The Sea of Light

Rating:
Summary: Awful
Review: I am a competitive swimmer, and in reading Sea of Light by Jenifer Levin I found some parts of the competitive swimming world were accurately depicted, while others were not. Jenifer Levin had many aspects of the competitive swimming world right on the mark: the acute pain of the training, the prevalence of injuries, the days when everything feels just right in the water, and the days when it doesn't. Other parts of the book described the world of competitive swimming in a way that I found either inaccurate or misleading, which might lead a reader of this book who is not familiar with the sport to draw inaccurate conclusions. First, there were references to steriod use. Competitive swimming in the US is actually very "clean". Second, there was the over-emotionalizing of the training involved with the sport: for example, "Whatever we put our most into, like our time, and sweat, and blood, well, that is the thing we make our own. Because after a while, it smells like us. It tastes like us. After a while, it calls our name." Please! Most competitive swimmers I have known go to practice, work hard, then go home and carry on with their semi-normal lives. There simply isn't so much melodrama. Finally, there was the supposed connection between physical athletic training and physical sexuality. For example, Babe says, "Physical people may inevitably do a wide variety of physical things." It seemed to me a bit of a stretch to connect intense athletic training with a person's sexual identity and behavior. Still, in spite of the parts that I consider to be misleading or inaccurate, I enjoyed reading this book- there are just so few books with competitive swimmers as the main characters. However, this book is really more about relationships and the search for one's identity, with the world of competitive swimming as the backdrop.

Rating:
Summary: [e-mail]
Review: I finished this book last night, and though I read an average of 120 books per year, this one is up there with my top five! It was incredible! I found it in a used book store and it looked interesting - I am not gay or an athelete for that matter, and yet I found everything about this book, the characters, their relationships, their insights...to be incredibly relevant to my own life...I especially loved the following passage: "Whatever we do that is hardest for us, is the thing we put our most into. Whatever we put our most into, like our time, and sweat and blood, well that is the thing we make our own. Because after a while it smells like us. It tastes like us. After a while it calls out our name." Don't you love it? Can't wait to read more of Ms. Levin's books. Thank you Jenifer!

Rating:
Summary: [e-mail]
Review: I finished this book last night, and though I read an average of 120 books per year, this one is up there with my top five! It was incredible! I found it in a used book store and it looked interesting - I am not gay or an athelete for that matter, and yet I found everything about this book, the characters, their relationships, their insights...to be incredibly relevant to my own life...I especially loved the following passage: "Whatever we do that is hardest for us, is the thing we put our most into. Whatever we put our most into, like our time, and sweat and blood, well that is the thing we make our own. Because after a while it smells like us. It tastes like us. After a while it calls out our name." Don't you love it? Can't wait to read more of Ms. Levin's books. Thank you Jenifer!

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant--one of the most moving love stories I've read
Review: I first picked up The Sea of Light several years ago after being lucky enough to take a writing class with Ms Levin. To this day, the book is one of few on my shelf to which I return again and again. The characters leapt off the page, their story moved me to tears on several occasions. As they usually are, Kirkus is off target; the construction of the novel is nothing less than perfect, the characters round and complete, the story at once filled with joy and devastation---as life always is. If you have not read this book, take the phone off the hook and don't plan on going anywhere until it's finished. You won't be able to put it down.

Rating:
Summary: The Sea of Endless Quaking Light
Review: I have never, ever read a book that left me trembling when I was finished. Until I read Sea of Light. This book is the most incredible piece of writing that I have ever read in my entire life. I found the characters to be believable, and I found the analogies of swimming with love to be unshakeable. All I can say is wow. I feel madly in love with every character in this book. I can honestly say that I have just about memorized, the whole thing, from having read it so much. The tender sex scenes left me with a flickering in my gut, and the emotions that ellie goes through are so much like mine, that I feel as if I have been transposed, piece by shattering piece, into the book's core. I ache for a sequel, Miss Levin! Please, Please, Please, share more about Ellie and Babe! This is a must-read for anyone!

Rating:
Summary: Awful
Review: I read this in a desperate search for good lesbian fiction. Since it had such good reviews, I thought I might have a winner. Wrong! This book is really awful. I found myself wondering halfway through why I was even finishing it. I guess I was hoping it would get better. Wrong again.

The book has a lot of potential. Interesting concept. Nice use of various narrators. Um.... I'm sure it has another redeeming quality or two, but none come to mind at the moment.

Are there any lesbian novels where the main characters are not brooding and angsty and wrestling with some major issue? I felt zero chemistry between Babe and Ellie. I think Levin developed the attraction between the two very poorly. The way Ellie is presented, she doesn't seem very attractive as a potential date at all. Levin's constant description of the thoughts behind the dialogue was interesting at first, but after it started turning five second conversations between characters into three page events, I just got irritated. And Levin's inconsistent use of quote marks was even more irritating. The insertion of the supernatural aspect at the end also seemed very out of place. Hokey, mawkish, maudlin, long-winded. Ugh.

Rating:
Summary: Hauntingly heroic!
Review: I've read this book 3 times since I first bought it and every time leaves me with a feeling both sad and joyful for Babe's life. I recommend this book highly.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant--one of the most moving love stories I've read
Review: This book, in short, was the most memorable read for me in 1998. And I read quite a bit. I've heard before that a sign of a really good book is how it affects you once you put it down. Well, with this book, I never wanted to put it down. An amazing story of hope, in the end. Hope to heal old wounds, hope to find new love, and the hope to rebuild and reinforce the nature of our inconquerable souls -- all of us. The venue is the sport of competitive swimming, which paints and shades a lot of what happens throughout the novel.. I am enamored of this story so much, I just hope the author can answer me one question: why has your work not been adapted to film? It should be...I even have a handle on who should take the leading role, for example: Allison Folland would make a touching, and quite believable, Babe. If you'd let me, Ms. Levin, I'd like to make your book into one helluva of a film! Thank you and bless you for such a transforming piece of writing!

Rating:
Summary: A Great Read, Every Time
Review: This is one of the handful of books that I have read more than a few times. When the world of work, children, family, and homophobes starts to grate more than I can bear; I put in my earplugs, take out this old friend, and read it again. It will speak to most athletes, particularly those in the solitary sports of swimming or long distance running. Gay athletes might like it more than straight athletes, but the universal themes of personal and athletic struggle will move most readers.

Rating:
Summary: more than a novel...
Review: While I agree with the above review which finds fault with some of the "mawkishness" of the novel, I find its metaphorical rhythm redeems it. Levin uses physical description and body image literalness and metaphor better than most any other writers. In fact, it is unusual to read a novel that cares so much about the body in all its aspects. And, she does not focus on the cultural icons of the woman's body, but broadens and deepens our relationship to the characters' physicality, and our own. Worth reading for that aspect alone. Also a good plot.