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Ray is ensnared by the mysterious power of the fish and is forced to follow his command. It takes him on a journey from the upper regions of Canada down to Portland, Oregon. They are joined by a wandering army, the last of a resistance to an Alien attack.
Ray’s daughter and son, Viv and Primo, watch airplanes fall out of the sky and assume their parents have died in the wreck. As they return home, they realize that time has stopped (or has it fast forwarded?) and all that is left of their neighborhood is dilapidated houses and mad dogs who have taken over.
The story mainly follows Viv’s journey as she fights crazed monkeys, dogs and the mysterious X that has appeared on the horizon. Despite the exciting first few pages, the story seems to jump from one plot point to the next and doesn’t have a clear destination. Is she trying to destroy X? Or is she just trying to survive? Or is she trying to find love?
This books seems to have everything, from lesbian lovers, to an alien exhibition where aliens choose hosts and display them like those cat shows that come to town. Not especially well written, this futuristic Sci-fi has more than one or two sentence structures that make a reader wince. Or maybe that was supposed to be artistic? It’s hard to say since most of the time you really have no idea what is going on.
As a whole, the story is promising. If I just read a dust jacket, I would probably pick it up. It promises a cheesy, gruesome novel. Aliens, mind controlling fish, end of humanity, what’s not to love? The author, however, did not flush the story out enough or give enough details to keep the reader going, let alone interested. The characters were not endearing or even hate worthy. By the end I was pretty indifferent to their fates.
On the whole I would rate Time is the Water in Which We Swim a 2 out of 4. It wasn't really my cup of tea. There was a lot of unnecessary swearing and the various quotes of rap songs, intended as a joke, kind of left me scratching my head. But if aliens and “Let’s Get Retarded” are your thing, you may enjoy this book.
***
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