This is not your mother's memoir. In The Chronology of Water, Lidia Yuknavitch e
xpertly moves the reader through issues of gender, sexuality, violence, and the
family from the point of view of a lifelong swimmer turned artist. In writing th
at explores the nature of memoir itself, her story traces the effect of extreme
grief on a young woman's developing sexuality that some define as untraditional
because of her attraction to both men and women. Her emergence as a writer evolv
es at the same time and takes the narrator on a journey of addiction, self-destr
uction, and ultimately survival that finally comes in the shape of love and moth
erhood.
