nd2712's review
5.0
I've never been to Hampstead Heath. I've never been to the Kenwood Ladies Pond. And yet, the way this collection of essays immortalizes this body of water - I feel like I have been there before. This book is best read (as I did) during hot days with a gentle breeze in the air, the promise of summer just around the corner. The words are as refreshing as I imagine the water to be, even when temperatures are sub-zero. I loved Daunt Books' other essay collection 'In The Kitchen: Essays on food and life' and so, with another hit, I'll be eagerly anticipating any further collections they publish.
justjacq's review
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
4.25
Feeling pretty bummed that I didn't have the chance to visit the Heath or the Ladies Pond when we were in England in April - this little collection of essays has fueled me to get there at some point in my life. This collection is so lovely. Just enough variety to keep things light, interesting, and engaging, but still very much connected by each woman's experience at the pond. It does a wonderful job showcasing the power of the female connection - how we are a community just by being. It talks of life changes, aging, love, and the catharsis that seems to be part of every woman's pond experience. It's a short read, and I think it would be the most lovely lake-side companion.
4.25/5⭐️s
4.25/5⭐️s
marleneayumi's review
4.0
'At the Pond' is a beautiful collection of essays written by a handful of predominantly women (and one non-binary individual) about their experiences, thoughts and memories attached to the Hampstead Ladies' Pond. Inevitably as the essays consisted of different writers, styles and angles- some were enjoyed more than others. London has been the place of my childhood and upbringing; the women's ponds being an intrinsic part of my childhood. Mention of Hampstead or the ponds in literature & film (e.g. One day) always fills me with nostalgia and a sense of home and belonging. In some essays in this collection I found a collective overlap in connections between others experiences and my own of the ponds. Some essays I found carried such a familiarity that the description became ineluctably palpable- this book I guess reiterated the dizzying amount of strangers that have probably experienced the exact same or similar feelings towards a place you consider so personal to you, that essentially I'm such a small part of such a big thing.
Some quotes I liked:
"A search for stillness, escape, a desire to overcome something, a need to prove one can."
"That pond holds a lot of tears"
"It's well known that swimming in cold water has physical benefits but there are others that are harder to define. Swimming past waterlilies and nesting ducks, breathing in the watermelon scent of the mud, sailing in slow breaststroke past weeping willows. It is all so different from the pounding lengths of a traditional pool where it is possible to drag your worries with you from one end to the other. Here, my sense of myself was altered, the cold too shocking to focus on sorrow and confusion when the useful thing was courage, and when my heart had steadied, and I realised I was not actually going to die, the exhilaration hit me and I felt dizzyingly grateful to be alive."
"You know summer is starting, with all the promise that brings. Until then, the cold is still there to be overcome. So, each week, I split into the deep. The ladder gets smaller and smaller as I close in on the line limit, and, as always, I eventually catch my breath."
"But after dark, as the thousands of women that have passed through the gate finally make their way home, as the pink sky turns to inky grey, as the surface of the Pond falls still and silent; that is when we take back our pond. As night falls, we slip into the water and swim out across the mirror. As the water turns black in the dimming light, we open our eyes beneath the surface and suddenly we're not swimmers anymore, but astronauts; star sailors. We are floating through a silky, thick black, as bottomless as the night sky."
"Drifting forward I can hear crickets, ducks, water, female voices low and indistinct, and something buzzing overhead. Behind my eyelids summertime unspools into its various sticky components."
"There's a wholesomely escapist quality to being at the pond."
"Why can't I reside happily in a happy ending? A woman swimming past gives me a smile. The atmosphere is so peaceful and lovely."
"Walking down the hill from the bus stop to the entrance of the Heath, I can see pale light edging out of the greenery."
"I want to come back here with my friends on hot, sunny days, but I also want to come back on my own and swim in the rain, be the only one in the water."
"Autumn this year means a quietening. The frenzied anxiety of the summer gives way to space, finally, something more contemplative."
"The Pond will be there for the next summer, whatever that brings, whatever my life looks like then."
Some quotes I liked:
"A search for stillness, escape, a desire to overcome something, a need to prove one can."
"That pond holds a lot of tears"
"It's well known that swimming in cold water has physical benefits but there are others that are harder to define. Swimming past waterlilies and nesting ducks, breathing in the watermelon scent of the mud, sailing in slow breaststroke past weeping willows. It is all so different from the pounding lengths of a traditional pool where it is possible to drag your worries with you from one end to the other. Here, my sense of myself was altered, the cold too shocking to focus on sorrow and confusion when the useful thing was courage, and when my heart had steadied, and I realised I was not actually going to die, the exhilaration hit me and I felt dizzyingly grateful to be alive."
"You know summer is starting, with all the promise that brings. Until then, the cold is still there to be overcome. So, each week, I split into the deep. The ladder gets smaller and smaller as I close in on the line limit, and, as always, I eventually catch my breath."
"But after dark, as the thousands of women that have passed through the gate finally make their way home, as the pink sky turns to inky grey, as the surface of the Pond falls still and silent; that is when we take back our pond. As night falls, we slip into the water and swim out across the mirror. As the water turns black in the dimming light, we open our eyes beneath the surface and suddenly we're not swimmers anymore, but astronauts; star sailors. We are floating through a silky, thick black, as bottomless as the night sky."
"Drifting forward I can hear crickets, ducks, water, female voices low and indistinct, and something buzzing overhead. Behind my eyelids summertime unspools into its various sticky components."
"There's a wholesomely escapist quality to being at the pond."
"Why can't I reside happily in a happy ending? A woman swimming past gives me a smile. The atmosphere is so peaceful and lovely."
"Walking down the hill from the bus stop to the entrance of the Heath, I can see pale light edging out of the greenery."
"I want to come back here with my friends on hot, sunny days, but I also want to come back on my own and swim in the rain, be the only one in the water."
"Autumn this year means a quietening. The frenzied anxiety of the summer gives way to space, finally, something more contemplative."
"The Pond will be there for the next summer, whatever that brings, whatever my life looks like then."
annick's review
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
3.5
Lots of underlining. I savoured this over two months. A variety of women writers, diverse in age, ethnicity, and sexuality.
i recommend
i recommend
luisachumy's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
4.5