Book Author: Jessie Wilson
Format: Paper Back
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars (⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐)
When was the last time you read a book that forced you to greedily devour it? For me, the answer is this week. Today, I finished Under Water by Jessie Wilson, and this book was amazing.
Under Water is a thrilling novel that engulfed me until the very end. Throughout this text, the main character struggles with navigating teenage life, including academics and social engagement. She has an awful time with math. Her engagement with her peers is awkward. She has no friends. An incident in her childhood taught her the valuable cost of making friends.
My heart ached for the main character for so many reasons. The narrator had no real place of solace, not with her father, mother, brother nor with her peers. Her peace and contentment were derived from reading a book. When she read, she could escape her troubles. She was a true bibliophile. She craved a mother or mother figure. She desperately desired to leave the grasp of her father's abuse and power.
Dealing with a narcissistic father, who abused her psychologically, physically, mentally, and even financially, the narrator's transition to a new school at the demands of her older brother Cal gave me new hope for her future. Wilson's illustration of how a person victim feels powerless and hopeless, even when they are not in direct contact with their abuser, is amazingly portrayed in this narrative.
The irony of the narrator living on a boat and being the doctor of a fisherman turned smuggler and being aquaphobic is just one example of how well-written Under Water is.
Wilson uses an educator as the "savior" for the narrator. I liked how Wilson conclusively demonstrates the significance that a teacher or coach can unknowingly have in a student's life. Even though I was upset that the narrator was forced to conquer her fear of water and to become a swimmer, I ultimately appreciated how these actions contributed to changing the trajectory of her entire life.
Also, I enjoyed how Wilson highlighted the cringe-worthy victim-blaming culture of other women through the character, Kelly, the narrator's roommate. Kelly turned into a protagonist like a narrator's father, quickly.
Ultimately, I loved the ending of Under Water. The complexity of this book definitely intrigued me. I highly recommend this YA book. You will not be disappointed.
Trigger Warning: This book includes references to domestic violence, sexual abuse, rape, and child abuse.
Under Water is a thrilling novel that engulfed me until the very end. Throughout this text, the main character struggles with navigating teenage life, including academics and social engagement. She has an awful time with math. Her engagement with her peers is awkward. She has no friends. An incident in her childhood taught her the valuable cost of making friends.
Dealing with a narcissistic father, who abused her psychologically, physically, mentally, and even financially, the narrator's transition to a new school at the demands of her older brother Cal gave me new hope for her future. Wilson's illustration of how a person victim feels powerless and hopeless, even when they are not in direct contact with their abuser, is amazingly portrayed in this narrative.
The irony of the narrator living on a boat and being the doctor of a fisherman turned smuggler and being aquaphobic is just one example of how well-written Under Water is.
Wilson uses an educator as the "savior" for the narrator. I liked how Wilson conclusively demonstrates the significance that a teacher or coach can unknowingly have in a student's life. Even though I was upset that the narrator was forced to conquer her fear of water and to become a swimmer, I ultimately appreciated how these actions contributed to changing the trajectory of her entire life.
Ultimately, I loved the ending of Under Water. The complexity of this book definitely intrigued me. I highly recommend this YA book. You will not be disappointed.
Trigger Warning: This book includes references to domestic violence, sexual abuse, rape, and child abuse.
If you or someone you know are dealing with domestic violence or sexual abuse, here are two hotlines that can assist you. The National Domestic Violence Hotline number is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). The National Sexual Assault Hotline number is 1-800-656 HOPE (4673).
About Under Water
For the daughter of a fisherman-turned-smuggler, keeping secrets equals survival. When she is sent away from their boat-home for one year to a nearby boarding school, it’s with her father's threat hanging over her head: You talk about things that shouldn’t be talked about, I’ll kill you. But a boarding school with a student body of eight is a perilous place to be when you have a headful of secrets, particularly with a headmaster who seems to be able to read minds. When the headmaster discovers the aquaphobia born out of her fearful childhood, he compels her to join the school swim team, headed by a tough coach who has his own dark history with the water. As she sheds her fear and discovers a hidden talent for distance swimming, she crafts a plan to escape the boat she’s doomed to return to at the end of the school year. But when her plans begin to unravel, she finds something sinister that has stood between her and escape all along: the secrets she’s kept from herself.
the theme of the book in the epilogue. 
