3.5 stars

Night Swimming was adorable. I absolutely and utterly adored our protagonist, Kirby. She had such a clear and distinctive voice, and her personality was so infectious. She was the perfect blend of genuine, awkward, sweet and funny. In fact, the humour in this story was all kinds of perfect. It was ridiculously Australian and just… being able to read a book without having to Google American words and brands was so nice. It made me feel so at home. Kirby and Clancy’s banter in particular just made this book. They had such a dorky sense of humour - filled with so many bad puns it made my heart melt - but I loved that it never made too many allusions to particular TV shows/movies/books. I hate feeling left out when I don’t get pop culture references!

I do not know what I expected going into this story but the interracial f/f romance blew all my expectations. It was just so adorable. Kirby’s crush on Iris was so realistic and sweet; everything from taking four hours to draft a text that says ‘sure’ to accidently parroting her in conversation because she didn’t know what to say. It all rang so true. I liked that Kirby did come out as a lesbian throughout the story but that it did not take attention away from the more central themes of the story. Her family was so lovely, and it was nice to see a small-town community be so supportive.

In fact, the diversity in this story was pretty incredible as a whole. We did not just have a diverse cast in the sense of different ethnicities, sexuaities and religions (although we did). No, Bowe also smashed every perceivable gender role and I loved it so much. Our main male character (Clancy, Kirby’s best friend) loved musicals, doing other people's makeup, wore dresses and was undeniably flamboyant and dramatic in personality… and he was completely heterosexual. As silly as it sounds, it literally made me tear up to read that. I do not think I have ever read a book where a character with such interests and personality traits was not homosexual. On top of that, we also had a female protagonist who wore comfy clothes, hated wearing dresses and did not know how to apply eyeliner but never shamed other people (particularly other girls) for wearing makeup or being interested in fashion/cosmetics. I can honestly count the amount of times I have read that on one hand. Almost every story I read where the (female) protagonist is uninterested in perceived ‘feminine’ activities, like cosmetics and fashion, they are only written that way to seem better than the other female characters that do and, therefore, more attractive to the love interest. It makes me sick seeing such tropes perpetuated, and I loved that Bowe stepped away from that nonsense. Kirby is also doing a carpentry apprenticeship. I am so here for that.

My biggest complaint about this book was Iris. I did not think she was particularly well-written and it made it hard to get fully invested into the romance. She just felt a little… distant? I know that she was keeping her depression a secret from the town and did not want to talk about herself too much, but this meant we did not get to know her particularly well. All of her conversations with Kirby were focused on Kirby. We knew some tidbits about her family life but it was not enough. I did not understand her motivations for certain actions (if you’ve read this then you probably know what I am referring to). I never really connected with her on any level and it bothered me. I was also not a massive fan of how her depression was brought up towards the end of the story, only very fleetingly. Iris displayed no real symptoms prior to this and I know that (1) she was technically in recovery and (2) that some people are adept at hiding their struggles, but… I don’t know. I was just not satisfied with the MI rep. Personally, I think that removing that element of the story and focusing on Iris as a third culture kid - and how that affected her move and her relationship with Kirby - would have been a better use of time. It would have let her character have that three-dimensional feel without rushing - and poorly representing, in my opinion - her mental illness.

The other secondary characters were pretty well-done in my opinion. Nathan was literally my favourite character in the whole book. Maybe just because I also have a cousin called Nathan with the exact sense of humour and similar personality? Regardless, he was such a well-written, fleshed out secondary character and I loved how much he was involved in Kirby’s life. He really was the cool cousin. Cyril was a fantastic addition to the story. I love having grandparents being a important part of YA protagonist’s lives. I will say that I was not a fan of Kirby’s mother myself but I do really appreciate showing a different kind of parent in YA. We still utilise the Absent Parent/s trope way too often so it was nice to see how her and Kirby’s relationship developed throughout the story. The entire subplot surrounding Kirby’s absentee father, however, was unnecessary. I did not think it was developed quite as well as it should have been so, again, I think it would have been better to remove that extra subplot entirely.

Also, Stanley. I never knew I needed him in my life... but I did.

Overall?


Night Swimming was a sweet Australian contemporary. I adored the main characters, particularly Clancy and Nathan. The writing was simple but engaging, and the sheer Aussie-ness of the dialogue made me so happy. However, the plot tried to intertwine a few too many subplot; some of which did not get the attention they deserved. It made the story seem a little too abrupt at points or just… off. I was not a fan of the use of the Absent Father trope or Iris’ depression. In fact, Iris as a whole was a bit of a mess for me. I did love that we had an unapologetically lesbian protagonist and an adorable f/f ship, I just wish Iris had been more fleshed out as a character.