Turning: A Year in the Water

I found this book a moving meditation on swimming while at the same time an exploration of her childhood memories and earlier life. It reminded me of H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald. Writing about one thing while exploring another. The writing is beautiful, the mind as clear as some of the lakes she swims, the intellect sharp and crisp as the ice she sometimes dives beneath.

Jessica has accomplished so much in writing this book. Her incredible knowledge of the environment and especially "limnology" where she learns how to read lakes and when they turn. Her adventurous and disciplined spirit of accomplishing a huge goal of swimming 52 lakes in the year is inspiring. We also witness the interior of the self come out in this book and the journey that brought her back home- in the water. This book fits a broad audience from nature enthusiasts to swimmers to women and anyone who finds solace in swimming in the water.

A well written book, and an insight into life.

Although this is a memoir written with something of an academic slant, it has a great deal of heart and self-belief. I enjoyed the combination of exploring a new city/region; the scientific descriptions of lake biology; the snapshots of life events; and of course the descriptions of entering a new lake for the first time. Less a guide book to the lakes of Berlin, this is more a meditation on what it truly feels like to slide into the water come rain or shine. I found this appealing, despite not being a wild swimmer myself - it was particularly nice to read hints that the author sometimes has to get over a fear or anxiety related to open water swimming herself. Elsewhere, the method of weaving together narratives past and present was enjoyable. Subtle repetitions exist throughout the text which I found comforting and helped illustrate the quest towards achieving the goal of swimming 52 lakes in a year.

This is a beautiful memoir. The author feels depressed and sets herself a challenge to swim in 52 lakes in and around Berlin over the course of a year in the hope of healing a broken heart. Swimming becomes a way for her to find a sense of belonging in a new city and gain an understanding of herself. The book works well in various ways. For example, the author’s experiences, memories and feelings are reflected in the landscape and water.During her explorations she encounters the ghosts of Berlin’s past as well as her own. Musings of other writers and the research of water scientists interweave with the author’s story.Water permeates the book; cities, countries and continents are linked by their lakes and the author’s history. Relationships ebb and flow and the memoir shifts from past to present – like the stratified layers of a lake.Like Roger Deakin in “Waterlog”, Jessica J. Lee successfully gets “under the skin of things”, but her story is markedly different. “Turning” is book about lake swimming, loss, resilience, solitude and finding a sense of belonging.

This is a beautifully written memoir. The author sets herself the goal of swimming 52 of the lakes in the countryside around Berlin in a year in order to recover from the dislocations associated with loneliness due to the end of a relationship and building new connections in a new setting. Along the way the reader becomes absorbed in her reflections on her personal and family history and on her environmental sciences research on lakes; 'turning' refers to the annual cycle of changes in lakes related to the seasons, but also becomes a metaphor for the changes and improvements in the author's emotional and psychological states as she finds the (often harsh) physical challenges bring satisfaction and self-belief.

I loved this book! Jessica J. Lee weaves history, ecology, and personal memoir together in a beautiful story about her project to swim 52 of Berlin's lakes in one year. One to read especially for anyone interested in wild swimming, lake ecology, or Berlin. I found Turning after reading and enjoying Lee's essay in At the Pond: Swimming at the Hampstead Ladies' Pond, and would really recommend that book as well!