Synopsis -
Lifelong swimmer and Olympic hopeful Lidia Yuknavitch accepts a college swimming scholarship in Texas in order to escape an abusive father and an alcoholic, suicidal mother. After losing her scholarship to drugs and alcohol, Lidia moves to Eugene and enrolls in the University of Oregon, where she is accepted by Ken Kesey to become one of thirteen graduate students who collaboratively write the novel Caverns with him. Drugs and alcohol continue to flow along with bisexual promiscuity and the discovery of S&M helps ease Lidia’s demons. Ultimately Lidia’s career as a writer and teacher combined with the love of her husband and son replace the earlier chaos that was her life.
Review -
One reviewer declared, "This is not your mothers memoir," and I have to agree. The author moves through her story uniquely, sharing thoughts and events in an order that feels right to her. I think it is important to note for anyone interested in reading this story to understand it is very dark at times. There is trauma, destructive behavior and frank descriptions of sexuality and sexual encounters. I would not take them out as they are a part of the fabric that created who she is, but it won't be to everyone's taste.
Yuknavitch struggled in a dysfunctional family, finding solace in the water. The pool was not only her place of refuge, she had the talent and drive to become a high-level competitor - even earning a scholarship to university. But the trauma of her childhood drew her into the world or partying, promiscuity, alcohol and then drugs. I am amazed reading her storying that she found her way out, and that even while finding her way out, she kept her connection to writing and education.
This is a raw and hard to read story that dives deep into how family dysfunction develops over time - an never ending downward spiral that creates deep trauma in a child. It explores sexuality with a wider lens, the dark hold of grief, the lure of drugs to deal with pain, what drives self-destructive behaviors, and despite all that, the ability of the human spirit to heal. A hard read, but one that offers so much insight to the human condition.
Buy the Book: Amazon CA ~ Amazon US
Meet the Author -
Lidia Yuknavitch is the National Bestselling author of four novels: Thrust, The Book of Joan, Dora: A Headcase, and The Small Backs of Children, winner of the 2016 Oregon Book Awards Ken Kesey Award for Fiction as well as the OBA Reader's Choice Award. She has also published a critical book on war and narrative, Allegories Of Violence (Routledge). The Misfit's Manifesto, a book based on her recent TED Talk, was published by TED Books in 2017. Verge, a collection of short fiction, was released in 2020. Her widely acclaimed memoir The Chronology of Water was a finalist for a PEN Center USA award for creative nonfiction and winner of a PNBA Award and the Oregon Book Award Reader's Choice. Her newest memoir, Reading the Waves, was published by Riverhead books in 2025.
She has also had writing appear in publications including Guernica Magazine, Ms., The Iowa Review, Zyzzyva, Another Chicago Magazine, The Sun, Exquisite Corpse, TANK, and in the anthologies Life As We Show It (City Lights), Wreckage of Reason (Spuytin Duyvil), Forms at War (FC2), Feminaissance (Les Figues Press), and Representing Bisexualities (SUNY), as well as online at The Rumpus.
She founded the workshop series Corporeal Writing in Portland Oregon, where she teaches both in person and online. She received her doctorate in Literature from the University of Oregon. She is a very good swimmer.
She has also had writing appear in publications including Guernica Magazine, Ms., The Iowa Review, Zyzzyva, Another Chicago Magazine, The Sun, Exquisite Corpse, TANK, and in the anthologies Life As We Show It (City Lights), Wreckage of Reason (Spuytin Duyvil), Forms at War (FC2), Feminaissance (Les Figues Press), and Representing Bisexualities (SUNY), as well as online at The Rumpus.
She founded the workshop series Corporeal Writing in Portland Oregon, where she teaches both in person and online. She received her doctorate in Literature from the University of Oregon. She is a very good swimmer.
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