The Chronology of Water

By: Lidia Yuknavitch

Narrated by: Christina Delaine

From the debris of her troubled early life, Lidia Yuknavitch weaves an astonishing tale of survival. A kind of memoir that is also a peon to the pursuit of beauty, self-expression, desire - for men and women - and the exhilaration of swimming, The Chronology of Water lays a life bare.

It is a life that navigates and transcends abuse, addiction, self-destruction and the crushing loss of a stillborn child. It is the life of a misfit, one that forges a fierce and untrodden path to creativity and comes together in the shape of love.

©2019 Lidia Yuknavitch (P)2019 Canongate Books Ltd

Yet another dissection of trauma

A brutally honest and raw memoir structurally mimicking the anxiety and depression of a person with C-PTSD. The author’s voice and language embrace the disturbance and the range of emotions perfectly. I definitely would recommend this book to readers struggling with their own issues, if they’re not shy of this type of narrative. The circumstances might be triggering for some, so, please, be cautious about some themes.

Unfortunately, one of the chapters (In the Company of Men) was skipped and replaced by a recording of the next one. I had to read it in the text version to learn what I’ve missed.

Tough to get through at times

Yuknavitch is definitely an excellent writer. But at times she leans too much on fraught words like daughter and father, expecting us to understand her intimately.
Plus she calls transgender people tr*nnies - not appreciated. And has a fetish for people with physically nonnormative bodies.