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Drowning Practice by Mike Meginnis

"One night, everyone on Earth has the same exact dream. In that dream, they tell their life story to a kind and trustworthy old man, who then leads them to a lake and watches them drown. The novel follows the lives of Lyd, a former novelist, Mott, her daughter and David, the obsessive but brilliant ex-husband who works for the Government and claims to know all about November and what it means." 

3 Stars

Pros: The premise was very interesting/I liked how in the end, David's "free love" lifestyle was his downfall/The end really was pretty well done, brought some of the scattered parts of the novel together and organized them. 

Cons: Mott/Lyd, basically all of the characters were pretentious and arrogant and it was very rare that I felt badly for any of them 

Full Review: 

At some point in time, everyone on earth has the same exact dream. They're speaking to a man, who's trustworthy and kind. They tell him everything about their lives, holding nothing back and once they're done, he leads them to a lake. He watches as they step into the water, going further and further until they go under and then they proceed to drown.

Ever since that world wide dream, everything has changed. Society has essentially shut down, there's no more school, no more work, all anyone can focus on is November. Lydia (Lyd) and Mott, a mother and daughter who are living alone amidst the collapse, try to continue on with their lives. When it becomes obvious that Mott is smarter than her teachers/principal, she decides she will no longer attend school Lydia, agrees and they continue their days, reading, sleeping, listening to music, passing the time. At night, when Mott is asleep, Lyd transcribes notes from recordings of her husband, David, dictating his thoughts and theories. He works for the government and is paid to watch certain people and gauge their threat to national security. 

David believes there will be no apocalypse, that November will simply come and go as it always has. For awhile, Lyd keeps up with her dictation but the idea that David is always watching her through her laptop webcam, starts to weigh on Lyd. He used to record everything she did, which led to the divorce. And now, as the world ends, Lyd knows she's being recorded once more and she's decided she's had enough. David's constant presence and the fact that Lyd knows he will someday come for them, especially as November draws near, drives her to action.  She takes Mott on a road trip, to old places she lived and worked and hopes they'll inspire Mott the same way they did her. The point of this road trip is to get them as far away from David for as long as possible, to be close to one another, just in case November is true, and Lyd wants desperately to help her daughter achieve her one true wish. Mott wants to write a novel, just like her mother. 

This was a very "middle of the road" type read. The premise hooked me but once I started reading, the characters, Mott, Lyd, David were all just condescending, braggarts. I really couldn't stand them. But as the novel progressed, I started to become more invested in Lyd/Mott's journey and with the premise, I just had to see how it would all end. And Meginnis did it well. The ending was definitely thought provoking. The whole novel overall really makes you stop and think about how you'd spend your last few months on Earth. It wasn't a soul shatteringly great book but it wasn't horrible either. I enjoyed it for what it was. 

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