Dan's Book Review:

Swim To Me

By Karma Hope

Betsy Carter regales us again with her delightful new novel, Swim to Me. With the wry humor and ability to see triumph in despair that made her memoir Nothing to Fall Back On a bestseller, Carter has once again established herself as a writer of whom to take note. Carter is no novice in the literary world. She has served as editor for Esquire, Newsweek, & Harper's Bazaar and is currently a contributing editor for O: Oprah's Magazine. Carter has also written two other books and regularly writes for Good Housekeeping, AARP, and New York. The author has mastered the ability to take real life, with all its warts, and craft beautifully written stories that poignantly touch the reader. Carter's aptitude for human understanding is exceptionally evident in her latest work.

With wonder and awe, young Delores Walker watches the mermaids of Weeki Wachee Springs create their underwater magic, yearning to join their elite sisterhood. In a moment of rare familial concord, Roy Walker lifts his daughter high above his head, creating a predestined view of Delores' natural ability to enthrall an audience. This moment will mark Delores, forever changing her embryonic view of who she could be.

Carter creates a rich story filled with lifelike characters and personal understanding. In a small, dingy apartment in the Bronx, the author aptly defines the misery of this defective family. Yelling, door slamming, food throwing and fights ensue that even the arrival of baby brother Westie cannot tame. After an unfortunate liver episode, dad walks out - and doesn't come back. Delores finds herself in Florida again, only this time as a mermaid. She arrives, a gangly adolescent with large feet and buckteeth, but somehow transforms herself into Delores Taurus - savvy, beautiful, charismatic star. Carter leads the reader on an enjoyable journey from girlhood to adulthood, from abandonment to self creation, and to falsehoods that somewhere along the way become truths.

The reader comes to care about the group of self-described misfits that make up the cast of Weeki Wachee. Carter's characters echo with realism, often reminding the reader of "that kid" we remember from high school. Combining teenage stereotypes and typical human commonalities, Carter manages to produce the lifelike experience of knowing someone, yet only glimpsing the true person beneath the carefully manufactured facade. Much to her credit, the writer brings ordinary people to life while surprising us with the often discrepant choices they make and still manages to maintain the integrity of the character's personality.

The bond between Delores and her mother, like so many mother/daughter relationships, is fraught with resentment, hostility and jealousy. Yet, they need each other, becoming incomplete without the template upon which their family is based. Delores wonders at her parents, "...how is it possible for two people to write misery all over each other the way these two people had done?" A family crumbles, each going in a different direction, reinventing themselves - finding in the discovery, the truth. Mingling mermaids, circus performers, fashion magazines and hurricanes, Carter creates an astonishingly believable story amid the extraordinary.

This book was truly enjoyable to read. Carter uses wit and humor to address a difficult time in many girls' lives. She explores intricate family dynamics, workplace struggles and personal evolvement with charm and, many times, absurdity. Swim to Me is an exquisite exploration of loss, discovering the human ability to overcome defeat, and finding victory over complacency. This reviewer would recommend the book to anyone as a wonderful way to spend a weekend. Laugh, cry and most importantly, enjoy this well-written glimpse of life. May we all have the vision to "recreate" and become who we most truly are.

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