The Swimmers: A Novel, Julie Otsuka, author; Traci Kato-Kiriyama, narrator
If we think of the underground pool, as if it was like the human body, as a structure that ages, we have a very creative study that deals with the wonders and dangers of living and of dying, of caring deeply or of moving on when the inevitable happens and we fail, losing our purpose in the process.
This underground pool is a place where people of every stripe congregate to swim. They all have different abilities and backgrounds, likes and dislikes. They have different religions, races and philosophies. Some are professional and some are blue collar workers. Some don’t work at all. Some are not in perfect health and some look like they are perfectly sound. They will all eventually age.
When a beloved, underground pool develops cracks and begins to show signs of failure, the swimmers all begin to worry. It is old, they know. Is it showing signs of its age? They each worry in different ways. Some run from the idea of the failure, ignoring it, hoping it will simply go away, some embrace it and look for ways to repair it. Universally, however, they do worry about it. Will it get better? Will it get worse? Why is it happening? Is there a rational explanation? Should they continue to swim there or swim someplace else? Should they stop swimming entirely? Should they move on?
This is an amazing and creative exploration of relationships between those who love something or someone deteriorating and those that are the victims of the ultimate failure. The author uses the pool to contrast those reactions. While most swimmers have the ability to move on, one swimmer cannot. Her name is Alice. She has dementia. In the pool she is almost normal and is accepted. Outside of the pool, Alice’s dementia impacts her life disastrously. Alice’s body and mind are aging against her will, just as the pool is aging and losing its purpose. There is no rational explanation that is acceptable, as those involved are faced with the loss of something or someone they love. How do they react to Alice? The same questions asked of the swimmers can be asked of those who know Alice.
There is tremendous stress placed on everyone. There is no known reason for the failure. There is no known cure, but they try to find one. They hope for a remission or a repair of what is wrong. Experts are called in, but no cure can be found? It is unexplained and unexplainable. The pool and Alice are both simply sick, and no one knows why, or how serious it is, or if it will get worse. How do they react to this tragedy? Will just move on? How will they treat the thing they loved once, that has begun to change?
The author has so skillfully compared the two that the reader understands that the aging process is largely unpreventable and incurable. How we age and how we care for those aging is really important. How we react is equally important. The love of Alice and her family is strong and they do their best to care for her as those who love the pool try to keep it open.
As relationships are explored, the reader sees that some things cannot be fixed. Some things have to be tolerated, somehow. Will the pool still have value if it is no longer used? The reader will wonder, as Alice’s memories begin to fade, will she still be valuable without them? What happens to all those who have had relationships with her? Does she simply cease to exist to them? Does everyone else just move on?
Above all else, this short novel is about compassion, love and relationships, relationships of family members, friends and associates. The narrator is superb as she reads with just the right amount of expression, not to become a part of the novel, but to simply tell its story. Both the author and the narrator are perfection personified.