Jessica Andrews's "Saltwater"

Based on my blog content over the last few months, you'd think I'd given up on fiction, but I've recently resumed reading more novels. Some aspects of Jessica Andrews' debut 'Saltwater' reminded me a lot of Jessie Greengrass' 'Sight,' especially the visceral imagery about changing bodies and an emerging sense of self. Based on Andrews' life thus far, it appears that there is a strong element of autofiction in this coming-of-age story in which Lucy is navigating the world, from growing up in Sunderland to her student years in London to inheriting a cottage in Donegal from her grandfather after she graduates from university.

Lucy's journey is centered on her relationship with her mother and alcoholic father, as well as the consequences of their separation. Andrews' depiction of adolescent life in the mid-Noughties is flawless in terms of accuracy, atmosphere, and tone. It's a very specific era in which MSN and MySpace briefly dominated the Internet and predates smartphones and the pervasiveness of today's social media titans. This struck a chord with me, but that's probably because I'm only a few years older than Andrews and her main character, and I can strongly relate to the context, which few authors can recount with such authenticity. I'm also aware that I'm the prime target market for the new wave of female millennial authors - the generation destined to be dubbed "the new Sally Rooney" in the coming years - and I'm not sure how readers who aren't in this age range will react to it.

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It is unpreventable that Lucy's experience in London will be disappointing. By the time she arrives in the early 2010s, the indie scene she was obsessed with as a teenager has fallen out of favor. She struggles to connect with her peers at university, and her observations about class differences are spot on.

Overall, the fragmented prose style of 'Saltwater' results in a lack of narrative drive, but the vignettes themselves are very affecting, with an evocative sense of place. I'm excited to see what Andrews writes next. Thank you to Sceptre for providing me with a review copy of 'Saltwater' via NetGalley.







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