I listened to this book while walking and finished it in a few days. The words were rhythmic and lyrical—comforting sometimes and disturbing at others. The beginning was about the anonymity of a group of daily swimmers. They came from all walks of life and had one significant commonality—swimming laps in the underground pool.
The routine and regularity of swimming suddenly stopped when a crack developed in the pool, and the pool permanently closed. The crack was symbolic for all involved, especially one of the swimmers, Alice, whose equilibrium went awry. Her dementia advanced, and we hear from her daughter how she becomes unrecognizable in Belavista, a “long-term, for-profit memory residence.” In the facility, Alice experienced a different kind of routine; anonymity overtakes her life. Euphemisms and platitudes are vernacular. Yet, in poetic language, the author describes Alice’s life events that she does remember, and she certainly remembers how her daughter distanced herself from her.
