly ordinary events.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

197 pages, Hardcover

First published April 3, 2008

About the author

Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum is the author of the novel Elita (2025) and three collections of short stories: What We Do with the Wreckage (2018), Swimming with Strangers (2008), and This Life She's Chosen (2005). She has been the recipient of a PEN/O. Henry Prize and fellowships from Sewanee, MacDowell, and the Jack Straw Writers Program. Her short fiction has appeared in the journals The Sun, Ploughshares, Conjunctions, One Story, Prairie Schooner, McSweeney's, and The American Scholar, among others. She teaches in Seattle.

Reviews

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admit that the cover is what drew me to the book. A woman stands waist deep in a large body of water as a storm rages overhead; she’s soaking wet despite the bright red umbrella she clings to.

Then the title popped out: Swimming with Strangers. Those three simple words symbolized so much next to this image of a solitary woman. When I got home with the book, only moments passed before I was curled up with it, the promise of wordplay at hand.

The talent evident in Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum’s collection of short stories goes well beyond the cover. Her stories begin with seemingly ordinary circumstances—a student crushing on her professor, a couple who finds their relationship is not what they imagined it to be, a teenager caught in her parents’ divorce—and yet Lunstrum crafts her words and their cadence to make the stories anything but ordinary.

“In the boat Alma sat up but slipped her hand beneath Charlie’s, felt the cool of his grasp and the knit of his fingers between hers as he held to her.” These could be any two people in the world, and in life we might easily dismiss this scene. Lunstrum’s voice doesn’t allow us to, though, as the ascenders and descenders of her words loop around our minds and captivate them, washing away all desire to look the other way.

And even in the midst of ugliness, Lunstrum brings the beauty of language: “She imagined the wasps as she dipped her head beneath the surface—their frantic buzzing like the buzzing of the water rushing into her ears, their movements disoriented and unsteady where they shivered above the broken husk of their nest.”

Lunstrum’s writing reminds us that short stories are far from a lost art. Capable of entrancing more than any tome could, each story in Swimming with Strangers will caress your word-savoring yearnings.

Review by Ali McCart, Indigo Editing, LLC

ISBN: 9780811860765
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Pub Date: November 2008
Hardcover: $22.95

[Alea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love short stories and thought I'd gotten used to the fact that sometimes they just fade to an ending without anything concrete happening to end the story. Maybe I've had enough of that because I was really hoping for something to happen at the ending of each of these instead of them just ending. Maybe I need a break from short stories?

So because of that I guess this collection was just ok for me. Some of the stories did stand out for me more than others including: Dangerous Women, about a college student that works for her professor at his house; Baby Love, about two young cousins that are picked on by their older siblings, and Islands, which is about two couples staying next door to each other while on vacation over the holidays. In a lot of these stories things almost happen but then don't. That definitely got frustrating after awhile.

I do appreciate going into these worlds and meeting these characters but because of the vague endings I felt like I didn't know them as much as I could have. I guess they were literally snapshots of life, and exciting things don't always happen in life.

[Cathy Serpico · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous stories, like watching emotions under a microscope.

[Bob Raymonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kirsten was my undergrad mentor and her stories retaught me so many of the lessons she imparted on me back then. Stories don't need to explode to be rife with tension. The relationships that weave here, through old lovers and perfect strangers feel so real. I loved spending time with all of them.

[Indigo Editing/Ink-Filled Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admit that the cover is what drew me to the book. A woman stands waist deep in a large body of water as a storm rages overhead; she’s soaking wet despite the bright red umbrella she clings to.

Then the title popped out: Swimming with Strangers. Those three simple words symbolized so much next to this image of a solitary woman. When I got home with the book, only moments passed before I was curled up with it, the promise of wordplay at hand.

The talent evident in Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum’s collection of short stories goes well beyond the cover. Her stories begin with seemingly ordinary circumstances—a student crushing on her professor, a couple who finds their relationship is not what they imagined it to be, a teenager caught in her parents’ divorce—and yet Lunstrum crafts her words and their cadence to make the stories anything but ordinary.

“In the boat Alma sat up but slipped her hand beneath Charlie’s, felt the cool of his grasp and the knit of his fingers between hers as he held to her.” These could be any two people in the world, and in life we might easily dismiss this scene. Lunstrum’s voice doesn’t allow us to, though, as the ascenders and descenders of her words loop around our minds and captivate them, washing away all desire to look the other way.

And even in the midst of ugliness, Lunstrum brings the beauty of language: “She imagined the wasps as she dipped her head beneath the surface—their frantic buzzing like the buzzing of the water rushing into her ears, their movements disoriented and unsteady where they shivered above the broken husk of their nest.”

Lunstrum’s writing reminds us that short stories are far from a lost art. Capable of entrancing more than any tome could, each story in Swimming with Strangers will caress your word-savoring yearnings.

Review by Ali McCart, Indigo Editing, LLC, originally posted at Seeing Indigo.

ISBN: 9780811860765
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Pub Date: November 2008
Hardcover: $22.95

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adored this book. It is a collection of short stories that all take a very close look at the, "nuances and complexities of women's relationships with their lovers, friends, and families," (back cover). It's difficult to explain why each story felt like a precious gift to me. I believe it has something to do with the way the endings are anti climactic, but in a way that doesn't leave the reader hanging. Instead they reminded me of real life. Of how things are never wrapped up nicely in neat little packages, about how people continue on even when things are less than perfect, and that in the end life can ultimately leave us feeling underwhelmed. A simple, but great read.

[Clifford · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember reading "Familial Kindness" when it appeared in One Story. At the time I thought it was a bit of a puzzle, but it seems to fairly standard for Lunstrum's stories. I'm not a fan of clear resolutions, but these stories seem end ambiguously in a big way. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but for me is less than satisfying. I found motivations of characters to be something of a puzzle, as well. Not that they behaved improbably, just that within the story it wasn't always clear why they made the choices they did, and that seems important.

[Shaina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd say maybe I'm not a fan of short story collections. This book made me feel bad all of the time, which isn't very accurate for life. Even the most horrible stories have a glimpse of 'healthy' love and kindness in them. It wasn't that these stories were heartbreaking either, rather they were sad and drab. They made me feel like a smoggy day in downtown LA. One reviewer stated that "things almost happen then they don't," which irked me probably. A couple of the stories were good but overall I wasn't a fan.

[Jenna Briand · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am loving this collection of short stories so far. Water is the connecting thread from story to story, and the author beautifully captures the essence of quiet, life-transforming moments in each.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I left this book on a plane. :( I was really enjoying it, too...What I did get to read of it showed a really well paced writer.

[Shozo Hirono · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well-crafted, but dull. Lacks that extra spark.

[Jocelyn Lugo · Rating 4 out of 5]

great book, I like this set of stories better than the first. novellas are fantastic:) her use of water is moving and beautiful:)

[Vivienne Strauss · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love when I pull a random book off the library's shelf and discover gold! Beautiful, sometimes haunting stories that leave you wanting more.