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properthievery's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
smittenforfiction's review against another edition
4.0
Turning: a year in the water is a beautiful, extremely unique, autobiographical nature-memoir written by Jessica Lee. It will be released May 2nd, 2017. The publisher kindly sent me a complementary digital proof copy for review. Read my review here: https://amandadroverhartwick.wordpress.com/2017/04/08/turning-a-year-in-the-water-bookreview-spoilerfree
nina_rod's review against another edition
3.0
This book took a long time for me to read. I started it months ago and read about the authors plan to swim 52 lakes around Berlin in a year. We have a similar challenge in Washington where hikers will try to do 52 hikes in a year. The woman formulated her plan in the summer. She would do a similar journey through Berlin, following the author Fontane, some obscure-to-me 18 century German nature author. Um, okay.
But then she flashbacked to her swimming journey before this challenge. She talked about Canadian summers and Florida winters. But I was confused when I read about her snowy swim in Halifax. Wait, I thought it was summer. After a few chapters of summer and into the fall, I abandoned this dumb book.
But then as my seasons changed, I thought… how is this woman doing on her swimming journey? So I picked up the book again. In the fall, she talked about how she ended up in Germany… working on a dissertation for her degree in I forgot. And how she is bad at love.
What I really was here for was winter. She talked a bit about the cold of swimming, but not why she loves cold swimming or anything like that, it’s a mystery why she does what she does as she carries a hammer in her bag to pound through the ice of frozen lakes. Lakes in Germany have the ending “see.” So lakes like Buckowsee or Mechensee. All through summer and fall of her journey, I guessed that see was the German word for lake. The author finally explains its entomology as see… the lakes are as big as the sea.
And once again the author explains things very late in the book. The whole fucking year she is traveling in and around and outside of Berlin and Brandenburg. But she finally talks about east and west German history and reunification in the last section of the book, spring. I really felt like Berlin was the elephant in the room that she finally addressed at the end of her swimming memoir. I also assumed lakes were pretty small. But at one point a freighter passes by her, and i thought i really don’t know lakes at all.
So yeah… I have lots of thoughts about this book.
But then she flashbacked to her swimming journey before this challenge. She talked about Canadian summers and Florida winters. But I was confused when I read about her snowy swim in Halifax. Wait, I thought it was summer. After a few chapters of summer and into the fall, I abandoned this dumb book.
But then as my seasons changed, I thought… how is this woman doing on her swimming journey? So I picked up the book again. In the fall, she talked about how she ended up in Germany… working on a dissertation for her degree in I forgot. And how she is bad at love.
What I really was here for was winter. She talked a bit about the cold of swimming, but not why she loves cold swimming or anything like that, it’s a mystery why she does what she does as she carries a hammer in her bag to pound through the ice of frozen lakes. Lakes in Germany have the ending “see.” So lakes like Buckowsee or Mechensee. All through summer and fall of her journey, I guessed that see was the German word for lake. The author finally explains its entomology as see… the lakes are as big as the sea.
And once again the author explains things very late in the book. The whole fucking year she is traveling in and around and outside of Berlin and Brandenburg. But she finally talks about east and west German history and reunification in the last section of the book, spring. I really felt like Berlin was the elephant in the room that she finally addressed at the end of her swimming memoir. I also assumed lakes were pretty small. But at one point a freighter passes by her, and i thought i really don’t know lakes at all.
So yeah… I have lots of thoughts about this book.
cmwilliams29's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed this book. I love the way she talks about swimming and the feeling of being in water, particularly cold water. She is so honest about her process of grieving and dealing with heartbreak by attempting to find solace and comfort in the lakes around Berlin. I found it relatable and beautiful to read.
thebacklistborrower's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
Like most in Canada, I grew up lake swimming. In mountainous BC, this resulted in few options: small, high-altitude lakes like Nancy Greene and Champion, large glacier-fed lakes like the Slocan and Kootenay Lakes, and the “warmest tree-lined lake in Canada,” Christina Lake (citation needed, but never, ever found XD). But this has been limited to the warm summer months.
At 28, Lee found herself pursuing a degree in Berlin, and struggling. In Turning, we learn her mixed history with swimming and lakes, but also her determination to swim 52 lakes near Berlin in an effort to help her anxiety, and her heartbreak, and improve her self-confidence. “Turning” is a reference to the lifecycle of a lake through the year -- the warm water at the top in summer, how it sinks and mixes through the fall to freeze in the winter, and then mixes again through the spring. Framed around these four stages and seasons, Jessica’s mental and physical health transforms as well, as she jumps in lake after lake, season by season, traversing blistering summer heat and breaking through ice.
I love Lee’s writing style. The combination of human and natural history, entwined with her own personal history, makes for a very interesting, yet still relaxing read. Her descriptions of the different water on her body throughout the year were intriguing and inspiring, prompting me to push the limits of my comfort zone, dunking in colder water, later in the year than I previously had.
There’s a large community of lake dunkers around Nelson (impressive, as Kootenay Lake is thrillingly cold at the best of times), and I already have a queue of people to loan this book to.
Having caught up on Lee’s books, I now have to eagerly wait for spring 2024 for her next book to be published: Dispersals: On Plants, Borders, and Belonging. Can’t wait!