The language of water
| The language of water | |
|---|---|
| Title of the original edition | The Weight of Water |
| author | Sarah Crossan |
| translator | Cordula Setsman |
| country | Great Britain |
| language | English |
| genre | Youth book , poetry |
| Cover design | Oliver Jeffers (Hardcover Great Britain) |
| Publication date | 05.01.2012 (Hardcover Great Britain)
2013 (Hardcover Germany) |
| pages | 240 (Hardcover Great Britain)
232 (Hardcover Germany) |
| publishing company | Bloomsbury Publishing (Hardcover UK)
mixtvision Verlag (Hardcover Germany) |
| Most important awards | UKLA Book Award (2013)
Lynx of the Month (2014) |
| Website | Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (Hardcover UK)
Mixtvision Verlag (Hardcover Germany) |
The language of water (original title: The Weight of Water ) is a youth novel by the Irish- born writer Sarah Crossan . It tells the story of a girl who not only has to deal with family problems, but also bullying at school, and who sees swimming as her way out.
The Language of Water was published on January 5th, 2012 by the English publisher Bloomsbury Publishing and comprises 240 pages. The German translation was published by mixtvision Verlag in 2013 and comprises 232 pages. Cordula Setsman translated the book into German. The book has been published in Great Britain and Germany , among others . It is Crossan's second book.
The language of water can be assigned to various literary genres. In addition to being classified as a book for young people and a coming-of-age novel, it belongs to the poetry genre.
The language of water was honored with the CBI Eilís Dillon Award ( 2013 ). In the features section, it was described, among other things, as »delicate, poetic, exciting and very dense« (KulturSPIEGEL, Isabelle Erler, October 2013 ).
content
Kasienka and her mother set off from Poland to England, only packed with a suitcase and an old laundry bag. There they want to find Kasienka's father, who has left the family. Not only does this project turn out to be very arduous and tedious, as a foreigner Kasienka quickly becomes an outsider at school. So she has to deal with the bullying attacks of her classmate Clair and uncomprehending teachers at school and she is constantly confronted with her mother's worries at home. She can only escape from everyday life by swimming. In the swimming pool she meets William, a nice boy from the seventh grade. The two fall in love and become a couple. After a tip from Kanoro, friend and neighbor of the family, Kasienka finally finds her father. However, the reunion does not turn out as expected. He now lives with his new girlfriend and has become a father again. Kasienka then suffers even more from her mother, who takes out her grief over the ultimate loss of her husband on her daughter. In the end, however, it is William, her new friend Dalilah and, above all, her success in swimming that give Kasienka the strength to cope with the difficult times in her life.
characters
main characters
Kasienka
Kasienka is a Polish girl who moves with her mother to Coventry in England to find her father there. She is a very good swimmer and is accepted into the swim team. At school she stands out because of her appearance: she wears different clothes than her classmates and, in contrast to them, has short hair. Her mother often describes her as good - but she does not think so. She sometimes feels as if she was “broken into pieces”, as if she were a different person with her mother, her father, William and Clair. She is mainly torn between her mother and father. She feels obliged to be loyal to the former, although she makes life difficult for her and although she is angry with her father, he offers her the escape into a normal family life that she longs for so much.
Minor characters
Ola (Kasienka's mother)
Kasienka's mother was abandoned by her husband from one day to the next in Poland and has been mourning him ever since. Ultimately, she decides to go looking for him with Kasienka. She works as a hospital cleaner in England, where she is often confronted with the racism and meanness of the patients. She likes to sing and sings well (especially operas). The news that Tata, her former husband, has already started a new family, pulls her into a deep hole, so that she loses her passion for music herself. Only with time and with Kanoro's support does she overcome her grief.
Kasienka's father: Tata
Kasienka's father, whom she calls "Tata", has left his wife and daughter and emigrated to England. There he had a baby, a girl named Briony, with his new girlfriend Melanie. The family lives in Coventry in a beautiful house that contrasts with the one-room apartment owned by Kasienka and her mother. Tata's behavior towards his daughter is shaped by his guilty conscience. He and Melanie want Kasienka to move in with them, but Kasienka doesn't want to leave her mother alone. When Tata comes to Kasienka's swimming competition, the two get closer again.
Kanoro
Kanoro is a neighbor and good friend of Kasienka and her mother. Kasienka particularly notices his dark skin: “He's blacker than anyone I know / skin like / fresh ink.” Kanoro comes from Kenya, where he worked as a pediatrician. But first he has to clean in the hospital just like Kasienka's mother. However, he is humble and does not complain about this fact. In the end, he was approved to practice medicine and moved to London. For Kasienka's mother in particular, he is a great emotional support - he still comes to visit her after moving.
William
William is in seventh grade at Kasienka's school. He is a very good swimmer and just like Kasienka on the swim team. The two fall in love and have their first kiss together. William makes Kasienka feel loved for who she is. He encourages her and believes in her.
Clair
Clair is a classmate of Kasienka. One day for no apparent reason, she starts bullying Kasienka. She always has a bunch of girls around her with whom she can corner Kasienka. She doesn't shy away from any meanness to intimidate them. Only when Kasienka beats her in swimming does she find the courage to defend herself against Clair.
Literary genre and style
The youth novel The Language of Water is written in verse form and thus has characteristics of the poetry genre .
Literary criticism
The language of water was generally positively discussed by the press. “Not a word too many and not a word too little, sparsely divided into 232 small pages. Precisely with these words and the language that Sarah Crossan forms from them, a novel-like space opens up with many images, delicate, poetic, exciting and very dense. «(KulturSPIEGEL, Isabelle Erler, October 2013 ).
"... this is a wrenching but hopeful story of displacement, loneliness, and survival ... Crossan's verse packs a punch as she examines the power that difference — but also determination — can wield" ( Publishers Weekly , October 6, 2013 ) .
“Sarah Crossan's debut is a complex drama. There is no shortage of serious topics, and as a reader you have no chance of diving away from them. Every word weighs too much for that. «( Die Zeit , Johanna Spanier, February 6, 2014 ).
Nominations and Awards
The language of water has received various awards. All awards as an overview:
| 2013 | Shortlist Carnegie Medal |
| 2013 | UKLA Book Award |
| 2013 | CBI Eilís Dillon Award |
| 2014 | Nomination for the German Youth Literature Prize |
| 2014 | Lynx of the month |
Web links
- Original language and German language publisher website for the book
- Website of the author of the book
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-weight-of-water-9781408823002/
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from May 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from February 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Isabelle Erler: Freischwimmerin . In: Der Spiegel . No. 10 , 2013 ( online - September 30, 2013 ).
- ↑ http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-59990-967-7
- ↑ http://www.zeit-verlagsgruppe.de/presse/2014/02/luchs-preis-februar-fuer-sarah-crossan-die-sprache-des-wassers/
- ↑ http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/
- ↑ https://ukla.org/resources/details/ukla-book-awards-2013-winners
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from February 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.djlp.jugendliteratur.org/2014/jugendbuch-3/artikel-die_sprache_des_wassers-3906.html
- ↑ http://www.zeit-verlagsgruppe.de/presse/2014/02/luchs-preis-februar-fuer-sarah-crossan-die-sprache-des-wassers/
