Dreadfully long

The book takes place across the span of a weeks. You find out the main character is gay, a drug addict, his mom dies, he’s constipated, he loses his job and decides to go to rehab. That’s the whole book, I just saved you 9+ hours of your life. The narrator was great the story was dreadful.

5 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Coincidental and pretty decently deep

So, I started this thinking it would be a melatonin substitute . I was wrong . It’s very intensely written and there is a lot of depth into a family that most people don’t know , Chinese .
Here’s the coincidental , at least to me . I lived as a child in Monterey Park (1835 Hollyoak Dr. ). I went to St Stephens school and church . When I was a child the only Asians on our block , neighborhood even , were Japanese Americans . We moved from there to Abajo Dr in late 1968. I had lived there since I was 2. Then , we moved to Taiwan . Not a Cantonese enclave by any means but I learned the language(mandarin and minan) and was immersed in the culture .
Apologies if this strayed from a review of sorts but it was a meaningful read for me . Anyone can relate to family dynamics , even dysfunctional aspects . If you can’t relate to the disease of addiction this isn’t a bad insight to that nightmare as well .

4 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Incredible Debut Novel

SWIM is a fantastic debut novel from Wat. It’s a frank and honest look at the nuances of family life, as well as a very authentic look at addiction. The narrator is fantastic too! His grasp of the voice of each character is truly incredible. But, my favorite aspect of this book is his true-to-life depiction of life in the San Gabriel Valley section of Los Angeles. Wat captures San Gabriel Valley the same way Michael Connelly is able to capture the “real” Los Angeles/Hollywood in his Harry Bosch books. I’m looking forward to future books from this new, upcoming author.

3 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Wow

Excellently written story hunting characters and storylines definitely wish there was more the ending was definitely not what I expected but trust me that’s a good thing

3 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Excellent

I normally do not give full book reviews, and must admit even 4-5⭐️ books have not held my attention. This was refreshing with a jarring look into addiction, obligatory family ties, romantic relationships, career and even peeking into another culture was something I have not experienced in a book in a long time…Highly recommend.

1 persona l'ha trovata utile

Amazing listen!

The story was heartfelt as well as very life like. The family is a normal family with real life issues such as death, drug abuse and cheating. Love the author and the audiobook actor!

1 persona l'ha trovata utile

Multilayered Simplicity

Swim by Eric C. Wat caught me by surprise. I chose to listen to this book because an app recommended it to me, it had an interesting synopsis, I liked the cover art, and it was short. Then I heard the opening sequence which is explicit, gay sex. I was exasperated and sad. Why did the app recommend this book to me? However, the characters lived in places that I knew, and their culture and family were interesting to me, and so I kept reading.

I am torn about this because it is an excellent book that only got better as it went along and I would love for it to reach a much broader audience.

On the other hand, I am also very supportive of diversity in books and I understand the importance of amplifying many voices and their stories. It is also very important for more people to learn about addiction as it actually occurs in real life. Many addicts like the one in the book are highly functioning, especially in their careers.

The dichotomy between the main character’s life on his own and his life within his multigenerational family is the heart of the book and provides its richness and challenge.

The author clearly knows the San Gabriel Valley, Monterey Park and other areas of Southern California very well. I would recommend this book to readers who can perceive and enjoy nuisance, multidimensional intergenerational stories and for whom diverse stories resonate. I would not recommend this book to anyone who can’t see nuisance and I would also not recommend this book to anyone who is disturbed by explicit sex scenes.

The narration performance by Feodor Chin is excellent. His command of his voice and his ability to portray each of the characters strengthens and enhances the impact of the story.

Ultimately, I was glad I chose to listen to this book, because warts and all, it was a very humane story about the many forms of love and ultimately respect.

1 persona l'ha trovata utile

Stupid

I’m not gonna rant on and on here, I’m just going to say this needs to be labeled under lgbt

Not impressed

The story was slow and drawn out. The descriptions were longer than necessary and sometimes hard to follow. Was really hard to push through it.

not what I expected

left me looking for conclusions we dont get... so many untied loose ends but overall a nice read. Glad it was free.