Under Water by Tara Menon review – love, loss and a longing for the ocean
#Tara Menon #Under Water #novel #ocean #grief #healing #memory
📌 Key Takeaways
- The novel 'Under Water' by Tara Menon explores themes of love and loss.
- It centers on a protagonist's deep emotional connection to the ocean.
- The story intertwines personal grief with a yearning for the sea.
- Menon's work is a reflective narrative on healing and memory.
📖 Full Retelling
<p>This debut about female friendship and environmental fragility set after the 2004 tsunami in Thailand is strong on grief, but the storytelling remains uneven</p><p>The underlying themes of this debut novel could hardly be more relevant. Marissa is working as a travel writer without leaving her desk, coining gleaming descriptions of untouched beaches for tourists. But as she does so, her mind runs on darker paths. She is living in New York while it braces for Hurrica
🏷️ Themes
Love, Loss, Ocean
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Review Under Water by Tara Menon review – love, loss and a longing for the ocean This debut about female friendship and environmental fragility set after the 2004 tsunami in Thailand is strong on grief, but the storytelling remains uneven T he underlying themes of this debut novel could hardly be more relevant. Marissa is working as a travel writer without leaving her desk, coining gleaming descriptions of untouched beaches for tourists. But as she does so, her mind runs on darker paths. She is living in New York while it braces for Hurricane Sandy, and as the wind rises she remembers being caught up in the horrors of the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. She grieves for the beauty of the ocean that she knew then, and the fate of her beloved friend Arielle. Loss, love, environmental fragility, female friendship: I was ready to plunge into the waves of this novel, to swim with its currents of grief and longing. But while I found myself at times drawn in to the narrative, at others I was distanced by Menon’s style, which is deliberately fragmented but also disappointingly uneven. The book’s emotional centre lies with Marissa’s past relationship with Arielle. Who is Arielle, the girl whom Marissa loves and grieves so fiercely? She is Marissa’s perfect friend from her very first day at school in Thailand: a wonderful diver, spectacular at football, incredibly brave, perfectly beautiful. The problem with perfect people is that they can become a little boring, particularly if they repeat themselves. This is a short book, so the repetitions are noticeable. “She rolls her eyes at me,” when Marissa tells Arielle not to scratch a bite; “Arielle rolled her eyes at me, and I tried not to laugh,” when she is communicating her scepticism about a stranger’s joke; Arielle “rolls her eyes” again when a man tries to pick her up; indeed, at their very first meeting, when they are seven, Arielle “rolled her eyes with the practice of a teenager”. Other characters similarly signal their emotions...
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