Raft In Water, Floating by A.M. Homes, 1999
The magic trick:
Confusing plot specifics with recurring images and events
If you lose track of what exactly is happening here, don’t worry, I suspect your confusion is by design. Things happen here – mainly focused on a girl who spends her days floating in the family pool – and then they seem to happen again. But it’s not a direct repeat; just the hint of repetition. Multiple people come to the pool, multiple people go back to the fridge for food, different people are compared to animals, some turn into animals, there is arguing, and more oddly connected references that are potentially creepily sexual.
But once you stop trying to figure out the specifics, you can take the general idea that there is unpleasant, disorienting confusion afoot and interpret the story through that lens.
And that’s quite a trick on Homes’s part.
The selection:
She gets out of the pool and goes to the door, pressing her face against the glass. They don’t notice her. Finally, she knocks. Her father opens the sliding glass door. “I didn’t see you out there,” he says.
“I’m invisible,” she says. “Welcome home.”
She is back in the pool. Floating. The night is moist. Vaporous. It’s hard to know if it’s been raining or if the sprinkler system is acting up. The sky is charcoal, powdery black. Everything is a little fuzzy around the edges but sharp and clear in the center.
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