Thanks for review copy ( )

Content Note: child sexual abuse

Plot:
Amanda grows up in New York in the 50s. Her best friends are Francine, the only other Jewish girl in her neighborhood, and her cousin Laura, even though she is a year younger than her. The summer brings her to the countryside, away from Francine, but closer to Laura. Navigating her friendship with those two girls is almost as difficult as navigating her family. As Mandy grows older, she encounters moments of betrayal, but also of true friendship and love.

Floating in the Neversink is an evocative novel that draws on Simon’s own childhood to ground it in a sense of realism that’s devoid of nostalgia. I really enjoyed it.

Read more on my blog: https://kalafudra.com/2020/02/29/floating-in-the-neversink-andrea-simon/ ( )

I won the E-book version.

I sank in the Neversink.

If you need a cathartic read to unlock memories of childhood sexual abuse, this book could be exactly what you’re looking for.

The story follows a Jewish girl from Brooklyn, where her biggest worry is keeping her best friend from being pulled into the Catholic girls’ social group, through several summers at a Jewish resort enclave by the “Neversink” river. There’s an old, name-never-spoken person to investigate, a lecherous uncle to avoid, and the main character’s desperation to collect and keep social connections that fill several years’ vacations.

I share a split school year/summer cottage background with the main character, but found her unsympathetic. Perhaps a greater emphasis on the nostalgia of summer cottage life would have helped me identify with Andrea Simon’s heroine. As it was, the dark thread of abuse, mysterious mental illness and a scandalous suicide felt far too heavy in this novel.

It’s probably unfair of me to expect Floating In The Neversink to delight me as did To Kill A Mockingbird. Still, I must have liked the writing enough to finish the book in a single day. It was descriptive and convincing enough to pull me into its world of hot summers and family intrigue. Not every author can do that on a cold, grey, snowy day. ( )