Review: Dive on in, this is a great book!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 5, 2013
I won't get too much into the plot as that has been well covered in other reviews. I'll share my impressions and try and explain why this is such a unique and amazing book.I love character-based fiction. To me, character is the most important aspect of any novel. If I'm not invested in the characters, I'm not invested in the novel. Boris creates some amazing and compelling characters in this work. More than that, however, and to her credit as a writer, she writes utterly and completely BELIEVABLE compelling characters. Not that they are boring. Far from it. The psychological depth here is amazing.There is stiff tension in this book from the very beginning, but it is paced extraordinarily well. Boris is especially skilled in this area. Too fast of a pace, and the character depth would be wasted. Too slow, the book would bog down. That is a very fine line in a novel like this one, and Boris nails it.There are some novels that make you feel like you know the people involved, you can imagine their situations, where they live, what it looks like, what it smells like. This is one of those books. Boris treats her characters and her story with respect, but she does not sugar coat anything. Thank goodness.Writing a novel is one of the more interesting challenges one can take on. It can be done a million ways. Risks should be taken. It is also VERY important for any writer to let the book "write itself". There is a sense of this all through the novel, but there is one choice in particular (which I will not get into because it would be a spoiler) that I felt was a risk - one that totally paid off. A gutsy move that I applaud.I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is real, scary, frustrating, and beautiful. Just like life. I have one critique. The diving metaphor is a good one and it works well in the book. My only fear is that people might judge this book by it's cover. Not that the cover is bad, but if you're looking for Greg Louganis anecdotes, you will be disappointed.Bottom line: This is a solid, well constructed, novel with heart. Definitely recommended.