The Drowning Girl by
Caitlín R. Kiernan
Published : Roc,
2012
Awards Won :
Stoker Award, Co-Winner of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award.
Awards
Nominated : Nebula Award, Shirley Jackson Award, Locus F Award, Mythopoeic
Award, World Fantasy Award
The Book :
“India Morgan Phelps (Imp) is a mentally ill
woman who is also haunted, for a certain definition of the word ‘haunted’. Her
ghost story involves mermaids and wolves and two women rescued from the side of
the road. One is Abalyn, a
transgender woman who becomes an integral part of Imp’s life. Another is Eva Canning, a mysterious
woman who brings chaos with her.
In her journal, Imp
tells the story of the time(s) she met Eva Canning, and tries to separate truth
and fact, in order to come to terms with the events of one summer and/or
fall—both the events that happened, and those that did not. The facts may never be clear, but
perhaps the truth can be found.” ~Allie
This is my 10th novel for the Women of Genre Fiction Reading
Challenge, and with this review, I am officially back on track to finish within
the scheduled year! This novel is
also my entry for the Readers Imbibing Peril event over at Stainless Steel
Droppings.
My Thoughts :
The Drowning Girl is
a very difficult book to describe, both because of the creative style of the
story and its ambiguity. The story
is told through Imp’s journals, and she is an unreliable narrator with a very distinct voice. Imp has no intention
of telling a linear story, and she often rambles or skips in time to tell a
part of the story that is less distressing. She interrupts and argues with herself in the text, and
constantly repeats or refers back to previous information. Her voice also changes dramatically
with her state of mind, and one memorable chapter in particular contains a very
disordered but poetic stream of consciousness account. Instead of moving chronologically
through the events, it seems like Imp is slowly building up an orchestra of
moods, information and ideas that can be employed to describe the significance
and tone of events and to imply their connections to one another.
The tools Imp used to build her story come from a wide
variety of sources, both real and fictional. Imp references many different
artists (including Radiohead), in addition to well-known events and ideas
(l’inconnue de la Seine, Kuroi Jukai, etc.). She also uses a variety of
fictional cultural influences, such as the artist Phillip George Saltonstall, who
created the painting, The Drowning Girl,
and Albert Perrault, a modern artist who was obsessed with Little Red Riding
Hood. Imp’s own art and writings also play a role in the story. All of these pieces were used to build
the tone of each scene, and to imply the significance of, for instance, Eva as
a mermaid or as a wolf. While I would not call this a scary story, the
atmosphere is certainly often dark and unsettling.
Within this rambling style, eerie mood, and wealth of real
and fictional art, The Drowning Girl tells
a story of three women. I think Imp was a much more sympathetic character
because the reader was allowed into her personal thoughts. She was not always the easiest person
to handle, and I couldn’t help but wince at some of the things she said to
Abalyn. From inside her mind,
though, one could see the frustration and confusion that led to her
outbursts. Abalyn was probably the
most likeable character of the story, a geek who wrote reviews of video games
for a living. Her personality was
extremely different from Imp’s, but they seemed to complement each other
well. Eva Canning, the third main
actor in the story, was simply mysterious. The story was something of a
challenge to piece together, and I’m not sure I have everything completely clear,
even at the end. I enjoyed the
journey through Imp’s story, though, and I think the conclusion was well suited
the style of the story.
My Rating: 4.5/5
The Drowning Girl can
be a confusing book, but it is also a fascinating one. Told from the point of view of a very
mentally ill woman named Imp, the story follows her relationship with Abalyn,
and her encounter(s) with a mysterious woman named Eva Canning (who might be a
ghost, a wolf, a mermaid…). Imp weaves her story with cultural references both
real and fictional, building an unsettling tapestry of a ghost story from each
thread. Less an account of a
series of events, the novel is more about Imp’s experiences, perceptions and
state of mind. It’s definitely not
a traditional ghost story, but it is a novel that is atmospheric, immersive,
and creative.
