I received this book for free from the publisher as a free story in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the publisher as a free story
Dreams of Drowning
by
Patricia Averbach
literature, magical realism in a Kindle edition that was published by Bedazzled Ink Publishing on February 6, 2024 and has 311 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
A standalone tale of magical realism set in Toronto and spanning 1973 to 1993.
This eARC was sent to me by Kelly Schuknect and Bedazzled Ink Publishing for an honest review.
My Take
Arcas is Greek and Tom’s dad is Greek and both are passionate about politics and very much against the ruling junta in Greece. Nancy notes that Tom is the son of a Greek banker and a Canadian socialite, which makes me laugh.
Joanie’s death haunts every step of Amy’s life. So much so that it’s debilitating, as Mrs Klein can attest when she practices tough love on Amy. I can understand Amy’s desperation in wanting Arcas. A sad state when I learned the truth at the end. Amy was a very lucky girl. That Arcas really spins a good tale. He does so well lying with the truth.
Ahh, geez, I do hate that Jacob is failing in ways, but I also hate that Michael is stuck on his own perceptions. Age-wise, I get it. I’m aging. My mother had dementia, and after seeing what it did to her, her misperceptions, her frustrations, I never want to go there. Shoot me when it gets to that point! I’ll be so grateful.
I can’t help but love Jacob. His memories of his youth and of Bessie, the excitement of archeology, his desperation for a life in retirement. Which only makes what happens to Jacob so much worse, as we know what he’s experienced. Although I suppose it could be in his head, and then again . . . where does one go from there?
Why do people automatically assume an old person is feeble-minded? Sure, it’s something to take into account, but why jump right there? It’s so unfair. It makes me angry with Michael and his highhandedness.
Wow. Averbach hasn’t any good to say of Constantine. I vaguely remember the brouhaha over the Greek junta, but that’s about all I know. I guess that applies to most of us Americans. We barely know what’s going on in our own country, and “we’re the only country that’s important”. *Eye roll* That’s certainly how Arcas sees it.
Tom? Tom is a good guy but that expectation he has of Nancy is not acceptable. It’s but one example of why I love women’s lib!
Hmm, that ship sounds like a miracle and a load of fun with all the events they put on. It’s divisions of first- and tourist-class levels, yeah, I know it’s reasonable, but it also seems heavy-handed when considered against all the oddities aboard ship. Free clothes, free food and drink, free everything. What is the distinction between first and everyone else? Who is that nurse??
I suspect it’s the ship that actually makes Dreams of Drowning so fascinating. I want to know more about it, this floating world of magical realism where miracles make you younger. What qualifies one to be a passenger on the Aqua Meridian anyway? How, why, do passengers embark and disembark, where do they go? Where is the ship going? If the ship has an excellent reputation why is it that it’s a maiden voyage when Jacob boards?
Jacob is catching fleeting glimpses of a woman who looks so like a younger Bess. That dream Amy has of trying to reach “the cruise ship”. Sam’s revelation about encountering the Aqua Meridian . . . It all leads me to wonder if the ship is Fate or a fulfiller of wishful dreams.
I had to laugh at Jacob noting that modern Greeks do not understand Attic Greek. Yep, languages are constantly evolving, so that wasn’t a surprise. Well, maybe to the Army, lol. More laughter when Jacob notes that he never did learn what assignment the Army wanted him to accomplish.
A scary note is Amy protesting that the US doesn’t do coups. Mm-hmm. We didn’t used to think a coup was okay. Then Amy goes on to note the countries that had been democracies and then turned to fascism.
It’s the characters and their experiences and thoughts that make the story, a first person dual protagonist point-of-view from Amy’s and Jacob’s perspectives. It’s also a story that left me hanging at the end. All this build-up. I’d love for Averbach to do a sequel. A series of short stories maybe?? Answer my questions, dagnabbit! I have too many!
There are so many dreams in Dreams of Drowning. Joanie’s dream of home, family, and husband. Amy’s dream of traveling the world. Arcas’ and Tom’s dreams of a better Greece. Jacob’s dreams of his lost wife and his childhood. Then there are the nightmares . . .
And yet, kindness abounds.
The Story
Distance does not make any difference, and Amy’s flight to Toronto only saves one part of her sanity as Amy still hears her sister’s cries for help.
It’s a chance thought that finds Jacob heading down to the marina, dreams of sailing in his head. Yet another chance finds Jacob Kanter boarding the Aqua Meridian where time is slippery.
It’s the aftermath of that voyage, of Jacob’s encounter with a drowning woman, that leads to an archeologist’s holy grail in 1993.
The Characters
1973
Amy “Mungo” Adler is an illegal immigrant in Toronto who fled the US to escape a warrant and the gossip. She’s working as a graphics designer for Abbot’s Printing. Joanie “Teazer” is the twin who died in 1971 because of Amy’s reckless behavior. Both their parents worked, her mom in real estate and her dad, Henry, as a dentist. Amy’s children will be Arcadia “Cady”, who’s studying to be a doctor, and Nick, who is their reckless son. Jackson is Cady’s boyfriend.
Arcas, a socialist goat herder, works at Kosmos Bakery that does such fabulous baklava, who is studying economics in Toronto; Helen and Petra are fellow bakers. Tom Savas is studying economics and dating Nancy Wells, who is the department secretary for the Economics department and working toward a doctorate in economics.
Andreas is part of PAK, a group in Canada protesting the junta. Esther Klein is the best friend of Amy’s mother and runs Abbot’s Printing with her husband. Eddie is the pressman.
1993
The eighty-three-year-old Dr Jacob Kanter, a nice Jewish boy from Leeds, is offered a professorship in Canada and has been an archeologist but is now retired. And he’s suffering from double vision, unsteadiness, and slight memory issues. His beloved Bessie of nearly fifty years died of cancer eight years ago. Michael is his lawyer son, torn between reality and love. Sharon / Ellen? is his therapist wife, who disagrees with Michael’s withholding information. I understand why he did, the snake. Peter is their son, Jacob’s grandson. Yulia Kanter had been Jacob’s Russian immigrant mother. The Phaistos Disc is an archeologist’s dream come true, a holy grail.
St Michael’s Hospital features in both timelines. Dr Mendoza is a neurologist.
The Aqua Meridian is . . .
. . . on its maiden voyage and free tickets are being given out. Some of Jacob’s fellow passengers include Dr Charles “The Missing Link” Dawson, teaching comparative philology — yep, his father was that Charles Dawson; Dr Samuel Rabinowitz is studying medicine; Harvey Newcome and his brother-in-law Jack Lewis own a company manufacturing light fixtures; and, Joanie is the young woman with memory issues whom Sam rescues. The Sea Breeze Café is one of the restaurants on the ship.
Fellow academics included Christopher Hollis who had been at Tell Uhaimir; Pendleton at Knossos; Luigi Pernier had worked the Phaistos site until 1929; Doro Levi, head of the Italian School of Archeology, excavated at Phaistos in the fifties; Sir Arthur Evans; MacComber; Tinsley; and, Grunberger. Dr Ianni Sournaris is the chairman of the archeology department these days; Dr Jordan Mansour is his second.
Georgios Papandreou was a good prime minister (Professor Andreas Papandreou is his son) who was replaced. eventually, with Geórgios Papadopoulos. King Constantine II was king in name only.
The Olive Tree, the Village Diner where Kaleisha is a waitress, Fran’s Restaurant, Mars, the classy Truffles, and Spiro’s are restaurants in Toronto. Nana Mouskouri is a Greek singer. Michael wants his dad to move to Bayside Manor Retirement. Mr Friedman is Jacob’s neighbor. Mrs Panagos works at a diner near the hospital. McClaren is selling a bass boat. Elsie had been one of Amy’s friends back in the day. Stephen had been Joanie’s almost-boyfriend. Veronica was Sam’s fiancée who dumped him for the spontaneous Frankie. Aunt Rose had bad news for Sam. Spiro Agnew is the US vice-president in 1973. Maple Leaf Rags will become a client of Amy’s. The Heritage Front and the National Front are white supremacist groups. Anti-Racist Action Committee is their opposite. Izzy had been a childhood friend of Jacob’s. Ernst Zundel is a Holocaust Denier. “Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer” is a poem about cats. Mrs Norton teaches biology at Malvern Collegiate. Arkadiko Tyri is a big cheese factory.
The Cover and Title
The cover has a black background with an upward-looking Amy (or Joanie??) underwater and blowing a cloud of green and white bubbles. She’s wearing a white bathingsuit with glints of a pale green. The author’s name is at the top in that pale green while the title begins at Amy’s ear with the title gradating from a deeper pale green to white.
I see the title as a metaphor for Amy’s and Jacob’s lives, their Dreams of Drowning as an expression of their lives.
