The Swimmers

Julie Otsuka’s third novel begins with the strict order and hierarchy of a

swimming pool, where the regulars have their obsessive routines and swift judgments of those who do not respect them. But when a crack appears underwater, that world is thrown into chaos. But Otsuka swiftly switches focus – the real crack is the dementia that has set in for one swimmer, Alice. When she loses her pool, the dementia takes over, as Alice’s long-estranged daughter – a Japanese-American novelist whose resemblance to the author is obvious – takes over the job of chronicling her mother’s decline, and the care system managing it. The novel is written in an incantatory style – there are times where it spins so fast, gaps are left. The spinning rhythms are both addictive but, at times, a stylistic straightjacket. 6/10