A Song Below Water - Book Review by Isabella

 

            Okay, I’m going to be honest. This book has taken me SO long to read, partially because I never really dedicated any time to reading it outside of free reading in class. This book I got from Ms. Rodems library close to the end of last year and didn’t get very far into it. She graciously let me keep the book until I finished it (THANK YOU MS. RODEMS) so I decided to finish it for this blogpost! Yes, I’ll give the book back now. Something that made this book even harder to read were the details. This story alternates between 2 main characters, so after having a big break between reading it, I forgot exactly what the details were and who the details pertained to. This made it a lot harder to follow along the story as I read it, so I just tried my best to jot down some details on a Google Doc to try to connect them later. 

            Okay now to the actual book.

A Song Below Water, by Bethany C. Morrow, as I stated before, tells the story of two girls: Tavia and Effie, living in Portland, Oregon. These two girls are the bestest of friends, so much so that they call each other sisters. These two are inseparable. They are stronger together and help each other with everything. Okay now the family tree was another detail that was really confusing. Since they are practically sisters, they talk about each other’s family as if they were actually their own but that gets confusing when trying to individualize their family trees to figure out who exactly the book is referencing. ANYWAYS, back to the sisters. 

Imagine having a secret identity, one people are afraid of. Imagine having to constantly be aware of everything happening so that you aren’t at risk of anyone finding out. Imagine your voice being the most powerful thing in the world, yet having to silence it to keep you safe. Now imagine you’re going through all of this, WITHOUT your parents support. They want you to hide and wish you never were what you are, a Siren. This my friends is Tavia’s life. She was forced to move into a specific town with a network at school to help protect her but she still undergoes many obstacles. The only true person she can trust is Effie. She also follows her idol, Camilla Fox, who is currently protesting for the rights of Rhonda Taylor, a black woman who was just murdered who they now suspect to be a Siren. With all this stuff about Sirens going around, Tavia better not get discovered.

Effie has a complicated life of her own which drastically evolves throughout the novel. Both of her parents are dead so she alternates between staying at her grandparents house (the Phillips), and with Tavias family. Between her life acting as Euphemia the Mermaid at the Ren Faire, and being Effie, she’s constantly asking herself the question, “Who am I?” Is she Euphemia? Or is she Effie? What is her reality? How should she draw the line between the two?

There are a lot of strange occurrences in the book. When Effie was little, she was playing with her friends and they suddenly turned into stone… Effie survived and that’s all she could remember. Suddenly the number of people turning into stone increased, but why? Tavia looks for answers regarding her own Siren problems. Who better to ask than her dead Siren gramma (grandma), right?!? Gramma teaches Tavia many things by sending her messages through dreamlike realities while trying to find her voice, but ultimately, her teachings are up to Tavia’s interpretation. Also, there’s a GARGOYLE outside of their house. There are so many confusing things to follow in this book but it all makes sense in the thrilling end. I give “A Song Below Water” a 7/10 because the novel is interesting, full of betrayal and trust, yet it’s hard to follow.

I hope you enjoyed this blogpost! It’s kind of vague, but I don’t want to give big spoilers. BYEEEEEEEEEEE! 

                          -Isabella