Learning To Swim

Synopsis of Learning to Swim

In the book learning to swim by Ann Turner, the author talks about her story when she was molested by her friend, Kevin. The significance of the title is that she connects swimming to life. When she said she was sinking while swimming, it was because she was thinking about Kevin molesting her. The author has realized that if you get hurt by someone, don’t be afraid to tell an elder. This book is organized in a poem format which makes it very appealing. It starts like this:

Annie and her family go to their summer house for the summer break. After a few days she makes a lot of friends and Kevin is one of them. At first she thought that Kevin was a nice guy but after getting molested she got to know his true colors. Being getting molested was making her feel weird for some days. After noticing Annie’s odd behavior her mom asked, “What book did you read with Kevin in your room?” Then she tells the whole story. Her mom goes to Kevin’s house. Since her visit and until Annie left her summer house, Kevin didn’t even come out of his house. But after returning home she has a dream that Kevin came to kill her but it was actually her dad who had stepped into her room to see what she was doing. From that day she was able to get back to her normal life. By this memoir she got to know about herself that no one can ever force her to do what she didn’t want to do. My thoughts about the book are that it is very enjoyable and interesting. When you read the title it gives another meaning but when you read the book surprisingly it is not what you think. That is a good touch the author made. In this memoir you can actually visualize what she is telling you which shows that the book has good description. One of the lines I liked is: “I was drowning in swimming because I was thinking about Kevin.” I like this line because it is more meaningful than it seems. Ann Turner is connecting life with swimming when she is saying that her life is going down because she is still not able to get over what Kevin did.