Review: "Everywhere the Undrowned" by Stephanie Clare Smith

 

Everywhere the Undrowned by Stephanie Clare Smith
Published February 2024 via The University of North Carolina Press
★★★★

It was the summer of secrets and imaginary numbers. (loc. 368*)

1973: Smith's mother set off for the summer, leaving fourteen-year-old Smith alone in their home. In theory, Smith was supposed to use the time to thrive; in practice, she found herself fighting—sometimes literally—for survival.

Sorrow's tears look like an aerial photo after a tornado has blown out half the town. The high school is gone. All you can see are the foundations and angles where homes used to stand and well-traveled streets are now broken in half. But the tears full of laughter have swimming pools in back yards and parks full of swings—the town before the tornado arrived. (loc. 522)

The book takes on a somewhat dreamy structure, slipping easily from one moment into the next, tied together with imaginary numbers and difficult growth. It took me a moment to get into the writing, but once I was in, I was more or less captivated throughout. It's an emotionally complicated story, focusing on that 1973 summer and the way the summer's events reverberated but also taking Smith deep into adulthood, to (and through) the point at which she became her mother's caregiver for good. Smith explores what it means to be a caregiver, especially when the person for whom you are caring has in fact failed to care for you—again, complicated and without easy answers.

Beautifully written and with a depth disproportionate to the book's short length.

*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.