The Drowning Girl

Women of Genre Fiction - Book 10

The Drowning Girl – Caitlin Kiernan

This book was nominated for the Nebula award, so I chose to read it for the WOGF. I was very disappointed. This book is not science fiction, fantasy or even horror. It is the story of a mentally disturbed young woman. Imp, as she is called, sees a ghost. The reader is never really sure if the ghost is real or is a figment of her imagination or both. In places, this book rambled on and on and on. And on and on and on.

I am not familiar with schizophrenia, so I do not know if this is really representative of the ramblings of a schizophrenic. In places, the writing was beautiful. Unfortunately, the beautiful parts were buried in rambling. I have read many books without linear plots – Dhalgren is one that I liked enough to read twice. But this book had nothing to really interest me. I did not find Imp that interesting. I did not find her ramblings remotely interesting. Had I not been stuck on a plane with this book, I'm not sure that I would have finished it.