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A review by lilymathildea
Beneath Pale Water by Thalia Henry
5.0
/I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily./
This book is an absolute jewel !
**This review contains spoilers which I will hide, I advise you do not read them if you intend on reading the book, it will really take something away from the experience IMO.**
The story line spreads over a year beginning with summer, ending with spring.
It is about grief and how to deal with it. It is also about how sadness can verge onto madness. We follow Delia, her mother, Luke, his father and Jane, all misfitted or a little broken, all struggling through life.
Delia is the centre-piece, the one whose feelings and thoughts we access the most. The one who makes the story happen actually. But none of the stories and memories recounted are told in vain, they all end up explaining something, after a while it feels like you are trying to finish a jigsaw reading this book. In a good way. The clues are masterfully scattered, never giving it out too much without making it confusing - in a way that will make you go "that makes sense" rather than " come on that was so obvious" - without any sort of "big reveal" which always lack subtlety or humility.
The writing is beautiful, emotions turning into colours, nature becoming somewhat sentient, making it all very feral. The rhythm of the story as well as that of the grammar is perfect, making it very hard to put the book down. We often switch from one character's perspective to another but this is also well crafted, for it hardly ever stops the story (none of this fake cliffhanger crap cause now we have to read about shmuck's useless non-epiphany). And when it does, it is to give us a piece of vital information hidden it the protagonists' pasts. All in all, forming a story that feels speedy yet calm, you want to know the whole thing and yet will find yourself content to just read what [a: Thalia Henry|17380607|Thalia Henry|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1561792466p2/17380607.jpg] has to tell you.
This book is an absolute jewel !
**This review contains spoilers which I will hide, I advise you do not read them if you intend on reading the book, it will really take something away from the experience IMO.**
The story line spreads over a year beginning with summer, ending with spring.
It is about grief and how to deal with it. It is also about how sadness can verge onto madness. We follow Delia, her mother, Luke, his father and Jane, all misfitted or a little broken, all struggling through life.
Delia is the centre-piece, the one whose feelings and thoughts we access the most. The one who makes the story happen actually. But none of the stories and memories recounted are told in vain, they all end up explaining something, after a while it feels like you are trying to finish a jigsaw reading this book. In a good way. The clues are masterfully scattered, never giving it out too much without making it confusing - in a way that will make you go "that makes sense" rather than " come on that was so obvious" - without any sort of "big reveal" which always lack subtlety or humility.
The writing is beautiful, emotions turning into colours, nature becoming somewhat sentient, making it all very feral. The rhythm of the story as well as that of the grammar is perfect, making it very hard to put the book down. We often switch from one character's perspective to another but this is also well crafted, for it hardly ever stops the story (none of this fake cliffhanger crap cause now we have to read about shmuck's useless non-epiphany). And when it does, it is to give us a piece of vital information hidden it the protagonists' pasts. All in all, forming a story that feels speedy yet calm, you want to know the whole thing and yet will find yourself content to just read what [a: Thalia Henry|17380607|Thalia Henry|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1561792466p2/17380607.jpg] has to tell you.