Reviews

Unter Wasser atmen: Storys by Julie Orringer

lizard1508's review against another edition

1.0

DNF. These stories are all incredibly sad and none seem to have even the slightest bit of an uplifting or happy ending. Made it about halfway through them and just cannot finish.

evil_enjoyer's review against another edition

5.0

Like a beautiful, numbing punch in the gut, like a dark lake in a dark forest. I cannot recommend enough, and I can't overstate how I connected with these stories and this language.

yeagleyreads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

jstein8283's review against another edition

3.0

Series of sweet and sometimes disturbing stories. Relatable but I think reading the stories back to back made the style lose its sense of originality. That being said, I'm glad to have read it and hope this author writes a novel some day.

readingwithgoose's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I think the last story could've been left out, and I would've liked it much better. I think the idea/theme of the last story had already been explored in earlier stories in this collection, and they did a better job of it. 
Overall, some strong coming-of-age stories in here. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

freshlimetime_'s review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

buttercupita's review against another edition

4.0

Every one of the 9 stories -- all featuring young girls or adolescents -- is fully immersive, and, aside from the first one (that just felt too creepy), poignant.

90saddict87's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

4.25

pbandjamie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional

3.5

The Isabel Fish messed me UP

sienaro's review against another edition

2.0

Why must short story collections all be like this?? Mostly depressing, but occasionally funny, but then mostly depressing. I think the majority of this story was rape, also murder, suicide, and more rape. It was actually too predictable to even be depressing by the second or third story because every few paragraphs, someone else was raped or murdered.

To name a few highlights:
-3 deaths that were too gruesome to read
-countless children without parents
-16+ drug addicts
-9 awful (mostly abusive) boyfriends
-2 chapters that I fell asleep halfway through

Great read if you love being disappointed.