Book Review: Learning Not to Drown by Anna Shinoda

Learning Not to Drown
Author: Anna Shinoda
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Released: April 1st 2014
Review Source: Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Family secrets cut to the bone in this mesmerizing debut novel about a teen whose drug-addicted brother is the prodigal son one time too many.

There is a pecking order to every family. Seventeen-year old Clare is the overprotected baby; Peter is the typical, rebellious middle child; and Luke is the oldest, the can’t-do-wrong favorite. To their mother, they are a normal, happy family.

To Clare, they are a family on the verge of disaster. Clare: the ambitious striver; Peter: the angry ticking time bomb; and Luke: a drug-addicted convicted felon who has been in and out of jail for as long as Clare can remember—and who has always been bailed out by their parents.

Clare loves Luke, but life as his sister hasn’t been easy. And when he comes home (again), she wants to believe this time will be different (again). Yet when the truths behind his arrests begin to surface, everything Clare knows is shaken to its core. And then Luke is arrested. Again.

Except this time is different, because Clare’s mom does the unthinkable on Luke’s behalf, and Clare has to decide whether turning her back on family is a selfish act…or the only way to keep from drowning along with them.

Debut novelist Anna Shinoda's raw, gritty, powerful novel cuts right to the bone and brings to life the skeletons the lurk in the closet.

After finishing Learning Not to Drown, the first thing I said was ‘Thank God!’ For the most part while reading this book, I spent time saying &%!*%$@ Why, you may asked? Claire’s mother is a lunatic!! I seriously wanted to smack her in the head! This woman needs to go to jail!

Claire’s life sucks and the title “Learning Not to Drown” is very fitting to her life. All her life she has been lied to. Once the family’s skeletons come out of the closet, Claire is beginning to see the truth. And the one person she adored the most is the most heartless and conniving person.

How can this girl life go on? No one seems to understand what she is going through. Everyone in town keeps their distance away from her and her family... for good reasons. And her mother is cynical. All she cares is her Claire’s brother. The black sheep of the family and once Claire learns the truth about. When Claire tries to move on with her life without him, trying not to drown with all the skeletons, her mother begins to give her the cold shoulder.

Learning Not to Drown is told in Claire’s point of view but the chapters’ switches from now and then, so you have to keep up with the past. As the story goes, you will see that Claire is as innocence as a two year old but is changed when she realizes her family is not what she thought of. As the skeletons reveals, she tries to make up her family’s mistakes to the town.

This story is dark and bit of disturbing, which is not for everyone. But if you’re into these type of stories, like myself, then don’t forget to add Learning Not to Drown! It will leave you wishing fair for life.