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No Diving Allowed
From F. Scott Fitzgerald to John Cheever, the swimming pool has long held a unique place in the mythos of the American idyll, by turns status symbol and respite. The fourteen stories that comprise NO DIVING ALLOWED fearlessly plunge the depths of the human condition as award-winning author Louise Marburg freights her narratives with the often unfathomable pressure of what lies beneath. In “Identical,” sibling rivalry between brothers exposes lingering resentments of men who never made peace with boyhood animosities; “Let Me Stay With You” follows a man whose innocent attention to a child is gravely misunderstood. The trials of a fractured family come to the fore in the trenchant, unapologetic “Minor Thefts.” Siblings, friends, parents, couples, the characters in these stories ask how much any of us can bear before we break. Marburg’s writing is agile, witty, and crisply spare. These are tales of regret and mercy, of bonds forged and frayed, and most of all our individual capacity to love even that which damns us. As readers of these pages will learn, the difference between swimming and drowning is often nothing more than the will to live.
- GenresShort Stories
178 pages, Paperback
Published October 6, 2021
55 people want to read
About the author
Louise Marburg
7 books9 followersLouise Marburg is the author of a collection of stories, The Truth About Me (WTAW Press, 2017), which was named by the San Francisco Chronicle and Entropy as a best book of 2017. Winner of the Independent Press Book Award for the short story, The Truth About Me was also shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. Her stories have appeared in Narrative, The Pinch, Carolina Quarterly, Ploughshares, The Chicago Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. Her latest collection of stories, No Diving Allowed, is forthcoming on October 6th, 2021. She lives in New York City with her husband, the artist Charles Marburg.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
July 5, 2023
Enjoyable overall! Appropriate themed stories for the summer. :P
Cos there’s a pool featuring in all of these stories, see? Otherwise, the characters come from some different genders, sexualities and ages, though methinks for the most part they’re all white from Connecticut. Not a criticism!
Short story collections are inevitably a little uneven. Most people do a little ranking, including moi. I think my least favorite short story is “Wildebeest.” It takes place on safari, and the protagonist is a middle aged man in a failed marriage. He attempts to bond (at the resort’s pool!) with a young woman tracking the wildebeest migration, but he comes off as creepy and she takes her leave. Increasingly rebuffed throughout the story (earlier on his wife laid divorce plans on him,) the story ends with him trying to assert dominance by raping her. I’m more forgiving than average of “unlikeable characters,” but ick. No matter how he might frame this in his narration.
Stylistically, Marburg ends this story, and others, quite abruptly. So it took me a little while to get into the collection.
The titular story was amongst my faves. Featuring another middle aged man, Gareth, going to visit his sister. There’s a lot of moving pieces here, but they make the characters feel more fleshed out. Gareth is in the middle of a big weight loss; his sister, Marion, is in the middle of a divorce. But she’s grown fond of her prissy neighborhood, which is why she and Gareth spend the bulk of the story at her swim resort. Some kids ask Gareth to do some cannonballs, and the lonely man decides to cash in on his size for some love. Which makes it sound depressing, but ultimately I think the act broke the ice (or, er, water) between him and Marion.
My favorite is “All Pies Are Delicious,” about how dementia impacts a routine get-together between two pairs of couple friends. (At one point, the man suffering from dementia pushes his host into the pool.) It’s another story with lots of layers, beginning and ending with a pie that was painstakingly made and easily destroyed.
“Minor Thefts” is similar, where the protagonist announces her dad, separated from her mom, stealing small things from the house. Most of the story moves away from that (including meeting the protagonist’s hook up / drug dealer boy by the pool :P). But we circle back to it at the end; once the dad betrays the protagonist, she takes action against the threats. I’m probably overplaying my hand here; it’s more subtle and interesting in the story!
I also like the progression of the relationship between two antagonistic sisters, one with a chip on her shoulder and various problems she needs help with, in “Play Nice, Be Good.” (A missing swimsuit migrates the drama over towards their kids and the pool. :P)
All in all, enjoyable! On a macro level, it makes me think about how the pool is a meeting place for people, and ergo an interesting place for story to occur. That, and being a good place to take a dip in hot weather, hee.
Cos there’s a pool featuring in all of these stories, see? Otherwise, the characters come from some different genders, sexualities and ages, though methinks for the most part they’re all white from Connecticut. Not a criticism!
Short story collections are inevitably a little uneven. Most people do a little ranking, including moi. I think my least favorite short story is “Wildebeest.” It takes place on safari, and the protagonist is a middle aged man in a failed marriage. He attempts to bond (at the resort’s pool!) with a young woman tracking the wildebeest migration, but he comes off as creepy and she takes her leave. Increasingly rebuffed throughout the story (earlier on his wife laid divorce plans on him,) the story ends with him trying to assert dominance by raping her. I’m more forgiving than average of “unlikeable characters,” but ick. No matter how he might frame this in his narration.
Stylistically, Marburg ends this story, and others, quite abruptly. So it took me a little while to get into the collection.
The titular story was amongst my faves. Featuring another middle aged man, Gareth, going to visit his sister. There’s a lot of moving pieces here, but they make the characters feel more fleshed out. Gareth is in the middle of a big weight loss; his sister, Marion, is in the middle of a divorce. But she’s grown fond of her prissy neighborhood, which is why she and Gareth spend the bulk of the story at her swim resort. Some kids ask Gareth to do some cannonballs, and the lonely man decides to cash in on his size for some love. Which makes it sound depressing, but ultimately I think the act broke the ice (or, er, water) between him and Marion.
My favorite is “All Pies Are Delicious,” about how dementia impacts a routine get-together between two pairs of couple friends. (At one point, the man suffering from dementia pushes his host into the pool.) It’s another story with lots of layers, beginning and ending with a pie that was painstakingly made and easily destroyed.
“Minor Thefts” is similar, where the protagonist announces her dad, separated from her mom, stealing small things from the house. Most of the story moves away from that (including meeting the protagonist’s hook up / drug dealer boy by the pool :P). But we circle back to it at the end; once the dad betrays the protagonist, she takes action against the threats. I’m probably overplaying my hand here; it’s more subtle and interesting in the story!
I also like the progression of the relationship between two antagonistic sisters, one with a chip on her shoulder and various problems she needs help with, in “Play Nice, Be Good.” (A missing swimsuit migrates the drama over towards their kids and the pool. :P)
All in all, enjoyable! On a macro level, it makes me think about how the pool is a meeting place for people, and ergo an interesting place for story to occur. That, and being a good place to take a dip in hot weather, hee.
February 4, 2022
It’s a collection of short stories that Joan Silber says “defies all cliches.” Margot Livesey calls her work fearless and dazzling. Jill McCorkle says Marburg crosses forbidden boundaries of class, gender, families, friendships. “Linked by the presence of swimming pools both clear and murky, these stories are deeply refreshing.”
Not so much like spearmint gum, more like a mouthful of Listerine. Powerful and cleansing. Honest and beautifully crafted. A window into the world of women and men stunned by life, needing a cleansing moment, which Marburg provides. Award winning collection, and that is not surprising. I look forward to more of these stories!
Not so much like spearmint gum, more like a mouthful of Listerine. Powerful and cleansing. Honest and beautifully crafted. A window into the world of women and men stunned by life, needing a cleansing moment, which Marburg provides. Award winning collection, and that is not surprising. I look forward to more of these stories!
October 15, 2021
This book is pure delight! So delicious. I enjoyed every single minute, and I can't say that about a lot of books I read. I loved Marburg's first collection, The Truth About Me, but I like this new book even more. I found the stories enchanting, entertaining, thought-provoking, surprising, humane, brilliantly direct and biting social commentary while always (always) showing empathy for even the most unsavory characters.
Like the cover blurb says, there are no cliches here: At so many points, the author gives us the unexpected, not just in plot but in character. Sometimes the rich people are snobby and entitled, and sometimes it's the poor people who are the jerks, and sometimes it's both, and often by the end we see that even the mean things people say often come from a place of hurt and vulnerability, and often reconciliation is possible, and sometimes an unredeemable person gets exactly what he deserves.
The dialogue is so clever and FUNNY. The titles are spot on. The endings are always surprising but completely plausible and make us feel and think differently about the characters and about ourselves. These stories portray child and teenage characters so well, too. They really come to life as (sometimes monstrous but always compelling) people with real personalities, not just appendages of their parents.
Speaking of children, besides the swimming pool theme, there are a lot of other clear threads that connect the stories thematically, and children (or, rather, the adults' attitudes toward having children or not having them) is a fascinating one.
Another important theme is money. I find it really refreshing that the characters talk and think about money so much, because in real life people think about it a lot but often there's a taboo to talking about it so they pretend they're thinking about it. And connected to the money theme is the class theme, which is portrayed in such a bold and refreshing way.
There's a lot of social commentary tucked into these stories. But they're also just so much fun to read.
Like the cover blurb says, there are no cliches here: At so many points, the author gives us the unexpected, not just in plot but in character. Sometimes the rich people are snobby and entitled, and sometimes it's the poor people who are the jerks, and sometimes it's both, and often by the end we see that even the mean things people say often come from a place of hurt and vulnerability, and often reconciliation is possible, and sometimes an unredeemable person gets exactly what he deserves.
The dialogue is so clever and FUNNY. The titles are spot on. The endings are always surprising but completely plausible and make us feel and think differently about the characters and about ourselves. These stories portray child and teenage characters so well, too. They really come to life as (sometimes monstrous but always compelling) people with real personalities, not just appendages of their parents.
Speaking of children, besides the swimming pool theme, there are a lot of other clear threads that connect the stories thematically, and children (or, rather, the adults' attitudes toward having children or not having them) is a fascinating one.
Another important theme is money. I find it really refreshing that the characters talk and think about money so much, because in real life people think about it a lot but often there's a taboo to talking about it so they pretend they're thinking about it. And connected to the money theme is the class theme, which is portrayed in such a bold and refreshing way.
There's a lot of social commentary tucked into these stories. But they're also just so much fun to read.
November 12, 2021
I loved Louise Marburg’s No Diving Allowed: these fourteen stories are fierce, fascinating, unexpected, and memorable, taking us to luxurious suburban Connecticut, to East Africa, to the French countryside, into and out of marriages, embattled old friendships, sibling complications, the fraught countries of youth, middle, and old age. The insights here startled me over and over: the people here either have so much or are painfully close to those who have so much, and their longings feel intense and believable.
All these people are so lifelike, including the ways they show us the mystery of why we all do such irrational things, how we hurt each other, what kinds of moments of grace exist in difficult relationships, and the differences between our dream lives and reality. They thread through expectations, misunderstandings, impossible demands, deeply inappropriate gifts.
Swimming pools feel like the perfect metaphor here, not only because of the glittering surface, the realms underneath, and the possibility of danger, but because the light on every character and every story feels so sharp, bejeweled, unexpected in its turns. I’ve read all these stories at least twice now and look forward to reading them all again.
All these people are so lifelike, including the ways they show us the mystery of why we all do such irrational things, how we hurt each other, what kinds of moments of grace exist in difficult relationships, and the differences between our dream lives and reality. They thread through expectations, misunderstandings, impossible demands, deeply inappropriate gifts.
Swimming pools feel like the perfect metaphor here, not only because of the glittering surface, the realms underneath, and the possibility of danger, but because the light on every character and every story feels so sharp, bejeweled, unexpected in its turns. I’ve read all these stories at least twice now and look forward to reading them all again.
February 15, 2022
I loved this short story collection by Louise Marburg, who manages to co-mingle the humor and horror of domestic life. She manages to love her characters, but refuses to spare them their realities, in the most shocking ways. It's too reductive to say these stories are merely about sibling rivalry, divorce, or class clashes, because Marburg has such cunning insight into the hopes and darknesses of the human soul, the realization that even if certain tragedies are commonplace, they are nonetheless transformational, and often the cornerstones of our lives. I had the pleasure of taking a workshop with Louise at Sewanee a number of years ago, and was taken by her kindness and generosity of spirit then; she gave me a tarot card reading so good I haven't been able to get another, in fear it would be worse. I am so happy to review this collection and will look forward to whatever she writes next.
February 17, 2023
I read NO DIVING ALLOWED because Leslie Pietrzyk, a writer whose literary taste and fiction, I admire deeply, listed the collection as one of her favorite books of 2022. Plus, I loved that the stories are all linked via swimming pools. Oh, my goodness. Louise Marburg is the absolute master of the form. She writes about family, marriage, friendship, with psychological savvy, precision, and heart. I've since devoured her other two collections. Finding a new writer to love is a beautiful thing.
March 8, 2022
Wow, I adored this collection! Louise Marburg has an absolute gift for getting at the crumbling, hardening, broken, and resilient hearts of her characters. The humor is wry, the dialogue crisp and snappy as a chip. It might be the fearlessness that I admired the most, in the characters and the way they out themselves and in Marburg's head on confrontation and empathy in writing them. Amazing.
September 13, 2021
I was lucky enough to get an early copy of this collection and loved every single one of the stories. They are each so well crafted and many are hilarious and cinematic too. Louise Marburg is a masterful storyteller!
October 31, 2021
I enjoyed these stories about frazzled marriages and sibling relationships, always with a swimming pool at the center of it all. The endings of the story are somewhat untraditional, winding up quickly after the climax.
February 18, 2022
Short story collections often offer readers a handful of stories that move them. No Diving Allowed is a gem and every single story is memorable. Plus there are swimming pools! I highly recommend this astonishing work by Louise Marburg.
October 30, 2021
Spectacular collection of short stories that touch every emotion in life. The characters were remarkable and I wanted every story to go on for ten more chapters
November 11, 2021
Gorgeous short stories. An amazing collection. Love this author's work!
February 15, 2022
A brilliant collection of stories, full of loss and surprising moments of connection. Highly recommend!!
February 22, 2022
Loved this book! Deep, subtle with an emotional wallop.
June 13, 2022
Masterful stories -- linked together by central images of water, pools, swimming, but each unique. Worth reading--especially in summer at the beach or pool -- and following this author.
May 31, 2024
Why were so many characters named peter
March 9, 2023
In this book, Louise highlights the struggles of relationships between family members, friends and spouses.
In the short story of No Diving Allowed, we learn about Gareth who is overweight but decides to free himself from the pain caused by people’s judgement when he cannonballs into a pool as a result of a kid’s dare challenge. It was interesting to read about the way the character dismissed the negative narrative in his head. The thought of what people would say, often stopped him from the pleasures of life. In doing so, Gareth teaches his sister Marion, who is very concerned with keeping a good image and reputation at the country club, that letting go of certain things and people, can bring relief and joy to one’s life.
My rating: 3.75 ⭐️
In the short story of No Diving Allowed, we learn about Gareth who is overweight but decides to free himself from the pain caused by people’s judgement when he cannonballs into a pool as a result of a kid’s dare challenge. It was interesting to read about the way the character dismissed the negative narrative in his head. The thought of what people would say, often stopped him from the pleasures of life. In doing so, Gareth teaches his sister Marion, who is very concerned with keeping a good image and reputation at the country club, that letting go of certain things and people, can bring relief and joy to one’s life.
My rating: 3.75 ⭐️
February 26, 2025
I loved this story collection. Louise Marburg is an exquisite writer.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews