Bianca’s Reviews > At the Pond: Swimming at the Hampstead Ladies' Pond > Status Update

In The First, Davies returns to her lifelong of swimming for the first time in years in the wake of a major breakup. Struggling with body image issues, she travels from her home to the Pond, where she meets a friend and together, they sink into the pond. Overall, I enjoyed the thoughts in parentheses sprinkled throughout though I do think this may be the most lacking essay since the first two in Winter.

The ninth essay Landmarks was rather miserable in tone as the writer both craved to be desired by those around her but also felt uncomfortable. She searched for bodies of water anywhere she went to dive in, to experience even a bit of joy as she struggled to give into pleasure. There were many beautiful sentences in this essay, and the footnotes were well placed.

The Lifeguard's Perspective had some of the most beautiful lines featured in the collection so far. Told from the perspective of a lifeguard, it also provided readers with a different look at the pond. I think Frizzell choosing this period of her experience at the lake was a great decision. I greatly enjoyed the descriptions from above as swimmers of all kind both loved and feared the water at times.

Out of Time was a good start for the summer section of the collection. It provides us with the writer's history with the pond as well as her relationship with swimming, which she describes as being rather 'fair-weather'. I enjoyed the literary comparisons and the reflection on an experience with a major storm on the way to the pond one day.

The So Mayer essay is a beautiful reflection of the writer's relationship with the pond as a kid, and the difficulties of accepting their existence as a trans person. The visual parallel made between slave auctions and anti-trans women protesters wearing the pond's sign was well done and connected through a short historical lesson as well as connections between the writer and Jesuit priest Gerard Manley Hopkins.

It is finally spring.

Nina’s essay is a great start to the spring section. Her essay is a journey across the waters that she has swam in since her youth of relocating to 4 different places—always stuck in the middle and anchored to many places, strange and shifting. It ties life experiences such as her first period, an earthquake occurring ‘back home’, and the death of her grandmother to watery language.

Finally. An essay where we learn more about the writer's relations to the pond rather than the logistics. I greatly enjoyed this essay especially with its connection to the author's field of study. Connecting the aging of trees in the surrounding area to the age of the pool as well as disasters (war, dry/wet years, etc.) that occurred was illuminating. This is easily the best essay in the Winter section.

Winter Swimming is similar to the first essay except that we are provided with quotes from other women who swim at the Hampstead Ladies' Pond during winter. I greatly enjoyed prose and the quotes but I still feel as if this essay collection so far has only served as an intro to the pond itself. As I stated before, I want to know more about the writer's relations to the pond itself.

First, I wish that there were more essays in each section though I understand why summer is the longest.

Cold Shocks and Mud Beards was a decent starting point for the collection. It introduces us to the pond. This is essential and I understand why this was chosen as the first essay. However, I didn't particularly care about the logistics. I wanted to know more about the writer's relations with the pond itself.