A review by minimicropup
The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Accusatory, sincere, jaded. 
 
We follow a social worker who spent summers and holidays at their grandmother’s gothic house with their sister as a child. Both their sister and father experienced periods of mania and depression but resisted medical intervention. Through therapy, our MC essentially learns to go “no contact” as much as possible, but after the drowning death of their sister they are forced to reexamine their decisions, family history, and complicated resentment held for their childhood and family situation. We also get a POV intermittently of their grandparent in the 1930s as they discovers the natural spring and healing. 🇺🇸 Set in the countryside and small towns of Vermont, USA 
 
🐺🐕Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags: 
There is a family history of drowning and a history of the site for tragedy, which forms the main plot and how the family developed around these truths/rumours. I'm not great at symbolism, but this felt like a very symbolic plot. 

The ending wasn’t bad but was definitely unexpected (to me). Not every thing is wrapped up
Spoilerwhat happened to Declan and his fam? Is every one really just  chilling in that house after what seems to have happened to TWO sisters??? And potential for more tragedy?? ahhhh!!!
 

Mood Reading Match Up: 
-Historical fiction + magical realism (preternatural healing) 
-Contemporary fiction about family history and mysteries
-Themes around mental illness and living/loving someone with mental illness 
-Supernatural ghost vibes and metaphors
 
Content Heads-Up: Mental illness rep (depression, mania; seems good in that they are more than just their struggles/condition). LGBTQ rep for later-in- life freedom/recognition. Suicidal ideation. Death of a sibling, death of a child (drowning/congenital condition). Self-medicating with alcohol. Trouble conceiving. Terminally ill child. 
 
Format: Paperback