S. K. Perry

Young Holly has moved to the beach in Brighton, England from London to grieve for Sam, her boyfriend. She meets a remarkably supportive group of troubled people. The hub of the group is Frank, a magician and baker in his 70's, who is grieving for his lover. Rosemary who teaches Holly how to cook, grieves her young son.

Along with her own family, Sam's family, the beach, this wonderful group all move Holly in a positive direction. But Danny learns that grief can not be rushed.

This novel is a good read demonstrating the critical need humans have for friends, connections, love and support.… (mais)

The cover drew me to this book and when I read the synopsis I thought it sounded like a good story. I had high hopes for this book. It sounded like it was going to be a great story but I was disappointed in the end. It was just an okay read. The main character got on my nerves a lot of the time. Understandably, she is grieving the loss of her boyfriend. However, she is not nice a lot of the time. She never really thanks anyone for being there for her or helping her. She constantly takes from everyone without ever giving back. She is selfish and immature. I felt that her character was kind of flat throughout the story. The main character was my biggest issue with this book. It was just meh for me.… (mais)

This book explores the deep grief of a young woman who lost her boyfriend of five years. Bits and pieces of their life together and about their relationship are shared as she moves forward in life – albeit somewhat reluctantly. She has moved out of London to get away from the memories and to Brighton where she spends her days staring at the sea. It is there she is befriended by an older gentleman who starts her re-entry into the land of the living.

Her new friend is a magician and he manages to produce the perfect bit of fantasia just when needed the most. I was never quite sure if he was a bit of magical realism or not – sometimes when I wander outside of my normal reading I find the books a bit over my head. That was the case here. Nonetheless this man becomes our young lady’s new center. He invites her to join the local book club which introduces her to a group of people he has brought together. They all were “found” just like she and all were just a little bit lost.

I am not completely sure how I feel about this book. I can’t say I identified with the young woman. She behaved in ways that I found decidedly stupid. I am of a wildly different generation and I know that this often affects how I react to novels. I try to balance that reaction with how the writing, plot, etc. come together.

This book was written in exceptionally short chapters if they could even be called chapters. Each series of paragraphs moves around in time slowly giving peaks into the life of our young lady before and after the death of her great love. She is also trying to understand some basics about their relationship as she mourns his loss. The overwhelming feeling as you read the book is a heavy sadness that really never lifts. This makes it hard to say, “oh wow I really enjoyed this book.” There are limited moments where the sadness breaks and light enters and it’s like you can breathe again.

Was I happy I read it? I’m not sure. I am honestly not sure.… (mais)

I am most myself near the water. It makes me feel whole. So I am not surprised by Holly, the main character in S. K. Perry's lovely novel Let Me Be Like Water, moving to Brighton by the sea after a terrible and unexpected loss. Water is soothing, comforting. It holds you without pressure. It lets you slip beneath it for quiet solitude but it also buoys you up when you need it.

Holly's boyfriend of 5 years has died and she misses him desperately. She moves to Brighton to escape the memories she holds of him and the two of them together in London, thinking that she doesn't need or want to be around people. One day while she is sitting on a bench at the seaside, Frank, a retired magician in his seventies, tells her that she's dropped her keys. Frank is a gentle and encouraging man who has his own past loss, that of his long time partner, Ian. As Holly and Frank become friends, he introduces her to his book club and his other friends, all of whom have their own pain and who have also benefited from Frank's generous magic. Holly opens up to these new people in her life by the smallest degrees, saddened that they will never know the wonderful soul who was Sam. She alternately craves company and then retreats alone into the gaping hole she carries in her heart. And these supportive and empathetic people allow her to grieve with the space she needs but still being there when she needs them.

The novel is told in short chapters, some telling of Holly's hollowed out grief and deep sadness, sharing pieces of her relationship with Sam, the wonderful bits as well as the small annoyances that make up a real and honest relationship, and some telling of her attempts to build a life without a vital piece of her heart. Holly's grief is absolutely palpable. She is broken but trying to hold onto hope. She is confused by the times she feels happiness even though she wants to stop being so flattened by loss. She craves connection even though she wants to curl up alone. She will always love Sam but she must keep living. Perry has done a masterful job capturing the capricious unpredictability of grief. Readers will feel great sympathy for Holly, crying with her, knowing, like her, that her bright forever love ended prematurely. And everyone will want a Frank in their lives, with his gentle understanding, his quiet magic tricks, and his embracing personality. The dreamy first person narration lets the reader know when Holly is completely underwater and when she is keeping her head above the waves. This book is heartbreaking and haunting, a staggeringly beautiful look at loss and grief and moving forward that first year, no matter how slowly that is or how many missteps there might be along the way.… (mais)