Aquarium

January 12, 2015
Vann’s (Legend of a Suicide) elegantly written, emotionally intense novel juxtaposes the contained world of undersea creatures with the life of a family forced beyond its self-protective isolation. In 1994, 12-year-old Caitlin Thompson and her sole parent, Sheri, live in Seattle, where Sheri works at the docks. After school closes each day, Caitlin waits for her mother at the Seattle Aquarium, studying the bizarre fish she loves. When she meets an elderly man there, a friendship develops. Suspicious, Sheri engineers an encounter with the man, only to realize that he is her father; when Sheri was 14, he left her alone to care for her dying mother. Caitlin embraces the warmer, less-constricted life her grandfather offers, but Sheri refuses to forgive, going to monstrous lengths to show her daughter the humiliations she suffered after her father’s abandonment. The conflict between mother and daughter deepens as Caitlin forms another tender new bond, this one with her schoolmate Shalini. Though Sheri’s toxic blame of her father feels improbably extreme at times, it’s more than made up for by Caitlin’s emotional depth and nimble imagination. Through her wise and dreamy vision, Vann crafts a moving exploration of the boundaries we draw around ourselves to stay safe and unchanged.

Starred review from January 15, 2015
Vann, whose remarkable novels evoke worlds where violence and revenge seem the inevitable outcome of human relationships, offers here a kind of modern fairy tale, one laced with treachery and trials and the greatest demon of all to battle, the past.It's the early 1990s, and 12-year-old Caitlin splits her days between the dullness of school and the magic of the Seattle Aquarium. Caitlin spends every afternoon there, using it as de facto child care, until her mother, Sheri, returns from her job at the docks. The aquarium is peaceful and contains possibilities; it's a place where her mother's anger has no power. She meets an old man there and the two walk from one exhibit to the next, each day studying a fish, considering its place in the world, their places in the world, building a gentle friendship (the novel is filled with photographs of these fish). When Sheri finds out about their relationship, she calls the police to ambush a pedophile but discovers something she deems far worse-her own estranged father, Caitlin's grandfather. His abandonment of his family 19 years earlier transformed Sheri from an innocent girl to a woman twisted by rage. He left his wife dying of cancer, penniless in a shack with 14-year-old Sheri as sole caretaker. In a harrowing series of scenes, Sheri forces Caitlin to play make-believe; Sheri pretends to be her own dying mother while Caitlin drags her shit-smeared body around the apartment as they re-enact Sheri's early life. Unlike Vann's other novels, which exist in a closed system of violence and despair, this story offers redemption. Like all good heroines who make their ways out of the woods, Caitlin is clever and brave and convinces Sheri that the old man will sacrifice anything for forgiveness, to conquer the spell of the past. Vann's novels are striking, uncompromising portraits of American life; here is another exceptional example.

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Starred review from February 15, 2015
In Goat Mountain (2013), internationally acclaimed Vann told the story of an 11-year-old boy's harrowing experiences. Here, Vann convincingly narrates in the voice of a 12-year-old girl. Although she hasn't lost any loved ones, Caitlin Thompson nonetheless feels abject absence and longing as the only child of single mother Sheri, a laborer who can't afford after-school care for her daughter. Caitlin has no other adults in her life. There are no grandparents, aunts, cousins, adult friends, not even a day-care provider. She fills her after-school hours communing with the aquatic inmates of the Seattle Aquarium. Her best friend Shalini's lively Indian family and exotic Tupperware lunches stand in sharp contrast to Caitlin's always-exhausted mother and daily tater-tot school lunches. To say hers is a bleak existence and that she is starved for adult attention is an understatement. When an elderly man engages her in conversation at the aquarium, Caitlin is cautious at first. But since he is there every day and kindly, they develop a friendship, which leads to unforeseen conflict. By pulling no punches in this explicit exploration of family, forgiveness, duty, acceptance, parent-child relationships, and what constitutes abuse, Vann has outdone himself.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

Starred review from December 1, 2014

A 12-year-old's fragile world, mesmerizing innocence, and emerging adolescence are the heart of this alluring novel from Vann (Goat Mountain), which opens in 1994. Caitlin and her single mother, Sheri, live on the margins of Seattle's docks, where Sheri puts in long, grueling days while Caitlin spends after-school hours at the aquarium, reveling in fish facts. Mother and daughter get by in their own loving way until Caitlin has a not-so-coincidental encounter with an old man at the aquarium. Their shared passion for the fish leads to a tender friendship that rips open Sheri's barely contained rage over her stolen childhood. VERDICT Caitlin juggles protective love for her mother with her irresistible need to seek out and embrace her roots. Her fresh voice rings true, whether she's standing up to her mother or exploring her deepening friendship with her classmate, Shalini. Since electrifying the literary world five years ago with his debut novel, Legend of a Suicide, Vann has racked up an astonishing number of international awards. This lovely, wrenching novel should add to that list. [See Prepub Alert, 9/29/14.]--Beth Andersen, formerly with Ann Arbor Dist. Lib., MI

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2014

Living in Seattle with her mother, who works at the docks, 12-year-old Caitlin visits the aquarium to lose herself in the shimmering gorgeousness of the fish. There, she befriends an old man, and a troubling family secret emerges. A stunning writer, international best seller Vann (Goat Mountain) has won 15 prizes and been on more than 75 Best Books of the Year lists worldwide, so I'll keep pushing his books until he becomes a household name.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2014

A 12-year-old's fragile world, mesmerizing innocence, and emerging adolescence are the heart of this alluring novel from Vann (Goat Mountain), which opens in 1994. Caitlin and her single mother, Sheri, live on the margins of Seattle's docks, where Sheri puts in long, grueling days while Caitlin spends after-school hours at the aquarium, reveling in fish facts. Mother and daughter get by in their own loving way until Caitlin has a not-so-coincidental encounter with an old man at the aquarium. Their shared passion for the fish leads to a tender friendship that rips open Sheri's barely contained rage over her stolen childhood. VERDICT Caitlin juggles protective love for her mother with her irresistible need to seek out and embrace her roots. Her fresh voice rings true, whether she's standing up to her mother or exploring her deepening friendship with her classmate, Shalini. Since electrifying the literary world five years ago with his debut novel, Legend of a Suicide, Vann has racked up an astonishing number of international awards. This lovely, wrenching novel should add to that list. [See Prepub Alert, 9/29/14.]--Beth Andersen, formerly with Ann Arbor Dist. Lib., MI

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.