The Chronology of Water: A Memoir
Apr 2011 · Catapult
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NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE DIRECTED BY KRISTEN STEWART
From the debris of a troubled early life comes an astonishing tale of survival, a paean to the pursuit of beauty, self-expression, desire—for men and women—and the exhilaration of swimming
THIS IS NOT YOUR MOTHER’S MEMOIR. In The Chronology of Water, Lidia Yuknavitch, a lifelong swimmer and Olympic hopeful, escapes her raging father and alcoholic and suicidal mother when she accepts a swimming scholarship which drug and alcohol addiction eventually cause her to lose.
What follows is promiscuous sex with both men and women, some of them famous, and some of it S&M, as Lidia discovers the power of her sexuality to help her forget her pain. The forgetting doesn’t last, though, and it is her hard-earned career as a writer and teacher, and the love of her husband and son, that ultimately create the life she needs to survive.
"I've read Ms. Yuknavitch's book The Chronology of Water, cover to cover, a dozen times . . . The book is extraordinary." —Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club
From the debris of a troubled early life comes an astonishing tale of survival, a paean to the pursuit of beauty, self-expression, desire—for men and women—and the exhilaration of swimming
THIS IS NOT YOUR MOTHER’S MEMOIR. In The Chronology of Water, Lidia Yuknavitch, a lifelong swimmer and Olympic hopeful, escapes her raging father and alcoholic and suicidal mother when she accepts a swimming scholarship which drug and alcohol addiction eventually cause her to lose.
What follows is promiscuous sex with both men and women, some of them famous, and some of it S&M, as Lidia discovers the power of her sexuality to help her forget her pain. The forgetting doesn’t last, though, and it is her hard-earned career as a writer and teacher, and the love of her husband and son, that ultimately create the life she needs to survive.
"I've read Ms. Yuknavitch's book The Chronology of Water, cover to cover, a dozen times . . . The book is extraordinary." —Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE DIRECTED BY KRISTEN STEWART
From the debris of a troubled early life comes an astonishing tale of survival, a paean to the pursuit of beauty, self-expression, desire—for men and women—and the exhilaration of swimming
THIS IS NOT YOUR MOTHER’S MEMOIR. In The Chronology...
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Ratings and reviews
8 reviews
Simona Salant
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July 17, 2026
amazingly well written
About the author
LIDIA YUKNAVITCH is the author of The Chronology of Water: A Memoir and three works of short fiction: Her Other Mouths, Liberty's Excess, and Real to Reel, as well as a book of literary criticism, Allegories of Violence. Her work has appeared in Ms., The Iowa Review, Exquisite Corpse, Another Chicago Magazine, Fiction International, Zyzzyva, and elsewhere. Her book Real to Reel was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award, and she is the recipient of awards and fellowships from Poets and Writers and Literary Arts, Inc. Her work appears in the anthologies Life As We Show It (City Lights), Forms At War (FC2), Wreckage of Reason (Spuytin Duyvil). Yuknavitch teaches writing, literature, film, and Women"s Studies in Oregon.
LIDIA YUKNAVITCH is the author of The Chronology of Water: A Memoir and three works of short fiction: Her Other Mouths, Liberty's Excess, and Real to Reel, as well as a book of literary criticism, Allegories of Violence. Her work has appeared in Ms., The Iowa Review, Exquisite Corpse, Another Chi...
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