The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan

“The Weight of Water” was written by Sarah Crossan. The book is about a young polish girl called Kasienka who, with her mother, emigrates from Gdansk in Poland to Coventry in England. Kasienka and her mother have come to England to find Tata , Kasienka’s father, who has left the family after an argument to come to England. Kasienka attends school where she becomes the rival of a girl named Clair. Kasienka and her mother spend their evenings searching for Tata. Kasienka manages to locate her father who is living a comfortable life, compared to her, and who has taken another wife with a young child. Kasienka receives the offer of living with her father, however she turns it down. Kasienka neglects to tell her mother about her father’s new life, knowing that it will break her mother’s heart, but she finds out anyway. Kasienka’s mother refuses to look at her and becomes very sad. Kasienka, who is a strong swimmer, secures her place on the school team in an important competition. Kasienka’s mother refuses to let her compete so Kasienka sneaks to the competition whilst her mother is asleep. At the competition Kasienka’s father is in the crowd. Kasienka manages to win the competition and confront Clair ,who is also competing.

The novel is written as a series of poems which I liked as they gave the novel an unusual and interesting structure, because novels are not normally written as poems. The use of the form of poetry gives the story a life of its own and shows the character of Kasienka through words and gives a reader an insight into her thoughts. The story itself would probably be quite short if it were not written in a poetic structure. It was also enjoyable that the book was easy to read as it took me an evening to finish it. I liked the character of Kasienka’s mother, who was determined to find her husband, who in the end had a child with another woman. I liked the determination and bravery of both Kasienka and her mother who come to a foreign country, not knowing much of the language, to find a person who could be anywhere.

Review written by Angel Thomas, Year 8.