the night swim: podcast with a side of trial
- paigenherbooks
- Jun 15, 2022
- 5 min read
3/5
Okay, let me be frank I did enjoy the book. It was a true crime esque story that revolved around a topic that is heavy for myself and most people out there. The author dug deep into the societal convictions and thoughts we have surrounding things such as rape and sexual assault, as well as how harrowing it can be. But for me personally, the book just didn't move me with it's story the way that it did with it's message-which I would consider a good thing. Megan Goldin's writing is enjoyable there was just some things that kept her story from being a 5 for me.
Also trigger warning: rape, sexual assault discussed.
Synopsis: A true crime podcast host covering a controversial trial finds herself drawn deep into a small town's dark past and a brutal crime that took place there years before. The small town of Neapolis is being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. The town's golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping a high school student, the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season Three a success, Rachel throws herself into interviewing and investigating-but the mysterious letters keep showing up in unexpected places. Someone is following her, and she won't stop until Rachel finds out what happened to her sister twenty-five years ago. Officially, Jenny Stills tragically drowned, but the letters insists she was murdered-and when Rachel starts asking questions, nobody seems to want to answer. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved. Electrifying and propulsive, The Night Swim asks: What is the price of a reputation? Can a small town ever right the wrongs of its past? And what really happened to Jenny?
So, this time folks I'm going to do a little uno-reverse and start with things I didn't like and then we will end on a positive note, alright? alright.
Rachel is our main character who happens to be a very famous podcast host. Her podcasts focus on true crime aspects where she dives in and figures things out, things that weren't seen before. I'm here for it, yall know by now I have been on this true crime kick ever since I watched "Candy" on Hulu (please go watch it, it is so very well down and enthralling) But as for Rachel...I couldn't tell you one thing about her other than that she is a podcast host...I just found her utterly boring to be quite frank. She lacked personality for me and was a very flat character. In some ways it works for the reader as you can experience things through this almost virtual reality set of eyes. She does very NPC (non-playable character) things so it's like the reader is there. Though, I think she could've been better. Your main character is like the eyes to the soul of the book, if they are not noteworthy or memorable neither is your story.
It's just how it is.
The rest of the characters, I don't feel to inclined to do a deep dive on because they were all very one dimensional. Hannah, the girl who is writing Rachel these mysterious letters begging for her help, was interesting, just for the fact we didn't know who she was and she was telling Jenny Stills story.
Then the podcast pages. At first I thought these were interesting, to put the reader into the mind of being a listener to Rachel's podcast, but I quickly realized that they were just filler pages. In these podcast areas Rachel was just going over everything we already new, no new information was being presented--unless you constitute her questions to the audience as new information. I don't think it added anything substantial to the story, other than a stylistic aspect.
I just feel like the story isn't memorable enough. I think the theme of the horrors of rape, sexual abuse, and a dirty reputation are very important themes. But I don't think your story should lack due to the emphasis of your overall message. Now, whew, to the things I enjoyed...
The message. I think that the author did a great job of drawing attention to the controversy over rape. That the victim is always blamed in one way or another. "Well his life will be destroyed if this gets out" is a sentence that disgusts me every time that I hear it. Or the age old adage of "just get over it" or "are you sure it was rape and you didn't just regret it?". This way of thinking is what brings young men and woman down from speaking out and standing up. The victims are the ones that most often are dragged through the mud, not understood, nor given any compassion. The fact that a reputation can shade over actual facts is astounding to me.
I had a very very close friend go through this issue, where she went to her Dean of students and spoke in length about the horrible things that were done to her. But since the boy was her boyfriend, involved in ALOT of paying school activities, and happened to know the Dean of Students, she was brushed off, cast aside. Even after showcasing every piece of evidence. She was asked "why didn't you tell anyone sooner" or "do you want to ruin his life?". She lived in fear from what people thought or would do to her, because she had been the victim of something horrible. So this topic is one that resonates deep within my soul. The rape and abuse of women has been going on since the dawn of time, and it's frankly not getting any better. A way to combat that is through things like literature. To bring these stories into books and have people read them. Posing these questions that make people stop and think about their opinions and responses. To that, I applaud the author for picking such a dark and deep topic, and for shedding light on it. I thank her.
I also enjoyed the twist at the end, the solving of Jenny Stills's murder. It was heartbreaking and I was honestly shocked to figure out who it was, I would have never thought in a million years honestly. The author really threw it out of the blue but it made sense. BUT I will say not enough justice was delivered within the story. For a book about getting justice for victims, I found it lack luster in that area. Yes, the boy gets convicted but has the option to appeal, Jenny Still's murderer dies before anyone can find out. I don't know if that is just the hard facts of life and I am wanting for a greater ending...or if I am justified. I guess we shall never know.
Overall, the story was decent. It kept me engaged enough to wonder what was going on and had a twist I didn't see coming, so for that kudos. I don't think I would re-read this book but I think the strong messaging is enough for me to keep it on my shelf.
Alas, happy reading friends! xoxo paige :)
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