Reviews
"Once per decade we are graced with a new book by Otsuka, the award-winning author of 2012's The Buddha in the Attic and 2003's When The Emperor Was Divine . This year's novel starts as a catalogue of spoken and unspoken rules for swimmers at an aquatic center but unfolds into a powerful story of a mother's dementia and her daughter's love. If Otsuka doesn't write another novel for several years, it will be okay. This is one to be savored and reread." -Becky Meloan, The Washington Post "A quick and tender story of a group of swimmers who cope with the disruption of their routines in various ways . . . Otsuka cleverly uses various points of view: the swimmers' first-person-plural narration effectively draws the reader into their world, while the second person keenly conveys the experiences of Alice's daughter, who tries to recoup lost time with her mother after Alice loses hold of her memories and moves into a memory care facility. It's a brilliant and disarming dive into the characters' inner worlds." - Publishers Weekly [starred review] "Distinguished best-selling novelist Otsuka's ( Buddha in the Attic ) latest is an introspective work that examines life's journeys from a multitude of perspectives . . . Otsuka's spare, dreamlike writing offers readers a deeply touching exploration of the impact on Alice's Japanese American family (particularly her daughter) of caring for a loved one with dementia. Otsuka is noteworthy for her skilled storytelling and her ability to immerse readers in her characters' emotional journeys. Essential reading for those already familiar with Otsuka's work; those who haven't read her are likely to be duly impressed." -Shirley Quan, Library Journal [starred review] "Award-winning, best-selling Otsuka is averaging one book per decade, making each exquisite title exponentially more precious. Here she creates a stupendous collage of small moments that results in an extraordinary examination of the fragility of quotidian human relationships . . . Once more, Otsuka creates an elegiac, devastating masterpiece." - Booklist [starred review] "Having concentrated on one family in her first novel, then eschewed individual protagonists for a collective 'we' in her second, Otsuka now blends the two approaches, shifting from an almost impersonal, wide-lens view of society to an increasingly narrow focus on a specific mother-daughter relationship . . . The combination of social satire with an intimate portrait of loss and grief is stylistically ambitious and deeply moving." - Kirkus Reviews [starred review], "A quick and tender story of a group of swimmers who cope with the disruption of their routines in various ways . . . Otsuka cleverly uses various points of view: the swimmers' first-person-plural narration effectively draws the reader into their world, while the second person keenly conveys the experiences of Alice's daughter, who tries to recoup lost time with her mother after Alice loses hold of her memories and moves into a memory care facility. It's a brilliant and disarming dive into the characters' inner worlds." - Publishers Weekly [starred review] "Distinguished best-selling novelist Otsuka's ( Buddha in the Attic ) latest is an introspective work that examines life's journeys from a multitude of perspectives . . . Otsuka's spare, dreamlike writing offers readers a deeply touching exploration of the impact on Alice's Japanese American family (particularly her daughter) of caring for a loved one with dementia. Otsuka is noteworthy for her skilled storytelling and her ability to immerse readers in her characters' emotional journeys. Essential reading for those already familiar with Otsuka's work; those who haven't read her are likely to be duly impressed." -Shirley Quan, Library Journal [starred review] "Award-winning, best-selling Otsuka is averaging one book per decade, making each exquisite title exponentially more precious. Here she creates a stupendous collage of small moments that results in an extraordinary examination of the fragility of quotidian human relationships . . . Once more, Otsuka creates an elegiac, devastating masterpiece." - Booklist [starred review] "Having concentrated on one family in her first novel, then eschewed individual protagonists for a collective 'we' in her second, Otsuka now blends the two approaches, shifting from an almost impersonal, wide-lens view of society to an increasingly narrow focus on a specific mother-daughter relationship . . . The combination of social satire with an intimate portrait of loss and grief is stylistically ambitious and deeply moving." - Kirkus Reviews [starred review], "Having concentrated on one family in her first novel, then eschewed individual protagonists for a collective 'we' in her second, Otsuka now blends the two approaches, shifting from an almost impersonal, wide-lens view of society to an increasingly narrow focus on a specific mother-daughter relationship . . . The combination of social satire with an intimate portrait of loss and grief is stylistically ambitious and deeply moving." - Kirkus Reviews [starred review], "Otsuka's prose is powerfully subdued: She builds lists and litanies that appear unassuming, even quotidian, until the paragraph comes to an end, and you find yourself stunned by what she has managed, your throat tight with the beautiful detail . . . This is a novel of not just accumulation, but repetition, scenes looping in the way that the mind does, or the way swimmers swim laps. Compounded, these accretions build to an incredible feeling of loss, and too-late-ness . . . In a time of monotony and chaos, when death is as concrete as it is unimaginable, and when cracks can and do appear in the pool for no discernible reason, The Swimmers is an exquisite companion." -Rachel Khong, The New York Times Book Review "Once per decade we are graced with a new book by Otsuka, the award-winning author of 2012's The Buddha in the Attic and 2003's When The Emperor Was Divine . This year's novel starts as a catalogue of spoken and unspoken rules for swimmers at an aquatic center but unfolds into a powerful story of a mother's dementia and her daughter's love. If Otsuka doesn't write another novel for several years, it will be okay. This is one to be savored and reread." -Becky Meloan, The Washington Post "A quick and tender story of a group of swimmers who cope with the disruption of their routines in various ways . . . Otsuka cleverly uses various points of view: the swimmers' first-person-plural narration effectively draws the reader into their world, while the second person keenly conveys the experiences of Alice's daughter, who tries to recoup lost time with her mother after Alice loses hold of her memories and moves into a memory care facility. It's a brilliant and disarming dive into the characters' inner worlds." - Publishers Weekly [starred review] "Distinguished best-selling novelist Otsuka's ( Buddha in the Attic ) latest is an introspective work that examines life's journeys from a multitude of perspectives . . . Otsuka's spare, dreamlike writing offers readers a deeply touching exploration of the impact on Alice's Japanese American family (particularly her daughter) of caring for a loved one with dementia. Otsuka is noteworthy for her skilled storytelling and her ability to immerse readers in her characters' emotional journeys. Essential reading for those already familiar with Otsuka's work; those who haven't read her are likely to be duly impressed." -Shirley Quan, Library Journal [starred review] "Award-winning, best-selling Otsuka is averaging one book per decade, making each exquisite title exponentially more precious. Here she creates a stupendous collage of small moments that results in an extraordinary examination of the fragility of quotidian human relationships . . . Once more, Otsuka creates an elegiac, devastating masterpiece." - Booklist [starred review] "Having concentrated on one family in her first novel, then eschewed individual protagonists for a collective 'we' in her second, Otsuka now blends the two approaches, shifting from an almost impersonal, wide-lens view of society to an increasingly narrow focus on a specific mother-daughter relationship . . . The combination of social satire with an intimate portrait of loss and grief is stylistically ambitious and deeply moving." - Kirkus Reviews [starred review], "Award-winning, best-selling Otsuka is averaging one book per decade, making each exquisite title exponentially more precious. Here she creates a stupendous collage of small moments that results in an extraordinary examination of the fragility of quotidian human relationships . . . Once more, Otsuka creates an elegiac, devastating masterpiece." - Booklist [starred review] "Having concentrated on one family in her first novel, then eschewed individual protagonists for a collective 'we' in her second, Otsuka now blends the two approaches, shifting from an almost impersonal, wide-lens view of society to an increasingly narrow focus on a specific mother-daughter relationship . . . The combination of social satire with an intimate portrait of loss and grief is stylistically ambitious and deeply moving." - Kirkus Reviews [starred review]
