Swimmers in Winter

by Faye Guenther

Fiction. Short Stories. LGBTQIA Studies. Women's Studies. Sharp and stylistic, the trifecta of diptychs that is SWIMMERS IN WINTER swirls between real and imagined pasts and futures to delve into our present cultural moment: conflicts between queer people and the police, the impact of homophobia, bullying, and PTSD, the dynamics of women's friendships, life for queer women in Toronto during WWII and after, the intersections between class identities and queer identities, experiences of economic precarity and precarious living conditions, the work of being an artist, dystopian worlds, and the impact of gentrification on public space. These are soul-searching, plot-driven character studies equally influenced by James Baldwin, Christopher Isherwood, and Elena Ferrante.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Canada, LGBT, Queer Lit, Queer, Historical

208 pages, Paperback

First published May 4, 2020

Reviews

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories that are paired up with at least one shared character (cool idea) and most are centered around lesbian characters inside long-term relationships (including family and friendships.) In my own reading these stories link to Polar Vortex by Shani Mootoo and Fair Play by Tove Jansson, all of which I've read in the past month or so, with themes of maturing people and longevity in relationships.

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a peculiarly unexciting official description this book has on GR. Well deserved, as it turns out, and perfectly accurate too. This book comprises different slightly interconnected stories featuring lesbian characters and travels through time with it, from WWII to sometime in the dystopian future. It’s interesting in its representation of different eras and changing attitudes and social dynamics. The women featured here are uniformly of the same class or socioeconomic strata subdivision, all blue or no collar, waitresses, cooks, soldiers, etc. They go from hiding (first story) to just barely surviving (last story), their desires remaining the same as the world around them changes so dramatically. These are all love stories, realistic, so not all that happy or light. And basically all of that is good and well done and compelling…it’s the writing that really didn’t work for me. It had a certain quality, a certain poetic swing to it that just didn’t sing for me. It wasn’t terrible by any means, some of it was quite lovely in fact, but overall it somehow distanced me from the narrative and the characters instead of the (desired, preferred, optimal) engaging effect. The book description features the word studies and that’s what it seems like at times, character sketches to study. Instead of worlds that draw you in. So this is more the sort of book to appreciate than love. It does have a lot to say about gender and sexuality politics throughout time, it’s interesting, it just isn’t all that compelling. But it is a very quick read. This was the sort of thing that might be different things to different readers.

[Shawn Mooney (Shawn Breathes Books)]

These stories didn’t grab me. I only really like stories by Alice Munro or Mavis Gallant. I’m a short story snob. I saw evidence of inchoate literary talent here, however, so I’m going to be following this writer.

Bailed ruthlessly early.

[Sarah Schulman]

Debut collection of lesbian short stories set in Toronto from World War Two to present. Author is clearly talented and the overlapping connections between stories are a good idea. The repetition of emotions regardless of the passage of time conveys meaning, but not as profoundly as it could have. I would read this writers' next book.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great writing, and I loved that there were three main story lines with different characters, and each story line was split up into two short stories with a different POV for each story. But yet they all felt like something brand new, so I thought this was a really inventive form of the genre.

If you’re looking for books that could potentially be challenged and/or banned, this is definitely one to read. Especially if you’re looking for something that highlights the treatment of people who identify as LGBTQ+ .

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Swimmers in Winter is an anthology of six stories by Faye Guenther. This collection contains three pairs of astute stories about Canadian lesbians, the first one starting in the 1940s and the final one taking place sometime in the future. It has been shortlisted for the 2021 Toronto Book Awards.

For the most part, this collection of short stories was written and constructed rather well. Advertised as a trifecta of diptychs, any of the six pieces can stand well on their own, or can work in their pairs to flesh out the characters, the timeframe, and the realities of life for queer women in their communities. Offering an exploration of desire that spans the past, present, and future, the collection's structure and organization is as interesting to contemplate as the stories themselves.

Multifaceted women are the focus of the collection. There are assertive women who reckon with the options available to them in a moment designed to restrict their freedoms. There are loyal women who crave stability and a place to call home in the face of economic insecurity and danger. There are warrior women who have been damaged by forces beyond their control, yet who still fight to find connections and safety. They are all familiar, beautiful, and full of life with idiosyncrasies and flaws that are wonderfully and carefully rendered.

Like most anthologies there are weaker contributions and Swimmers in Winter is not an exception. Relatively speaking, they were all written well, but the middle or second pair of stories seems weaker than the first and third pairs, but written rather well nevertheless.

All in all, Swimmers in Winter is a wonderful soul-searching, plot-driven character studies of the past, present, and possible future for lesbian women.

[Alison Gadsby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most beautiful little collections of stories I have ever read. The lyrical voice is so powerful and perfect! As a writer, I was in awe of the attention to every single word. There is a sensuality that pulls the reader through each and every story like a gentle and loving hand.

Described as a trifecta of diptychs, the three storylines share versions of relationships from all sides with a lot of love and absolutely no judgment. The women in this collection are all unique and I was left imagining longer stories for all of them.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has a very powerful LGBTQ focus on the feminine; I haven't read many such books, and it makes for a unique and different point-of-view that feels remarkably fresh. However, it's also very short and very dream-like in its writing...which is not exactly at the top of my preferred writing styles. It's a bit too lyrical for my taste.

[CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian]

Sadly this book just didn't grab my attention after 2 stories, so it'll have to be a DNF for me.

[Sarah Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sizzler!