What do you think?
Rate this book
Swimming with Seals
Victoria Whitworth began swimming in the cold waters of Orkney as a means of temporary escape from a failing marriage, a stifling religious environment, and a series of health problems. Over four years, her encounters with the sea and all its weathers, the friendships she made, and the wild creatures she encountered, combined to transform her life. This book is a love letter, to the beach where she swims regularly and its microcosmic world, to the ever-changing cold waters where the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean meet, and to the seals, her constant companions.
304 pages, Paperback
First published April 20, 2017
69 people are currently reading
929 people want to read
About the author
Victoria Whitworth
8 books19 followersVictoria Whitworth is a historian and bestselling author of The Bone Thief and The Traitors' Pit. Having worked as a lecturer, tour guide, artist's model and teacher, she now lives on a smallholding in Orkney, where she writes full time.
She also wrote as V.M. Whitworth and Victoria Thompson.
She also wrote as V.M. Whitworth and Victoria Thompson.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
Read
November 21, 2020An enjoyable read, it reminded me of Sidewalks, in that it seemed to digress so much as to be about nothing, yet at the same time everything was related to everything else, attempting to swim off the coast of Iona suddenly seems to be an allegory of her marriage - caught in a rip tide and grated along rocks until she manages to stumble grazed and bleeding on to the shore.
It is a book that is and is not about swimming, sometimes close to seals, in the waters around Orkney. It is also a memoir of her life, her childhood in Kenya, her close and adoring relationship with her mother, her desire to escape her father, the whole could function as a powerful 'this is why I need to divorce you' letter to her husband . And there are Picts, Vikings, sea molluscs and Orcas, as well as the need not to be obviously of the female persuasion if you want men to buy your books, Freud, fairy tales particularly The Little Mermaid and selkie stories, and the joys of teaching, God and her desire to have faith, Plantar fascitis, which is a motive force in the whole story as it gets her swimming in the first place while swimming combined with pregnancy leads her on to Elaine Morgan and The Aquatic Ape. Perhaps it would be easier to describe what this book does not touch on.
I hope that all sounds like a mess, yet I found that it works. the back cover says that it is also available as an e-book which is sad, because really it needs to come as a multi-sensory book that sprays you with bursts of sea water, that reads to you in the range of accents and registers of all the voices in her story, that brings you the taste of vegetables air freighted from Kenya and the dense Orkney summer fogs.
She was depressed - I guess because she was a perfectionist, and she found an adulterous joy in swimming in the sea throughout the year, feeling the cold penetrate her - making sure that she dipped her head completely under the water three times before she emerged dripping on to the strand. Despite all of which it is a lively and engaging read, conspicuously an outsider's view of Orkney where, she says, you need to have seven generations of ancestors in the Kirkyard before you are a local.
It is a book that is and is not about swimming, sometimes close to seals, in the waters around Orkney. It is also a memoir of her life, her childhood in Kenya, her close and adoring relationship with her mother, her desire to escape her father, the whole could function as a powerful 'this is why I need to divorce you' letter to her husband . And there are Picts, Vikings, sea molluscs and Orcas, as well as the need not to be obviously of the female persuasion if you want men to buy your books, Freud, fairy tales particularly The Little Mermaid and selkie stories, and the joys of teaching, God and her desire to have faith, Plantar fascitis, which is a motive force in the whole story as it gets her swimming in the first place while swimming combined with pregnancy leads her on to Elaine Morgan and The Aquatic Ape. Perhaps it would be easier to describe what this book does not touch on.
I hope that all sounds like a mess, yet I found that it works. the back cover says that it is also available as an e-book which is sad, because really it needs to come as a multi-sensory book that sprays you with bursts of sea water, that reads to you in the range of accents and registers of all the voices in her story, that brings you the taste of vegetables air freighted from Kenya and the dense Orkney summer fogs.
She was depressed - I guess because she was a perfectionist, and she found an adulterous joy in swimming in the sea throughout the year, feeling the cold penetrate her - making sure that she dipped her head completely under the water three times before she emerged dripping on to the strand. Despite all of which it is a lively and engaging read, conspicuously an outsider's view of Orkney where, she says, you need to have seven generations of ancestors in the Kirkyard before you are a local.
February 27, 2018
Brilliant writing, Victoria Whitworth is the Queen of the tangent, this book covers so much, death, love, birth, history, religion, legends, nature...the list goes on. These subjects are broken up with short Facebook diary updates about her experiences swimming in the sea. This writing style works well, it ends one subject and allows her to smoothly move on to the next subject. Her writing is very honest at times, how she dealt with her mum's death, issues in her marriage and feelings on becoming a mother, at times thoughts become very dark, hopefully she found writing this book therapeutic.
The book is set in the Orkney Islands, I know nothing about these islands apart from their general location...up north somewhere... after reading this I really want to visit, even going as far as working out how to get there, my kids wont enjoy it so I'll be needing a babysitter...anybody up for that?
The author is obsessed with swimming in the sea, no matter what the time of day...or even year...you'll find her having her daily swim. At times when reading this I did feel worried for her, she constantly goes past what is safe, spending too long out there, swimming on her own when it is too rough, getting caught in the current and hitting rocks. How she hasn't been swept away to sea is amazing.
There is plenty to learn from this book and highly recommend it, my one problem though is there could have been more on the seals.
Blog review is here. https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2018...
The book is set in the Orkney Islands, I know nothing about these islands apart from their general location...up north somewhere... after reading this I really want to visit, even going as far as working out how to get there, my kids wont enjoy it so I'll be needing a babysitter...anybody up for that?
The author is obsessed with swimming in the sea, no matter what the time of day...or even year...you'll find her having her daily swim. At times when reading this I did feel worried for her, she constantly goes past what is safe, spending too long out there, swimming on her own when it is too rough, getting caught in the current and hitting rocks. How she hasn't been swept away to sea is amazing.
There is plenty to learn from this book and highly recommend it, my one problem though is there could have been more on the seals.
Blog review is here. https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2018...
May 5, 2017
Wild swimming seems to be in vogue at the moment. I read Floating by Joe Minihane last month and have Turning by Jessica J. Lee to read and I am hoping to get my hands on a copy of Swell very soon. Victoria Whitworth’s book has slotted nicely in the middle of this aquatic series of memoirs that all can trace their source to the fantastic book that is Waterlog. As her marriage begins to crumble and she begins to suffer health problems that middle age brings on, she seeks company with others in the Orkney Polar Bears, a swimming club that aims to swim in the sea often as possible.
In high summer, an Orkney afternoon lasts forever
Enjoying the experience Whitworth starts to go swimming alone, finding that being in the water for the briefest of periods helps calm her and cleanse her mind from all the other stuff going on. Her swims are written about, in brief, punctuation marks taken from the Facebook group cataloguing the weather, temperatures, the tides, the swell of the sea and how often she is joined by the curious seals and other animals and birds. In between these posts she takes us through her personal history, an earlier life in Kenya and the relationships that she had with her parents and her contemplations on love, life and death. Deeply embedded in the book are woven the things that make Orkney so special, the layers of ancient history and myth, the incessant wind and Gulf Stream that stops the island from freezing during the winter and the way that the natural world is a intrinsic part of living there.
Inhale the air straight from the Arctic, sharp as a whetted blade
Her writing is such that you gasp too, as she enters the sea to swim. Sea swimming though is a very different experience to wild water swimming; the water can be much colder and waves that have travelled all the way across the Atlantic can arrive with some force on the shore making some dips a challenge, to say the least. This is an eloquent celebration of swimming in the cold waters of Orkney and a fascinating memoir. I would have liked more about the landscape and natural world of these special islands, and it has pushed this up my list of places that I really want to visit.
In high summer, an Orkney afternoon lasts forever
Enjoying the experience Whitworth starts to go swimming alone, finding that being in the water for the briefest of periods helps calm her and cleanse her mind from all the other stuff going on. Her swims are written about, in brief, punctuation marks taken from the Facebook group cataloguing the weather, temperatures, the tides, the swell of the sea and how often she is joined by the curious seals and other animals and birds. In between these posts she takes us through her personal history, an earlier life in Kenya and the relationships that she had with her parents and her contemplations on love, life and death. Deeply embedded in the book are woven the things that make Orkney so special, the layers of ancient history and myth, the incessant wind and Gulf Stream that stops the island from freezing during the winter and the way that the natural world is a intrinsic part of living there.
Inhale the air straight from the Arctic, sharp as a whetted blade
Her writing is such that you gasp too, as she enters the sea to swim. Sea swimming though is a very different experience to wild water swimming; the water can be much colder and waves that have travelled all the way across the Atlantic can arrive with some force on the shore making some dips a challenge, to say the least. This is an eloquent celebration of swimming in the cold waters of Orkney and a fascinating memoir. I would have liked more about the landscape and natural world of these special islands, and it has pushed this up my list of places that I really want to visit.
May 16, 2018
Beautifully written account of a deepening connection to Orkney (and growing self-confidence) through wild cold water swimming. Nature writing history and memoir skillfully blended in this personal portrait of place.
"I may come here every day, but I have never yet come to the same place twice."
"I knew I had no future with someone who didn't feel the lure of the islands, their peculiar blend of Scottish present and Norse past, the volatile sky, the ever-present sea."
"I may come here every day, but I have never yet come to the same place twice."
"I knew I had no future with someone who didn't feel the lure of the islands, their peculiar blend of Scottish present and Norse past, the volatile sky, the ever-present sea."
June 22, 2017
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley to read and review.
I've long wanted to visit Orkney and this very good book has made me want to go all the more.
Love this genre - a mixture of 'landscape', personal memoir and nature (way beyond just seals).
Victoria Whitworth is an academic and it shows - we leap from subject to subject with ease and I was always learning something new.
The leaping about could have made a disjointed book but there are themes running throughout - grief, loss, aging, illness and most of all, a sense of belonging to a place. These threads hold the book together.
Whitworth looks back to her childhood and explores how it shaped her life. I also sensed a controlled bitterness over her failing marriage. Her husband and daughter always remained shadowy figures - this book was Whitworth's time to investigate herself.
I've long wanted to visit Orkney and this very good book has made me want to go all the more.
Love this genre - a mixture of 'landscape', personal memoir and nature (way beyond just seals).
Victoria Whitworth is an academic and it shows - we leap from subject to subject with ease and I was always learning something new.
The leaping about could have made a disjointed book but there are themes running throughout - grief, loss, aging, illness and most of all, a sense of belonging to a place. These threads hold the book together.
Whitworth looks back to her childhood and explores how it shaped her life. I also sensed a controlled bitterness over her failing marriage. Her husband and daughter always remained shadowy figures - this book was Whitworth's time to investigate herself.
November 10, 2022
Victoria verliebt sich sofort in die Orkneys, als sie sie das erste Mal betritt. Auch wenn es noch einige Jahre dauert, bis sie mit ihrem Mann dorthin zieht, sind die Orkneys immer ihr Zufluchtsort. Der Weg dorthin und der Weg ins Wasser dauert lange und ist oft schmerzhaft. Das, was sie während ihrer Schwangerschaft als Problemchen mit den Füßen abtut, stellt sich als eine Entzündung der Plantarfaszie heraus. Lange Zeit kann sie nur wenige Meter humpeln. Erst ein aufmerksamer Arzt und das Schwimmen helfen ihr langsam, aber beim Lesen habe ich gemerkt, wie sie diese Erfahrung belastet hat.
Auch die Geburt ihrer Tochter hinterlässt Spuren. Sie leidet unter postnataler Depression, aber wie schon wie die Probleme während der Schwangerschaft gibt sie auch das vor sich nicht zu. Ohnehin hatte ich beim Lesen das Gefühl, als ob die Autorin vieles nicht offen ausgesprochen hat, was sie belastet. Andeutungen über ihren Mann haben mich schon früh ahnen lassen, dass sie auch in ihrer Ehe nicht glücklich war.
Wirklich glücklich ist Victoria Whitworth dagegen beim Schwimmen. Jeder ihrer Erinnerungen steht ein kleiner Abschnitt über das Schwimmen an dem Tag, an dem sie den Abschnitt geschrieben hat, voran. Sie notiert Luft- und Wassertemperatur und beschreibt, wie es sich anfühlt, wenn sie in Wasser im einstelligen Temperaturbereich eintaucht. Übrigens geht sie immer ohne Neoprenanzug schwimmen, was ich sehr bewundere. In ihren Gewässern kennt sie sich aus und kennt die Gefahren, auf Iona dagegen ist sie fast ertrunken, weil sie die Gezeiten unterschätzt hat. Und trotzdem liebt sie das Schwimmen im Meer, weil es sich für sie anfühlt ,asl ob man den Finger am Puls der Welt hat.
Swimming with seals erzählt nicht immer von schönen Dingen, aber es wird auf eine wunderbare Weise erzählt, die mich von Anfang an berührt hat. Und falls sich jemand fragt: ja, ich habe beim Lesen nach Möglichkeiten zum Freiwasserschwimmen in meiner Nähe gesucht, aber leider (noch) nichts gefunden.
Auch die Geburt ihrer Tochter hinterlässt Spuren. Sie leidet unter postnataler Depression, aber wie schon wie die Probleme während der Schwangerschaft gibt sie auch das vor sich nicht zu. Ohnehin hatte ich beim Lesen das Gefühl, als ob die Autorin vieles nicht offen ausgesprochen hat, was sie belastet. Andeutungen über ihren Mann haben mich schon früh ahnen lassen, dass sie auch in ihrer Ehe nicht glücklich war.
Wirklich glücklich ist Victoria Whitworth dagegen beim Schwimmen. Jeder ihrer Erinnerungen steht ein kleiner Abschnitt über das Schwimmen an dem Tag, an dem sie den Abschnitt geschrieben hat, voran. Sie notiert Luft- und Wassertemperatur und beschreibt, wie es sich anfühlt, wenn sie in Wasser im einstelligen Temperaturbereich eintaucht. Übrigens geht sie immer ohne Neoprenanzug schwimmen, was ich sehr bewundere. In ihren Gewässern kennt sie sich aus und kennt die Gefahren, auf Iona dagegen ist sie fast ertrunken, weil sie die Gezeiten unterschätzt hat. Und trotzdem liebt sie das Schwimmen im Meer, weil es sich für sie anfühlt ,asl ob man den Finger am Puls der Welt hat.
Swimming with seals erzählt nicht immer von schönen Dingen, aber es wird auf eine wunderbare Weise erzählt, die mich von Anfang an berührt hat. Und falls sich jemand fragt: ja, ich habe beim Lesen nach Möglichkeiten zum Freiwasserschwimmen in meiner Nähe gesucht, aber leider (noch) nichts gefunden.
September 29, 2021
This book reads like waves on a beach - one topic, to another, to another, back to the first, another again. Like colors in water and sky, it is not clear where one story ends and another begins. This is all to say that I'm in love with this little gem of a...memoir? Honestly, this defies categorization - yes, memoir, but also philosophy, nature writing, history, ecology, evolution, poetry. As reader you are WITH her in that water, in her memories, in her prodigious and seemingly random tangents into archeology, geology, epic poems, Victorian-era science, Freud, Kenya in the '70s, pottery, language, family, and history - both deeptime and local - all of which swirl and eddy and riptide you under.
Robin Wall Kimmerer and her would be best friends. And, I want to be best friends with them. Alie Ward should have her on Ologies - https://www.alieward.com/ologies.
Recommended for those who love: nature writing + memoir + history + linguistics + poetry + Norse mythology + life changes + grief + ambivalence + seals; memoir about place, belonging, extending yourself grace; archaic knowledge mash-ups; Braiding Sweetgrass; Ologies podcast; Jacques Cousteau meets linguistics nerd meets Beryl Markham.
Robin Wall Kimmerer and her would be best friends. And, I want to be best friends with them. Alie Ward should have her on Ologies - https://www.alieward.com/ologies.
Recommended for those who love: nature writing + memoir + history + linguistics + poetry + Norse mythology + life changes + grief + ambivalence + seals; memoir about place, belonging, extending yourself grace; archaic knowledge mash-ups; Braiding Sweetgrass; Ologies podcast; Jacques Cousteau meets linguistics nerd meets Beryl Markham.
April 5, 2018
I really liked elements of this book; the wild swimming, natural history, Orkney. Some of the history and folklore was interesting, but some of it I wasn't familiar with enough to understand the jumping references. I then found it not so interesting. I was expectng quite personal writing, but the writer reveals very little over the book and mostly discusses hisotorical details. I struggled to decide on a rating as I did really enjoy parts of the book, but overall I didnt enjoy it as much as I expected.
April 3, 2018
Whitworth moved to Orkney where she took up wild swimming in the ocean. This is part memoir, part history and folklore of the island. I was more interested in the stories of the Picts and other previous residents of Orkney but this is a lovely little book.
June 10, 2023
A unique book on swimming - set in Orkney, touching largely on themes of nature, grief, being human and Pictish and Viking history. I absolutely loved it despite a few challenging chunks where I didn’t care too much about a very fascinating rock she found.
A gift from my mermaid friends in Devon and although the Orkney geography sounds very different to Exmouth beach, there were so many similarities in the wonder of community the author has found up north. Her mother, like mine, grew up in Kenya, and also Exeter featured a couple of times. So not all that dissimilar.
Got teary with a couple of quotes towards the end:
‘Hold your beloved dead close. People are for each other and that’s all there is.’
‘Can you get swimming on prescription [for depression]? It would have to come with a warning of the dangers of addiction. It occurs to me that I do not know anyone who has started sea swimming and then given it up.’
A gift from my mermaid friends in Devon and although the Orkney geography sounds very different to Exmouth beach, there were so many similarities in the wonder of community the author has found up north. Her mother, like mine, grew up in Kenya, and also Exeter featured a couple of times. So not all that dissimilar.
Got teary with a couple of quotes towards the end:
‘Hold your beloved dead close. People are for each other and that’s all there is.’
‘Can you get swimming on prescription [for depression]? It would have to come with a warning of the dangers of addiction. It occurs to me that I do not know anyone who has started sea swimming and then given it up.’
June 19, 2018
An ode to nature, Orkney and seals with intensely personal overtones
If you like clear, linear direction in your reading material, you may find this book frustrating or even bewildering but if you are happy to go with the flow of whst initially appears to be a stream-of-consciousness directed narrative, you will be richly rewarded. Where else, within the space of 60 pages could you read about topics as varied as Catholicism, plantar fascitis, mermaid and selkie mythology, an orca's metre-wide mouth, death and being close enough to a swimming seal to be able to look up its nostrils? All this is encompassed in a beautifully written, lyrical love song to Orkney, which can be illustrated with the following brief passages: "Swimming underwater: a colour for which I have no name, green stabbed with gold" and "Moon huge in the SW, sea and western sky nacreous, eastern sky a crucible of molten dawn." "Crucible of molten dawn" - what imaginative, original imagery! There is little wonder that Victoria Whitworth can convey so eloquently the sense of privilege she feels when sharing the sea with the seals that live there.
As you progress through the book, you discover there is another layer to the narrative - Victoria Whitworth's voyage of self discovery on which her sea swimming allows her to embark. Her personal, autobiographical verse response to the Old English poem, " The Wanderer", is both beautiful and heartbreaking. It would ruin the effect if I quoted from it, though I would dearly love to illustrate my point. Where the narrative takes us at the end of the book is also best revealed in its own good time, so can only urge you to read "Swimming with Seals" for yourself.
If you like clear, linear direction in your reading material, you may find this book frustrating or even bewildering but if you are happy to go with the flow of whst initially appears to be a stream-of-consciousness directed narrative, you will be richly rewarded. Where else, within the space of 60 pages could you read about topics as varied as Catholicism, plantar fascitis, mermaid and selkie mythology, an orca's metre-wide mouth, death and being close enough to a swimming seal to be able to look up its nostrils? All this is encompassed in a beautifully written, lyrical love song to Orkney, which can be illustrated with the following brief passages: "Swimming underwater: a colour for which I have no name, green stabbed with gold" and "Moon huge in the SW, sea and western sky nacreous, eastern sky a crucible of molten dawn." "Crucible of molten dawn" - what imaginative, original imagery! There is little wonder that Victoria Whitworth can convey so eloquently the sense of privilege she feels when sharing the sea with the seals that live there.
As you progress through the book, you discover there is another layer to the narrative - Victoria Whitworth's voyage of self discovery on which her sea swimming allows her to embark. Her personal, autobiographical verse response to the Old English poem, " The Wanderer", is both beautiful and heartbreaking. It would ruin the effect if I quoted from it, though I would dearly love to illustrate my point. Where the narrative takes us at the end of the book is also best revealed in its own good time, so can only urge you to read "Swimming with Seals" for yourself.
October 14, 2018
A beautiful book - complex, rich, multi-layered. It is a slow unfolding, the pages swim with poetry and sensational descriptions of the Orkney land- and seascapes.
The short refreshing bursts of the swim diaries are set amidst longer reminiscences and meditations on death, life, memories and relationships. The author builds a patchwork landscape for Orkney, piecing together its people over time and geography. It is a book about identity, lost and found, the marks that we leave - both physical and emotional. It is a celebration of story, myth and legend, language and its twisting permutations. It is a love story to her mother. A scream of pain. A wry, knowing nod to death. ‘I know you’. It is at once cooly intellectual and painfully personal. It is a story about love and finding time for yourself. It is a journey of discovery. A quest for clarity. Identity. Feeling… something. It is about self-medicating with sensation, nature therapy served with a slice of peril - the shadow of an orca’s fin looming on the horizon. It is about reaching a crises point and ducking your head full beneath the water, taking a sharp breath and then moving forward.
I was swept up in it. The rhythm of the swim diaries. The poetry. The layer upon layer of reference. It is thoughtful. I look forward to another reading, and taking more from it the next time.
The short refreshing bursts of the swim diaries are set amidst longer reminiscences and meditations on death, life, memories and relationships. The author builds a patchwork landscape for Orkney, piecing together its people over time and geography. It is a book about identity, lost and found, the marks that we leave - both physical and emotional. It is a celebration of story, myth and legend, language and its twisting permutations. It is a love story to her mother. A scream of pain. A wry, knowing nod to death. ‘I know you’. It is at once cooly intellectual and painfully personal. It is a story about love and finding time for yourself. It is a journey of discovery. A quest for clarity. Identity. Feeling… something. It is about self-medicating with sensation, nature therapy served with a slice of peril - the shadow of an orca’s fin looming on the horizon. It is about reaching a crises point and ducking your head full beneath the water, taking a sharp breath and then moving forward.
I was swept up in it. The rhythm of the swim diaries. The poetry. The layer upon layer of reference. It is thoughtful. I look forward to another reading, and taking more from it the next time.
August 2, 2020
This was Book 12 of my 20 Books of Summer 2020.
\This was a fascinating read as the author shares her thoughts on her love for wild swimming along with a considerable amount of background to the history, folklore and wildlife in Orkney. It also features her family and the background to the state she finds herself in now and how that the sea seems to call to her and helps her find a way to escape her problems with a dip in the sea,and her various encounters with the wildlife along the way.
I found her writing about the swimming and the wildlife the most incisive and illuminating so would have loved more. It connected more with me as a reader, even though the passages about the history of Orkney and folklore were interesting but it just felt like they overshadowed her own personal battles at time. It talks about the mental and physical benefits of swimming and delves into the psychology of her compulsion to go swimming when times are tough, even when it may be putting herself in danger.
The language she uses was beautiful and it is one of those books that you totally immerse yourself in and I found myself looking at online pictures of Orkney to really get more of out this book - it really seems as beautiful as she describes it!
\This was a fascinating read as the author shares her thoughts on her love for wild swimming along with a considerable amount of background to the history, folklore and wildlife in Orkney. It also features her family and the background to the state she finds herself in now and how that the sea seems to call to her and helps her find a way to escape her problems with a dip in the sea,and her various encounters with the wildlife along the way.
I found her writing about the swimming and the wildlife the most incisive and illuminating so would have loved more. It connected more with me as a reader, even though the passages about the history of Orkney and folklore were interesting but it just felt like they overshadowed her own personal battles at time. It talks about the mental and physical benefits of swimming and delves into the psychology of her compulsion to go swimming when times are tough, even when it may be putting herself in danger.
The language she uses was beautiful and it is one of those books that you totally immerse yourself in and I found myself looking at online pictures of Orkney to really get more of out this book - it really seems as beautiful as she describes it!
January 15, 2022
I enjoyed the journal entries detailing that days Orkney swim, until I didn't.
The history had been manageable and curious, soon became overbearing.
This is a memoir written by an intelligent woman who knows what she likes.
Just found out she supports JK Rowling which doesn't surprise me at all. There were hints of colonial bigotry in there.
The history had been manageable and curious, soon became overbearing.
This is a memoir written by an intelligent woman who knows what she likes.
Just found out she supports JK Rowling which doesn't surprise me at all. There were hints of colonial bigotry in there.
November 9, 2018
A love story of cold water sea swimming around Orkney. The mythology and history become dreary.
January 12, 2020
A pretty book with liquid language that I just wasn't in the mood for.
I wanted more water, more swimming.
The stream-of-consciousness writing started to drag me under.
I wanted more water, more swimming.
The stream-of-consciousness writing started to drag me under.
January 7, 2023
Swimming with Seals is een memoire over de zoektocht van Victoria Whitworth naar kracht en moed. Het boek is een combinatie van eigen ervaringen en observaties met mythen en de geschiedenis van Orkney (Schotland). De opzet van de roman is ontstaan uit haar Facebookposts naar aanleiding van haar zwemactiviteiten aan de kust van Schotland. Door te zwemmen werd ze zich bewuster van het weer, de getijen en de dieren. Ze leerde om op te gaan in haar omgeving, wat haar zowel rust als innerlijke kracht gaf en uiteindelijk de doorslag gaf om een roman te schrijven:
“Over the last few years this beach has become my world. Revisiting it in all weathers and seasons is a compulsion, one I can only struggle to understand. Partly, I come here because of the compressed riches of its archaeology and wildlife, its visual beauty and the overwhelming sensory stimulation: the stench of rotting seaweed, the shrieking of the gulls, the wind cold on wet skin, the bitter-salt brine in throat and sinuses. It’s my bolt-hole: where I come to escape the pressures of work, the domestic grind, all my aches and pains and the slow-motion misery of a failing marriage.”
Het boek is een beetje vreemd opgebouwd, maar dat wordt gelukkig uitgebreid uitgelegd in de proloog. Hierdoor weet je waar je aan toe bent en waarom de auteur er expliciet niet voor gekozen heeft om haar levensverhaal chronologisch te vertellen.
Ik heb het boek graag gelezen omwille van haar beschrijvingen van de natuur en van het zwemmen, wat vaak herkenbare ervaringen waren: “Polar Bear dips are wonderful, chaotic, communal experiences. In some ways, we’re a random bunch; in others we’re a distinct demographic. Overwhelming female, few under thirty-five, all with a stubborn streak and a sideways take on the world.” Ik ben in november 2020 gestart met buiten zwemmen en tijdens mijn eerste winter werd ik verrast door de loyaliteit en vreugde die er tussen de andere zwemmer is. Hoe verschillend we ook zijn, het zwemmen zorgt duidelijk voor een krachtig verbond.
Ook de passages over haar kindertijd en huwelijk waren erg interessant. Ik vond het jammer dat die thema’s vaak slechts terloops vernoemd werden, voor haar gedachten opnieuw naar de ruimere context van de streek gingen. Vooral wanneer ze het heeft over de geschiedenis en mythen van de plek werd het voor mij vaak te academisch. Ik kan me voorstellen dat het interessant is voor wie Orkney goed kent, maar zelfs haar enthousiaste schrijfstijl kon uiteindelijk niet voorkomen dat ze mijn aandacht verloor.
“Over the last few years this beach has become my world. Revisiting it in all weathers and seasons is a compulsion, one I can only struggle to understand. Partly, I come here because of the compressed riches of its archaeology and wildlife, its visual beauty and the overwhelming sensory stimulation: the stench of rotting seaweed, the shrieking of the gulls, the wind cold on wet skin, the bitter-salt brine in throat and sinuses. It’s my bolt-hole: where I come to escape the pressures of work, the domestic grind, all my aches and pains and the slow-motion misery of a failing marriage.”
Het boek is een beetje vreemd opgebouwd, maar dat wordt gelukkig uitgebreid uitgelegd in de proloog. Hierdoor weet je waar je aan toe bent en waarom de auteur er expliciet niet voor gekozen heeft om haar levensverhaal chronologisch te vertellen.
Ik heb het boek graag gelezen omwille van haar beschrijvingen van de natuur en van het zwemmen, wat vaak herkenbare ervaringen waren: “Polar Bear dips are wonderful, chaotic, communal experiences. In some ways, we’re a random bunch; in others we’re a distinct demographic. Overwhelming female, few under thirty-five, all with a stubborn streak and a sideways take on the world.” Ik ben in november 2020 gestart met buiten zwemmen en tijdens mijn eerste winter werd ik verrast door de loyaliteit en vreugde die er tussen de andere zwemmer is. Hoe verschillend we ook zijn, het zwemmen zorgt duidelijk voor een krachtig verbond.
Ook de passages over haar kindertijd en huwelijk waren erg interessant. Ik vond het jammer dat die thema’s vaak slechts terloops vernoemd werden, voor haar gedachten opnieuw naar de ruimere context van de streek gingen. Vooral wanneer ze het heeft over de geschiedenis en mythen van de plek werd het voor mij vaak te academisch. Ik kan me voorstellen dat het interessant is voor wie Orkney goed kent, maar zelfs haar enthousiaste schrijfstijl kon uiteindelijk niet voorkomen dat ze mijn aandacht verloor.
December 5, 2020
I'm a little torn about whether to rate this 3 or 4 stars.
I really enjoyed the first two-thirds of the book -- reflections on nature, life and history in Orkney, her relationships with friends, family, spouse and OE/The Wanderer, the swims, etc.
I was much less interested in her poem "replying" to The Wanderer. It seemed ultimately like she wasn't sure how to wrap things up in this memoir, and things descended into a bit of navel-gazing (at least from my perspective). For me, her self-conscious reflections about the book-writing process toward the end were the least gripping part of the book.
I really enjoyed the first two-thirds of the book -- reflections on nature, life and history in Orkney, her relationships with friends, family, spouse and OE/The Wanderer, the swims, etc.
I was much less interested in her poem "replying" to The Wanderer. It seemed ultimately like she wasn't sure how to wrap things up in this memoir, and things descended into a bit of navel-gazing (at least from my perspective). For me, her self-conscious reflections about the book-writing process toward the end were the least gripping part of the book.
March 3, 2022
This is a hard book to categorise. It is one long read, along many tangents. Covering sea swimming, seals,, shells, birds, Orkney, saints, Vikings, Picts, death, mythology… It is also a memoir, looking back at her academic career, her relationship with her mother, life in Kenya & her marriage as it slips away.
The author seems to have come to both Orkney & her marriage reluctantly & seems surprised that neither then feel like home.
The author seems to have come to both Orkney & her marriage reluctantly & seems surprised that neither then feel like home.
January 6, 2023
This book would lull me into near-boredom with details about history, then jolt me with some deep revelation. Overall, it's meandering but has some moments of brilliance that I really loved. Faith, history, the Orkney people, wildlife, literature, archeology, the death of parents, a bad marriage, motherhood, natural history, weather, Norse myths.
I cannot believe this lady swims in that cold, cold water.
I cannot believe this lady swims in that cold, cold water.
May 9, 2017
I went to the launch of this book a couple of weeks ago and was very impressed by Victoria Whitworth's presentation and the range of topics she covered in her talk. The book, which had its beginnings in a series of Facebook posts, is even more amazing.
Victoria Whitworth moved up to Orkney and found herself becoming more and more drawn to swimming in the sea, first with a group of local people (who call themselves the Polar Bears) and then increasingly by herself. She swims most days in all weathers. The book centres on her swimming experiences but expands to take in many other issues and topics without at any time becoming self indulgent or pretentious. Although the book is beautifully written, I never felt that the author was straining for self conscious poetic prose as some nature writers seem to do.
I am not a strong swimmer and would never be drawn to actually swimming in the northern seas in midwinter wearing nothing but a swimsuit. But Whitworth makes this experience appealing even to me! She is very aware of all the nature around her and is particularly drawn to the seals:
...there was a seal between me and the beach, maybe four yards from me. Usually they look startled and splash off, but this one - a small common seal - just swam steadily, watching me - I could count every whisker, see the whites of its eyes. Then it dived and surfaced a bit further away with a friend. They stayed about 30 feet away the whole time I was in the water, tracking my zigzags, watching me with hopeful puppy eyes. Young ones I think. Very curious as to what I was up to. The eider (duck)s kept up their gossipy chorus of disapproval throughout.
She talks about how swimming helped her cope with the death of her mother and the failure of her own marriage. She talks about church history (her own academic interest) and her not quite successful attempt to convert to Catholicism. She talks about the ancient history of the Orkney Islands, the ecology of the ocean, her childhood in Kenya and the connections between grief and depression. She mentions a lot of old poetry, particularly the long poem The Wanderer, written by an unknown poet, which she uses as a measure of people's evolving relationship with the sea. All the various themes are woven in together beautifully and make this a kaleidoscopic book that will probably turn out to be worth reading several times. As she says in the closing line of the book: Sea swimming, like having a finger on the pulse of the world.
(It shouldn't be necessary to add that swimming in the cold northern seas is something not to be undertaken lightly, you need to be a strong swimmer and to understand the currents and sea floor of the beaches you swim on. Start by finding a group to swim with).
Victoria Whitworth moved up to Orkney and found herself becoming more and more drawn to swimming in the sea, first with a group of local people (who call themselves the Polar Bears) and then increasingly by herself. She swims most days in all weathers. The book centres on her swimming experiences but expands to take in many other issues and topics without at any time becoming self indulgent or pretentious. Although the book is beautifully written, I never felt that the author was straining for self conscious poetic prose as some nature writers seem to do.
I am not a strong swimmer and would never be drawn to actually swimming in the northern seas in midwinter wearing nothing but a swimsuit. But Whitworth makes this experience appealing even to me! She is very aware of all the nature around her and is particularly drawn to the seals:
...there was a seal between me and the beach, maybe four yards from me. Usually they look startled and splash off, but this one - a small common seal - just swam steadily, watching me - I could count every whisker, see the whites of its eyes. Then it dived and surfaced a bit further away with a friend. They stayed about 30 feet away the whole time I was in the water, tracking my zigzags, watching me with hopeful puppy eyes. Young ones I think. Very curious as to what I was up to. The eider (duck)s kept up their gossipy chorus of disapproval throughout.
She talks about how swimming helped her cope with the death of her mother and the failure of her own marriage. She talks about church history (her own academic interest) and her not quite successful attempt to convert to Catholicism. She talks about the ancient history of the Orkney Islands, the ecology of the ocean, her childhood in Kenya and the connections between grief and depression. She mentions a lot of old poetry, particularly the long poem The Wanderer, written by an unknown poet, which she uses as a measure of people's evolving relationship with the sea. All the various themes are woven in together beautifully and make this a kaleidoscopic book that will probably turn out to be worth reading several times. As she says in the closing line of the book: Sea swimming, like having a finger on the pulse of the world.
(It shouldn't be necessary to add that swimming in the cold northern seas is something not to be undertaken lightly, you need to be a strong swimmer and to understand the currents and sea floor of the beaches you swim on. Start by finding a group to swim with).
June 18, 2017
I'm in a spate of swimming memoirs. This one, by Victoria Whitworth, is about how swimming in the sea around Orkney helped heal her body and strengthen her spirit. But it's much more than a therapeutic memoir: Whitworth is a medieval historian and she is full of fascinating information that only an academic would know - about history, folklore and archaeology - that take us way under the skin of her experiences. Wise and beautiful.
January 18, 2018
So I liked about a third of this book, all to do with my personal expectations. I was looking forward to reading a personal exploration through open swimming, There is very little personal memoir or experience, more a lot of myth and local folklore. Had I picked up the book having looked for the history side of things I would probably have enjoyed it a lot more. But as it was, I skimread an awful lot and was left disappointed!
October 30, 2018
Whitworth is obsessed with swimming in the sea, no matter what the time of day/year. She constantly seems to be in danger, spending too long in the sea, being on her own, and getting caught in the currents. Oh, and she sees some wildlife. These tales are interspersed with a strange set of literary references and some stories about her life. I found it disappointing, and will look for another swimmingly inspirational book elsewhere.
September 17, 2021
I loved reading pure joy from wild sea swimming and the honesty and joy at life and history, but struggled at times to follow the ideas and where it was going, especially in the reflective personal sections and when jumping straight into Pictish abs Viking history. However, I’m now very keen to visit and swim around Orkney.
June 20, 2017
I received a free copy via Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.
I found some of this interesting, but unfortunately there was to much history and etymology that I was not interested in and found boring.
This would be great for people who know and love Orkney.
I found some of this interesting, but unfortunately there was to much history and etymology that I was not interested in and found boring.
This would be great for people who know and love Orkney.
May 21, 2019
Honest and heartfelt. This book deals with some incredibly heavy themes, all anchored by swims in the icy seas of the Orkney coast. Beautiful descriptions of the landscape, its history, and its importance across time.
January 4, 2018
Good but a tad jumpy and complex
September 20, 2019
Found it very difficult to read this book. Perhaps it's not aimed for my age group, or I was not in the right mind-frame for it.
October 1, 2019
Too disjointed for me but interesting in parts.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews