THE DROWNERS Book Review

The Drowners by David A. Anderson, eBook, 350 pages

Synopsis from GoodReads: For Aaron, this world is an unfathomable puzzle. Haunted by disturbing dreams, he drifts through empty days, shielding himself behind sarcasm and cynical wit. After being expelled, he sees an opportunity to rewrite his future at a new school. Connecting over a shared love for De Niro films with Robbie, an aspiring actor of Jamaican descent, he unexpectedly finds his companion piece, one person who truly understands him. Together, they navigate the chaotic waters of adolescence, from dramatic first dates to sociopathic bullies, iconic concerts, drugs, and a dead body.

With adulthood fast approaching, can their unique bond survive the crushing weight of societal pressures and devastating revelations? Confronted by the ghosts of his past, Aaron must choose whether to blaze bright or fade away. A funny and poignant meditation on the forces that shape us, The Drowners transports us back to a time when our tolerance for hypocrisy was zero and life seemed infinite.

BOOK REVIEW: I may not be a teen boy like the main character but the nostalgia was still nostalgic for me. This takes place back in the 90s in Ireland, also not where I'm from, but I know the music references and movie references. It kind of gave me the same feeling I get when I watch Derry Girls on Netflix. It's a time period that I love and refuse to let go of! I may not have had the internal struggles that Aaron has, the trauma he had, or drank and smoked like he did, but the teen angst was real and I felt it all over again.

I don't know that I had a favorite part. It did take a little while for me to read this because life got in the way and the fact that I said it is focused around teen boys. Aaron does struggle to accept the fact that he may be attracted to men instead of women but there isn't any real spice in this. It is alluded to but not really described. We get some make out scenes but when it gets to being intimate, if it occurs, it takes place in the blank space between paragraphs.

Overall this is a 4.5 for me. I enjoyed the nostalgia as I've already noted. The only thing that knocked it down is that sometimes the dialogue got confusing. There were some times when it looked like two people were quoted as talking in the same paragraph. If two characters (usually) were having a conversation back and forth, it would look like this:

"Hi! How are you?" "I'm great. How are you?" "Oh you know...

But after some back and forth I would lose track of who was speaking when and then even when tracing it back I think person 1 would say a line and then instead of their dialogue continuing it was accidentally noted as person 2 speaking. Other than that, the characters felt real, the issues I could totally imagine as real. I changed my mind. My favorite line was when Aaron's dad said something along the lines like, "I also told you not to drink or do drugs." When you read it with the dialogue before this line you'll understand why it gave me a little chuckle.

4.5/5 Stars

2025 Reading Challenge: 71/50 complete