Learning to Swim: A Memoir

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Summary: Learning to Swim
Review: "Learning to Swim" by Ann Turner, was a very interesting memoir. It was rather hard to interpret and I was confused and some parts and I had to go over it a couple of times. Overall I think that each person was going to get a totally different reaction to it. I asked a friend what she thought and we just were totally A-wall to each other. But I think that the author intended the reactions to be different and that's what makes "Learning to Swim" unique. " Learning to Swim" was choppy and short, and I really did like it. It made me reflect upon a lot of different things, like someone I know who has gone through the same thing and what a trauma it must have been to be a little kid with this kind of issue and have a good memory be destroyed by a foolish and just plain stupid action. It must have been very very hard for this person, as a little girl to get through something like this, and I think that every person responds to it differently and I think that this was the author's way of expressing all of those feelings that were locked up inside screaming to get out. This memoir is written in third person which I think, makes it all the more effective. I like how she uses the pink ring as a symbol. It symbolizes her fear, anguish, and her heavy heart. And finally one day she can swim without the pink ring and she can just be herself; fun and free. The pink ring was a symbol of the heartache and the pain of this event, and when it was gone her painful, shameful, and hurt demeanor of before was gone, and she was essentially free. She learned to swim, or in this case live with out the pink ring, or all the pain and agony of this tragic event.

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Summary: Learning to Swim
Review: Learning to Swim is a book written in a poem about the author being sexually abused as a child while on vacation. The main idea the book tries to convey is that when something bad like that happens to a person holding it in doesn't help. It eats away inside of you like a cancer and gets worse and worse. And even though it hurts to tell someone about it you'll feel better in the end. The book itself is extremely short and can be read in 20 minutes. I did not find the book very entertaining or enjoyable to read. I believe it is meant for people who have been sexually abused and to make them feel better and give them confidence to let someone know what happened to them.

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Summary: Learning to Swim
Review: Learning to Swim was a heart-grabbing memoir. It was a short book, yet it really touched me. I could never imagine something like that happening to me. Even when I was younger, if anyone tried to touch me, I would freak out. When she didn't say anything to anyone, I wanted to jump in the book and comfort her. She shouldn't have kept it inside, yet she didn't know any better. I really wanted to help her and tell her it was alright, but I couldn't. I was relieved when she finally told her mother. I also felt relieved when her mom yelled at the boy who touched her. The book is something good for younger teenagers to read so they can realize if something like that ever does happen to them, that it's okay to tell someone and get help.

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Summary: Learning to Swim
Review: Learning to Swim, by Anne Turner, was my favorite book that I read for the Rosewater competition. A biography, Ann's chilling tale is hard to take in at first. The things she went through were things that would be hard for any teen to mentally survive. I love how Ann divided the book into three parts. Sailing, sinking, and swimming. They were like the stages she went through, as she grew up in that one summer. The title's metaphor is great. "Learning to Swim" is how Ann finally learned to overcome her fear. She learned that the threats were not going to keep her hurt bottled inside her, and she would have to speak out. She finally swam when she told her mother about the entire ordeal. I loved this book and I recommend it to teenagers everywhere.

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Summary: "Telling is what matters"
Review: My first introduction to Ann Turner was in Dr. David White's Children's Literature course at Keene State College in New Hampshire. During the course I'd read Dakota Dugout, Nettie's Trip South and Katie's Trunk, all of which beautifully detailed the emotions and struggles of that time. An additional project was to read a realistic fictional book about a social issue then provide feedback regarding how the author dealt with the reality of the issue. After reading my paper on child sexual abuse in children's literature where I divulged my own victimization as a child , Dr. White advised me that Ann Turner was releasing her book, Learning to Swim: A memoir.

I just received Ann's book from Amazon.com and in less than one hour rode her rollercoaster of emotions. One narrative to which I felt extremely close to was the following titled, Time to make a mess. "I took the garbage the whole pail and dumped it on the porch kicking the grapefruit against the stones grinding the coffee grounds into the hot boards. Someone shouted someone yelled I do not care it is time to make a mess." As a middle school student, I was feeling this same emotion. While I never told anyone of my experience until this past year, I was fortunate that my junior high school teachers had noticed a change in my behavior, one of self-destruction. Had Ann's book been available at the time I was dealing with my issue, it would have provided me with the support I needed to speak out, or as Ann says "Telling is what matters".

As an aspiring elementary/middle school teacher, I will be sure to provide "Learning to Swim" as a resource to all of my students so that they will know, no matter how hard it is to talk about sexual abuse, it is better to deal with it and talk about it. Thank you Ann for being brave enough to write your poems not only for you own healing, but the healing of many others dealing with this same, sad issue!

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Summary: A Fairy Tale World
Review: The plot, with its ups and downs, it was kept me engaged with this book. The urge to know how the girl got through this situation and survived is what motivated me to finish this book. The language itself was so profound; I wanted more of these words that were filled with emotion. There is a very definite beginning, middle and end, all in which the little girls have specific emotions.
Also, the character herself can be related to by many people. She is just an ordinary girl with memories of picking blueberries with her mother and spending time in the water with her father. However, one event, caused by a little boy, changed her whole perception. She wanted to live in a fairy tale word, not just because she thinks the fairies are pretty, but because that world seems like a sanctuary; a place where she would be safe from evil hands and wrong touches.
This book, though short in length, had an immense effect on me as a reader. It conveyed pure emotion and the hurt of the writer can be pulled from this text. The fact that this is a true story makes the circumstances even more haunting and tragic. It is almost incomprehensible to think there are evils of this sort in the effecting children so young they can't swim without the help of a pink floating tube. It is very distressing to think that children that young can have memories that they try very hard to forget.

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Summary: Great Book!!
Review: This book is highly reccomended to many girls of the age of 12-16. This book reveiws a very bad thing that you should never keep in. A young Girl named Annie who i predict is no yonger than 8. She wants her summer to be a memorable summer, she wants to learn how to swim with her cousins. She learns to swim but everytime now she swims she will think of the horrable thing that happened her ober the summer she learned to swim.

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Summary: Great Book!!
Review: This book was absolutely incredible! I am so glad that I read this! After I got done reading this book, my whole family wanted to read it! They did and agreed with me and said that it was so depressing about how she was manipulated at such a young age. Although it was all written in poems, and was a short book, I had to read it slow so I could comprehend everything that was going on in those moments. I just wanted to keep reading after every page. Her details were so accurate and true. Her story was so intriguing, and I couldn't believe what happened to her. She definitely told her story well. Like I said, I loved this book. In a way though, I was glad it ended. Because she learned so much that summer, and I was happy to know that. Ann Turner described every detail so precisely and explained her story so well. I would recommend it to everyone!

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Summary: The power of speech
Review: Using the metaphor of learning to swim, to finding the power to speak, this book kept me reading because of the fact that it is a factual story. Along with the intriguing way this book is written in a poem form, it is a short and easy book to read. For the readers that don??t understand the connection between what the author refers to simultaneously as she tells her story of the fear that she endured in her childhood life, this reading can be difficult. The very compelling tone of the authors voice is what held my attention throughout the book. Even though I experienced no such incident, I felt a strong interaction with the author, sensing the person behind the words. This writing is completely personal, honest, and it makes you think and react to the author??s point of view.
The metaphoric method of this truthful book??s telling, and its literary style is what kept me engaged to this very courageous, moving and powerful book. This poem is a testimony to the healing power of words. It is a collection of words, rhythm, and images that has been transformed to present something painful and bitter. The alluring words and its voice is the illumination of this book, and also another aspect of this book that kept me reading.