The Girl Who Stopped Swimming

By: Joshilyn Jackson

Narrated by: Joshilyn Jackson

Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Laurel Gray Hawthorne needs to make things pretty, whether she's helping her mother make sure the literal family skeleton stays in the closet or turning scraps of fabric into nationally acclaimed art quilts.

Her estranged sister, Thalia, an impoverished Actress with a capital A, is her polar opposite, priding herself on exposing the lurid truth lurking behind middle class niceties.

While Laurel's life seems neatly on track - a passionate marriage, a treasured daughter, and a lovely home in suburban Victorianna - everything she holds dear is suddenly thrown into question the night she is visited by the ghost of a her 13-year old neighbor, Molly Dufresne. The ghost leads Laurel to the real Molly, floating lifelessly in the Hawthorne's backyard pool. Molly's death is inexplicable - an unseemly mystery Laurel knows no one in her whitewashed neighborhood is up to solving. Only her wayward, unpredictable sister is right for the task, but calling in a favor from Thalia is like walking straight into a frying pan protected only by Crisco.

Enlisting Thalia's help, Laurel sets out on a life-altering journey that triggers startling revelations about her family's guarded past, the true state of her marriage, and the girl who stopped swimming.

Richer and more rewarding than any story Joshilyn Jackson has yet written, yet still packed with Jackson's trademarked outrageous characters, sparkling dialogue, and defiantly twisting plotting, The Girl Who Stopped Swimming is destined both to delight Jackson's loyal fans and capture a whole new audience.

©2008 Joshilyn Jackson (P)2008 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Jackson matches effortless Southern storytelling with a keen eye for character and heart-stopping circumstances." ( Publishers Weekly)

Delicious Southern Gothic

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This one hooked me from page one. The mystery is well crafted and replete with surprising twists. The dynamic between the two sisters and their icy steel magnolia mother rang true for me (my mother and grandmother both came from Alabama). Thalia is a true original! I enjoyed the author's performance with the exception of her "male voices", which sounded a little cheesy.

What other book might you compare The Girl Who Stopped Swimming to and why?

The Little Friend, similar themes: mysterious death of a child, Southern Gothic elements, poverty

Which scene was your favorite?

The scene where they bust in on her snotty neighbor, Trish, in bed with the neighborhood gigolo.

Okay Story with Excellent Narration-Not Her Best

This was the second book I have read by this author. I liked the first one, The Almost Sisters, much better. This had some suspense but was fairly predictable. It was more about the relationship between two adult sisters and one of the sister's semi-autistic husband. Since I purchased it on audio, I listened to the entire book. If I was reading it I probably would not have finished because I got bored with it pretty quick. If you are a fan of the author you might like it, but if you are wanting a really good read I recommend The Almost Sisters instead.

Hard to finish

This book was so cheesy and predictable. The characters were so hard to connect with and the story line was dull.

What is this?

I swear I gave this book 3 hours and can stand it no longer. Boring.

Realize it's hit or miss with this author

I recently discovered this author and have been more or less binge-listening. Some are great fun. This one was a definite MISS. Almost did not finish it with less than an hour to go. Forced myself to see if somehow it redeemed itself. It did not. Actually got even more absurd towards the end.

Sadly not for me

Would you try another book from Joshilyn Jackson and/or Joshilyn Jackson?

Probably not it was a tough listen.

Would you ever listen to anything by Joshilyn Jackson again?

It was an odd story with many stories within the story ...

How could the performance have been better?

Slow down it was like listening to a super fast reader

Dreadful

I don't know what the other readers liked about this book but I gave up after about a third of it.

Classist trash

This book is one long, hateful tirade against the poor. Every page is dripping with vitriol, thinly disguised as pity. There is no empathy towards those suffering from poverty, only shame and disdain. There is no better example than Bette.

Bette is a poor girl who is generously taken in by the well-off main character. Her poverty makes her an unintelligent and depraved individual, one with a callous disregard for human life. Her life is apparently so awful that she's willing to murder her friend just to take her life.

I was offended by this whole book. The only redeeming factor was the narration, which was quite well done. However, it is absolutely not worth reading.

not taken with this one

i'm a huge joshilyn jackson fan but i wasn't as crazy about this one. story was lacking and sort of far fetched i guess compared to most of her other books. i would steer away from this one and recommend "a grown up kind of pretty"...still my favorite of hers. :)