Into the Forest discussion

This thread is for the July/August Young Adult Book Winner A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow. Spoilers are allowed!

Anyone else reading this? I started while everyone else started The Deep.

I read the first 50 pages several months ago and couldn't get into it. I decided to try it again, and I have the audiobook on hold. It's got a long wait though--currently 11 weeks.

It is hard to get into. I am at 32% on kindle - no page numbers. It’s getting better.

Annette wrote: "It is hard to get into. I am at 32% on kindle - no page numbers. It’s getting better."

Good to know.

Annette wrote: "Anyone else reading this? I started while everyone else started The Deep."

I have a copy and plan to read it once I finish what I am reading now

Margaret wrote: "I read the first 50 pages several months ago and couldn't get into it. I decided to try it again, and I have the audiobook on hold. It's got a long wait though--currently 11 weeks."

Uh oh! Already I am going to have a hard time getting into whatever book I read after I finish The Night Tiger

Annette wrote: "It is hard to get into. I am at 32% on kindle - no page numbers. It’s getting better."

I will keep this in mind when I get started!

I read about 40 pages this morning. I can see why it's hard to get into. For me it's always hard to get thrust into a world with a magical system I know nothing about. Hopefully once I read on it will become clearer for me.

Even though Tavia prefers or is afraid of speaking, there is way too much internal monologuing to my taste.

Annette wrote: "Even though Tavia prefers or is afraid of speaking, there is way too much internal monologuing to my taste."

That ^ and I feel like I am reading the second book of a series where the world was already explained in the first book.
Chapter 6 Effie is thinking of her mom. She says her mom's parents died before Effie was born, but in next paragraph it says she and her mom moved in with her grandparents! So are the her father's parents? Then why does it then go on to describe how Effie knows nothing about her father and no one will tell her about him?
I can understand how if the father left it would be painful for her mother to talk about him, but why then go live with her in laws. And why can't her grandparents at least tell her about him?

Anyway I find it confusing and hard to get into the story when we are just told fragments

Finished. Struggled the whole way. And the ending tried to pack too much in. Actually the entire book tried to pack too much in.

Ugh. Well, I'm still going to give it a listen when my hold finally comes up.

When I went to the library yesterday to return my already read books and pick up a new one I decided to return it too.
I'd rather just stop now than have to give the book a bad rating!
I feel like a jerk though :(

There's no reason to feel like a jerk for abandoning a book you're not into! I used to feel like I had to finish every book I started, but there are far too many good books out there for that.

Margaret wrote: "There's no reason to feel like a jerk for abandoning a book you're not into! I used to feel like I had to finish every book I started, but there are far too many good books out there for that."

Agreed! I wanted to finish it.

Due to spotty home internet, I had no idea that this group was reading this book. I may be the only one who loved it.

I thought it was original, compelling and dealt with significant themes, but I'm very fond of alternate history. Sirens in the civil rights movement! Wow!

My hold on the audiobook just came in. I have a few other books to read first, but plan to start it by next weekend. As I mentioned, I've read to about 15% and couldn't get into it, but I'm willing to give it another try.

I'm halfway through. Once again, I really struggled with the beginning and almost didn't continue. At about the 2 hour mark on my audiobook, things clicked. It was during the class where the teacher was teaching about sirens and being such a jerk. And then things picked up with Effie's skin peeling off, and Tavia being pulled over by the cop.

So I'm in it enough now where I want to finish. I should finished up by Friday.

I pinpointed two reasons I struggle a bit with the writing. First, sometimes action moments are interrupted by long reminsences about the past, and then suddenly we're in the action again. For instance, when the preppy girl confronts Effie in the pool about possibly being a mermaid, there's a 10 minute internal meandering in the middle of the confrontation. It takes me out of the action, and then I have to try and reconnect again.

And Tavia and Effie's voices and personalities seem interchangeable.

But I think the world building is really interesting, and how Morrow uses sirens and folklore to highlight racism against Black women is really interesting.

Finished!

I think this is the first novel I've read with a gorgon main character. I enjoyed Effie's imagery, and her slow change.

Considering the verdict that just passed for Breonna Taylor's killers, this book is very timely.

Jalilah, I did find the family relations confusing. Effie's grandmother isn't her real grandmother. She calls her that becuase her mom gave them custody when she died. They intentionally hide the identity of her father because he's a gorgon, and they're worried that if Effie knows that, it will cause her to change into a gorgon.

The adults were so terrible in this. Just terrible!