Aquamarine

I read Aquamarine, by Alice Hoffman, yesterday. It felt great to read a whole book in a day, even if if was a young adult book. I bought it a while ago -- I think on one of my first forays into Book Corner. I debated a long time before buying it, but I couldn't resist -- the hardcover is outwardly beautiful, a great gift for a little girl, especially one who loves the ocean. Beautiful dust jacket and hardcover beneath. The visual theme throughout is of an old tile swimming pool, like the one I swam in at the Y when I was a kid. Like the one in the old Adult Swim commercials. I love pools like that. There are also pretty illustrations at the beginning of each chapter.

I actually think the writing could have been a little better -- I think the story loses a little in the young adult telling, but maybe its simplicity is a strength. I shudder to think of what the inevitably ham-handed movie version would add to ruin the story -- one look at imdb is enough for me. One of the things I love most about the book is its timelessness. The girls are twelve-year-olds who really feel like children, not like miniature adults. There's no mention of what either looks like, certainly not the clothes they wear or the material things they covet. All they want is to stay together and remain best friends, and the tension of the story is the fact that Claire's grandparents will be moving her to Florida at the end of the summer. The lack of specifics means these could be any girls, anywhere. But they're not faceless dolls -- the reader gets a strong sense of the essence of each girl, but not the outward appearance.

The story is so bittersweet -- the sweetness of the girls tempered with the bitter reality of their circumstances -- not only will Claire be moving, but the beach club where they have spent all their summers is about to be torn down. Hoffman doesn't shrink away from this reality, and the ending seems appropriate, inevitable. Yes, they meet this mermaid, and she is beautifully described and her love interest is a great guy, painted well in just a few words by Hoffman. But the mermaid thing is almost beside the point. All that's necessary to make this a really good book is that bittersweet end-of-summer, end-of-an-era feeling. I'm looking forward to reading more of Hoffman's stuff. (Nancy Pearl says you can't go wrong with reading the Alices -- Alice Munro, Alice McDermott, Alice Sebold, Alice Hoffman, Alice Walker.)