The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan: book review

The Weight of Water (2013) is set in Coventry, England. The narrator is 12-year-old Kasienka, who has just migrated to England with her 41-year-old mother Ola from Gdansk, Poland.

They rent a one-room apartment. They know no-one in England, except Tata, her father, who moved there years before – but they can’t find him. Ola secures a job as a cleaner in a local hospital, while Kasienka has to deal with a new school. She is good at swimming, and is the best runner in her class, but she is teased relentlessly and hates school. She likes William, a year older, who is an excellent swimmer. She even dreams of him at night – swimming together.

In the next room in their building is Kanoro, a Kenyan doctor, who also works as a cleaner in Coventry. They play chess together and build a snowman together when Kanoro sees snow for the first time. Kasienka confides in him, and he tells her: ‘Happiness should be your revenge, Kasienka. Happiness.’

When she is 13 she finds her father, but he has been living with Melanie and their daughter Briony. Her mother does not know that her husband has been living with his new family for years. Again, Kasienka confides in Kanoro, but one day he is gone – his room is vacant. Kasienka has lost both her father and her father-like figure.

It is the water in the swimming pool that provides the route to her happiness. She is lost to the water: ‘Water is another world. A land with its own language. Which I speak fluently.’ She likes the ‘safe silence of submergence’ and the weight of water.

This is a Young Adult novel in the form of poems. Kasienka’s story is told in verse – simply told and understood, with each verse clearly defining situations, emotions, relationships, and her way of trying to fit into a new school in a new country.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Comments

2016 update on Rike Park, Tbilisi: from construction to busy park

From a flat patch of uninteresting dirt, Rike Park in Tbilisi, Georgia, has transformed in four years (from 2014-2016) into a busy park full of trees, flower beds, sculptures, fountains, and events. Rike (Rikhe) Park is on the left bank of the Mt’k’vari River (the Kura River) near the Old City of Tbilisi. The Peace Bridge links the right bank to Rike Park. Rike Park is below the hillside Presidential Palace and, via cable car, it is the starting point for the ride to Sololaki Ridge (with the Narikala Fortress and the Mother of Georgia statue). The glass box-shaped cable car terminus was opened on 23 June 2012, and since then the park has continually developed into a ‘people’s park’ where people can walk around, eat at the nearby restaurants, sit next to the statue of American president Ronald Reagan, climb the steps to Avlabari district, and access the sights of Meidan Square, the Peace Bridge, the Metekhi Church, the Old City, the waterfall, the sulphur baths, and t...

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...

Hop on hop off bus tourism comes to Tbilisi, Georgia

City Sightseeing buses have arrived in Tbilisi. The iconic red double-decker buses, a feature of many cities around the world since the company was established in Seville, Spain in 1999, is now in six continents and almost 100 cities. The company established its Tbilisi business in November 2013, with its operations commencing in February 2014. The 90-minute tour stops at 11 major locations in Tbilisi (with 2 to 5 minute waiting times at each location): the Old City (where it commences), Freedom Square, Rose Revolution Square, Marjanishvili Square, the Dry Bridge, Konka, Avlabari, Metekhi, Akhundov Museum, the Sulfur Baths, and European Square. Passengers can hop off at any stop and see the sights, hopping back onto the next bus at any time. Alternatively, passengers can remain on the bus for the whole tour and take photographs when the bus stops at each location. There are one day (24-hour) passes (for 35 lari – about $20) and 48-hour passes for 55 lari, with family d...

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog