This could have been such an eerie, climatic modern fairy tale about love and abuse. It could have been quoted as genius among those extraordinary that change the archetypes of literature. When I close my eyes I see the water oracle, hear the trills of magic Maddies voice, the splash of Delphina's performing her beautiful pirouettes. But sadly such a wasted potential.
Let me use the fully allowed language of the author : Its utter fucked up twatting bollocks! Shocking, dark, hopeless, nerve - wracking. Wow! The drowning of AB gave me some language lesson being a non English reader. Was it all neccessary? I guess, to a certain extent. Is it our future of literature trend to shock, leave you angry and disgusted? Or is it a trick to sell better, stay in your head for longer? I guess it does those three well enough. So kudos to that, and also for being well written, thought through to keep you turning the pages to discover how ends this absolute "fuckupdness". Is the whole society these days shifting towards collective guilt to find solace in imaginary suffering or what? My biggest concern is that according to the story, the likes of Arthur, Laura, Maddie have no place in a real world. They do not fit, so end confined to imagined reality, living happily ever after in " the other world"? Is this what they deserve? So basically if I am being bullied, sexually abused, depressed, or for some other reason do not fit in, my only way out is to find myself " the other world"? And maybe take a rope, cut my veins, jump off the cliff? Is that what's suggested here? Clearly, it is,or thats at least what I felt after reading last sentence. The, in some way happy ending refers too much to something imagined and unreal. Arthur's father in the end experienced "shaggy" happiness, so could his son. But " maybes " its the level of happy for an outcast Arthur. That is kind of sad.I certainly do not suggest happy ending here, as this would obviously sound like a farse. Perhaps more realistic finish of this whole bitterness would at least give a glimse of hope. Unless what constitutes happiness is subjective meaning to everyone. I am aware this is not a reading for everyone. The title itself gives enough clues to stay clear for some. But still what BA actually want to say? Portray abuse, mental issues, guilty getting away with their crimes? All those characters imposing evil, except for Tommy Clarke and his merry bunch are actually adults. The three water healers to me represent passiveness to something that could have been prevented. To me the kind serial killer Silver is the worse out of them all.His explanatations and sorry for being gutless, buffling words " Run for your life!" simply do not reveal enough for those poor souls to change the course of their sad fate. Yes, I know, he says : "whats written within our future cannot pass us by"? Does it really? Or is it simply a way to show the crime of responsible adults, and those who turn blind eye to the wrongdoings of others. I guees and hope thats the intention of the author. Are Laura and Arthur really a landmark of todays teenagers? Many would disagree with the author's vision. But perhaps it is indeed an averaged picture of a young adult these days obsessed with facebook and almost nothing else. All Arthur is thinking about when looking at beautiful lass Delphina is his "boner", touching her tits etc. Well, I get it, thats his hormones playing like a harp on his manhood. Is that all there is in him? Kinda disappointing. The seriousness of some characters' stories is a bit flat to me. The author allows enough pages for Delphina or even quite shallow Arthur to dwell on certain things, but leaves a couple of paragraphs to describe the crimes and whys of others. All these abuse stories sound a bit like taken from a tatty magazine cleverly smuggled within the mistery and poetry of the book. In my opinion the overall message of " the drowning of BA" is not clear enough , especially for a young adult. It left me absolutely heartbroken. There is plenty of distressing stories in literature regarded as good. They equally shockingly describe evil of human being, eg " A thousand of splendid suns" by Khaled Hosseini that leaves a spark of hope at the end of portrayed "fuckupdness". Or if not hopeful, at least genius of literature " Lord of the Flies" by William Golding, an absolute must to read for everyone.

PS, I have a little suggestion here. If the focus of the book was just ONE of those employed disturbing stories, if it was skilfully and more subtly entwined within the beauty of such an original setting, the Drowning of Arhtur Braxton could have been much better.

This could have been such an eerie, climatic modern fairy tale about love and abuse. It could have been quoted as genius among those extraordinary that change the archetypes of literature. When I close my eyes I see the water oracle, hear the trills of magic Maddies voice, the splash of Delphina's performing her beautiful pirouettes. But sadly such a wasted potential.
Let...