Swimming in the Ocean

Britta Santowski is a freelance writer in Victoria.

Swimming in the Ocean is a dip into the life and mind of an unnamed
female narrator. Physically, she is on a Caribbean holiday; mentally,
she is reviewing a litany of lovers and seeking her own identity. This
work of fiction is divided into seven sections, each one representing a
segment of the narrator’s personal life and growth.

This is a poetically written narrative, quite different from
traditional storytelling. It tells the story of one woman’s arrival
into her own skin, having first had to traverse a very difficult
landscape of relationships that include physical and psychological
abuse.

The stories in the first half of the book travel from damaging young
love toward progressively more abusive relationships. The focus is on
“you,” the man of the moment, who holds the narrator’s identity
and self-worth in his palm. As the abuse intensifies, her own identity
almost drowns. Then, in the second half, the “self” starts to
extract herself from “you.” The self re-emerges from a messy life
that includes an abortion, a close call with AIDS, and a brush with
death. “You” morphs into “he,” and a more healthy distance
between self and the man is established. Reclaiming her own self enables
the narrator to make this distinction.

This uniquely written novel is impressionistic and an excellent foray
into the depths of another person’s life.