The Properties of Water (review)

Swimming has always been life for the Martin sisters, who live with their parents in a lakeshore house in Maine. This summer, however, thirteen-year-old Lace is largely alone with her father in her mother's and sister's absence, and she refuses to touch the water. As the summer goes on, the reasons behind these things becomes clear: Lace's beloved older sister, Marni, suffered a traumatic brain injury diving into the lake that's left her hospitalized in Portland, and the girls' mother is staying there with her. McKinnon unfolds her story gradually, slowly revealing the nature of crisis that's hit Lace's family, even as Lace's narration demonstrates her shock, fear, and yearning. Though events and secondary characterizations are somewhat contrived, Lace herself is plausible in her la-la-la-can't-hear-you approach to family struggle, and in the way seeming distractions—her irritation with her best friend, her crush on an older boy—involve her underlying grief and anxiety. The fact that Marni is seriously injured but quite likely capable of substantial recovery makes this a useful variation on the common theme of losing a sister completely, but Lace's reaction is still appropriately pitched to such a life-changing, family-dynamic-transforming event. It's a heartfelt tale about individual identity, sisterly closeness, and working through fear that even the siblingless will find touching.