Weeping Underwater Looks a Lot Like Laughter

By Michael J. White

Book Overview

A smart, darkly funny, yet poignant debut novel about coming of age without coming undone. Seventeen-year-old George Flynn-an all-around decent guy-has just moved with his family to Des Moines, a place where he knows no one and is pretty much nobody. Despite this inauspicious start to his junior year, he soon finds his niche, falling in with the unique, enchant?ing Schell sisters. Emily, an aspiring actress and free spirit, becomes the object of George's mostly unrequited yearnings. But it's Katie, with her quirks, her scathing deadpan humor, and her brave battle with multiple sclerosis, who really gets George hooked on the Schells. When an out- of-the-blue trag?edy strikes, upsetting the delicate balance of all their lives, George must figure out a way to help Emily in order to save himself. Told with both razor-sharp wit and deep empathy from George's later adult perspective, this is a moving, memorable debut novel about friendship and first love-about dealing with grief and trying to grow up without losing yourself along the way.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399155902
• ISBN13: 9780399155901
• Release Date: February 2010
• Publisher: Putnam Adult
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.6" x 1.3" x 5.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

Touching debut

This is a fine author and a wonderful story. I can't wait to see what he has in store for us next!

Good Read

Weeping Underwater Looks a Lot Like Laughter is a clever character driven story. I generally don't enjoy books about high school kids, but White wrote fleshed out characters with as much charm as fault in them. I also, as a rule, don't like coming of age stories as they can be overdone and predictable, this book didn't fall into that category. This was a decent, interesting, story. If your thing is reading about young adults dealing with death and overcoming, you'll love this book.

wonderful!

I chose this book because it had a cheesy poetic title and I felt it had hope. I was not disapointed. This is a delightful tale hard to put down. I had no regrets in picking it up. It reads well and reminds me vaguely of my youth which came about a decade later. I suppose than you may think that I give it 5 stars purely for nostalgic value. Well who cares, besides my life wasn't that much like any of these people...or else I would have a wonderful book on my hands!

A funny and poignant story of teenage love and how a tragedy changed almost everything

This novel is told from the point of view of George Flynn reminiscing about events that occurred in his late teenage years. Now a 9th grade teacher, George was only 17 in 1995 when he moved with his family from Davenport to Des Moines, Iowa. Two weeks into class he was still friendless until he met Emily Schell, whom he took an immediate liking to. Attractive Emily was the lead actor in the Homecoming Play, and like him, a junior in high school. Having learned that George was a new student and didn't know anybody, Emily introduced him to her friends, arranging for them to pick him up from his house for a party. From there, they started hanging out, and as George and Emily got to know each other better, Emily introduced him to her younger sister, Katie. Katie had multiple sclerosis and attended a different school from Emily's. Initially, when Emily went to pick Katie up from school or visit her in the hospital during treatment sessions, George would just tag along. Later, as the rapport between George and Katie became evident, George would initiate outings or activities together with the sisters. Emily noticed that, unlike her closest friends, George never felt uncomfortable around Katie. This meant a lot to her, and contributed to her developing positive feelings for him. The attention that Katie received from George also led her to develop feelings for him. What happens to these budding feelings next is the poignant part of this novel. George was madly in love with Emily and would do everything to win her love. Although aware of George's and Emily's mutual feelings for each other, Katie was similarly smitten with George (she talks to Emily about George *all* the time). Emily's feelings were the hardest to decipher, preferring to keep things under the radar, partially out of concern for Katie and respect for her parents, who seemed unimpressed with George. Emily's sometimes hard to read feelings for George made him anxious, and his anxiety only worsened when a tragedy to which they were both witnesses occurred. Both were overcome with grief and guilt that threatened to tear them apart forever unless they're able to find the strength and courage to let go without forgetting all the wonderful things that have transpired in their lives together, but how, and would they succeed? I found Mr. White's debut novel quirky and moving. The characters are, in my opinion, quite interesting. The George Flynn character is kind-hearted, has a witty, sometimes wicked, sometimes sarcastic sense of humor, and an irrepressible sex drive (smile). Katie is a firecracker; blunt but always supportive and open-minded. The writing is brilliant in parts (for example, you'll really get caught up in the events leading to the tragedy), but on some occasions, I felt the author was trying too hard to construct clever sentences (which sometimes seemed to backfire). After reading past the "tragedy" chapter, I expected things to simmer down a little bit the

Grief and coming of age

This beautiful debut novel by Michael J. White is a story about teenage George Flynn who moves with his family from Davenport to Des Moines. Being a new high school student does not come easy for him. He tries to fit in by joining the wrestling club and competing. In his class, he meets beautiful Emily Schell who is detached and distant, artsy yet helpful in getting George introduced to her circle of friends. As Emily lets George into her life, he learns about her sister Katie who is a few years younger and goes to a different school due to her medical issues. Katie has multiple sclerosis and what she cannot do physically she makes up by reading books, watching television and having insatiable curiosity. Katie's loneliness, wit and cleverness, her non-judgemental attitude and openess are magnet for George. He finds a person who is tender and understanding and is also related to a person he desires most - Emily. It is the unfortunate incident that changes Emily's and George's lives forever. At the tender age of high school students these two add unbearable pain in each other's lives - loss of a person they both hold dear. Grief starts unfolding in so many ways for both of them that is it impossible to distinguish pain of first love from grief. What can possibly save these two? Can they be saved? Do they want to be saved? After such tragedy, witnessed firsthand, can any human, let alone teenager recover and lead a life the way it was before? I absolutely loved the characters in the book. Their inner lives are so rich and complicated as only teenage lives can be. And yet the author kept a complete control of them all - from start to finish. Delightful book.