Gemma Vagaggini’s Reviews > Under Water > Status Update

The narrative felt scattered, unfocused, constantly drifting without building any real momentum. There’s a heavy emphasis on the wildlife and nature elements, which seems atmospheric, but quickly becomes overdone and repetitive to the point of distraction. I was bored for most of the book. There’s very little character development, making it hard to connect or care about what’s happening. From the review by Lisa Cook

Almost thought the first 100 pages and nothing happened in the plot, I'm still confused about the timeline and I don't understand why in most of the chapters something or someone dies, birds, stingrays. It feels like you wanted to make it more dramatic and heartbreaking, but you didn't know how, so you just killed someone. Like you need to end every chapter with a sad catchphrase. I'm really annoyed by this.

There are lots of numbers and statistics in this book, it feels more like an enciclopedia than a novel. I don’t know if is done on purpose to show the analytical side of the main character of if is an involuntary mistake, both ways I don’t like it. Is not that big of a deal but I can’t just not point it out.

The plot has too many flashbacks; even flashbacks in flashbacks, this is so confusing. To fix this you would just need to reorganize the sequence of the events of the novel. It's ok if you want to do two main storylines, one in 2004 and the other in 2012, but you can't put flashbacks of the older one in the most recent one, or go back and forth to what happened to the mother randomly, just laying there pointlessly.

I’m confused about the timeline and the sequence of events, even when we are in 2018 the character thinks about thing done before (non specified), I don’t understand which events happened in the past and when in the past. What is the point of telling an episode in present tense, skip 8 years and talk about the same episode (or around that time) only in past tense? Just give some continuity to the plot. 🙏

The author has such a dreamy way to describe natural environments especially marine ones.

Enjoying it so far, not bad. I already know is gonna be so fucking depressing. But that is a good thing cause the tone of the book/writing is dark and closed, immediately giving away the vibe of this novel: tragic and sad. I needed it though, I was looking for a book that actually explores the gripping emotions rather than just displaying them on paper. Let’s see how this goes. Finger crossed, I’m hopeful. 🤞