The Chronology of Water: A Memoir

'The Chronology of Water' is a rough road. Along the way, there are speed bumps and potholes and uncertain directions, and shouldn't we have turned off back there? It's the story of a road less traveled, told in unflinching and candid detail.Simply put, it's not an easy book to read. It's also well worth the effort.'The Chronology of Water' is Lidia Yuknavitch's own story, and she approaches it with an eye towards honesty and an ear for language. If you listened to her TED Talk, or read 'The Misfit's Manifesto' (both highly recommended), then you probably already understand that Lidia has made some questionable choices in her life. In this memoir, those choices are laid bare and presented in fragments of crystalline prose. Lidia's childhood is unwound alongside her history of drug and alcohol abuse, her insecurities, and her career missteps. There are signs of hope too - in these pages, you'll read about the discovery of herself as a writer and as a person.In snippets and glimpses, Lidia gradually assembles a picture of her life. While the prose is often harsh and often unforgiving, it also glimmers and dances, light on a rushing river. The subject matter may be offensive to you, even disgust you, but the words Lidia uses will sneak up on you and surprise you time and again. In this way, as well as detailing the journey of a writer, 'The Chronology of Water' is as much a book about writing as it is a memoir.In the final analysis, 'The Chronology of Water' is honest, it's raw, and it's probably more than some readers are prepared for. If you decide to take this journey with Lidia, be ready for some bumps along the way. But also, and more importantly, keep your eyes open for some beautiful scenery, and keep your heart open to understanding the troubled and luminous life of an admirable woman.

I dont like to write reviews...who do i think i am is the feeling i have about it. But this book compels me to write and recommend reading. I read her words...words about her life that seemed almost puked onto the pages...words about trauma and rage and fear and a life lived and joys found inspite of all of it. No big happy ending or redemption story here, just raw honesty and brutal truths. It will be a book i read again. I believe you will too.

This book was exactly as I expected after watching Dr. Yuknavitch's TED talk on misfits, and was a very enjoyable read. I like how the chapters are quite short, which makes it easy for me to keep reading in bite-sized chunks. If you like personal memoirs of difficult and interesting lives, this will be right up your alley.

I just recently read this book for the second time. This books happens to you whether you want it to or not. There's a way the language enters and shakes open the body. If that's not something you're into, don't read this book. If you want to feel easy things, this is not your book. But if you're familiar with the sensations of broken and a little wrong you may actually find the intensity of this memoir refreshing and reassuring - at least I did.

Finished and it’s memorable though doubt would seek out to hear her again but made it through. I mean, I thought lumping William Seward Burrough into “junk culture” at the beginning of the book seemed a narrow conjecture, then later she cites his work in a more literary reference without pinpointing what she really gained from it. Was it the implicit sex descriptions she wondrously employed in her dripping fist girls cabin chapter or something else? For me it is his out-of-body experiences and imagination away from himself leading to the comedy and creative characters from his own mind. Most beloved was the comedic aspect, everything else was secondary (junk, gay, el invisible hombre, beat, pampered parent checks, dead wife headshot, etc). Lidia employs primarily first person writing style out-pours from-the-past showing a deeply ingrained memory introspection. The story reads like a diary if you just randomly choose a page from the beginning/middle/end as there were a lot of back-and-forths. (Possibly symbolizing the title? The Chronology of Water...tIdes and unpredictability of water and being in-and-out of it during her life?) and although there are some humorous anecdotes you don't really ever let a a major LOL. You'll probably get more horny and sad than laugh. Did appreciate her fessing up in the "arguments" chapter at nigh conclusion, as no one's relationship could have been a perfectly synchronized swim the way it was being described before, but didn’t care for her allowing a bf to play Sublime as hang out music unless true love is also putting up with one’s bad taste. jeje

Incredible read! I have never read writing that is more beautiful, poetic, and profound. It is so rich, with words used in ways I have never seen or felt as deeply. This is a memoir that deals a lot with grief and sexual abuse. Sexual abuse that leads to severe overemphasis of the body. Lidia Yuknavitch's abuse at the hand of her father leads her down a path of extreme sexualization of her body. At times I did not know if I could read any further as the sex was so descriptive, so evocative, and massively out of control. Yet, I hung in there because this book simply would not let me go.At an early age Lidia's father throws her into an icy lake to teach her to swim. This begins her life as a swimmer and her deep connection to water. It is her early escape and influences her life forever. Her writing is steeped in connections to it. It is through water that she loses herself and later finds herself. It showed me how sexual abuse leaves one with no self, and the journey to find that self is treacherous. I simply cannot due this book justice with my review other than to say it affected me deeply, and the author has laid herself bare, a truly heroic act.

This book is...breathtaking. I submerged myself in Lidia's story and did not want to come up for air. Her use of language and the theme of water makes this book stand out as one of the best I have ever read.

It's hard to articulate exactly how I felt about this memoir, because at times I really enjoyed it and at times it was just a bit too overwhelming. The book is more like a collection of short stories or pieces of flash fiction, knitted together to form a life...Yuknavitch never really delves in-depth into any part of her story, and I found this to be quite frustrating. I would just start getting into one part and then it would be over, she'd veer off feverishly into something that happened decades later. I get that this is her 'edgy' and 'experimental' style at work, and I did like how bold and weird the book often got, but at times it did verge on pretentiousness. I was very AWARE that I was reading an experimental book rather than just being absorbed and swept along by the story, and this is a problem for me.I think this is a very interesting book to read as a woman, and I liked her overall message of empowerment and survival, but in terms of the style/structure it just got a bit annoying at times, with everything being so over-laden with metaphor and heavy-handed 'poetic' prose. At times it was almost juvenile, like something written by a 19-year-old girl in a creative writing workshop.The book has a very strong and engaging opening chapter that unfortunately the rest of the book just doesn't live up to.

How can one describe this memoir? No holds barred. In your face honesty. Fierce and unapologetic. Sad and triumphant. Beautifully written by a woman whose life has been charmed and cursed in equal measure. Lidia Yuknavitch is a bold, feminist, sexually fluid, brave and damaged survivor of a rotten childhood, a couple of bad marriages, a stillborn child, a whole lot of drug and alcohol abuse, a couple of stints in prison and several abortions. Yet she also holds a PhD in creative writing, has won important literary prizes,has worked on a writing project with Ken Kesey and been the lover of Kathy Acker. She was an Olympic level swimmer as a young teenager, and is married with a son. And she has written this kick-ass memoir which you will not put down and never forget. Read it. Soon.

An absolute masterwork in non-fiction and memoir. I didn't so much read this book, but rather climbed into a hypodermic needle and got shot straight into the author's artery. The words are white hot with rage, sex, rebellion and brutal truth. You hear a slamming, angry pulse at every turn of the page. You feel the raw pain, screaming, and heartache like a tsunami of the damned in your gut. It's an instruction manual for women on how to take on life at it's own game and not only survive, but win! The writing is sublime and I can't wait to read her other books. I'm numb. And yes, I needed the paracetamol. A staggering achievement

There are some great memoirs about where strong women really tell as it is but this is unbelievable . Its a visual painful stomach churning read. It made me cry and gasp and feel. Some of the imagery , biting the computer mouse in an argument with her partner. Lidia you are a brave and wonderful woman.

Everyone should give this book a go. She's an amazing writer and this book will live permently on my "make people read this one" shelf. I found it hard going at times in terms of it resonating too much, surely that's a good thing though. Without a doubt he reading the rest of her stuff when I can afford to buy more books.